Pete hit the Nail on the head about Sedona and the Grand Canyon

[hookedonears]

The first sight of the Grand Canyon was completely awe-inspiring. However, after an hour or 2, the view is still incredible, but you’re ready to move on. We did the North rim and the South rim 3 years ago. By far, the North rim has the best view of the Grand Canyon. It's hard to get to, however which is why most people usually don't go there. The North rim is 1500 feet higher than the South. It's much cooler and much more lush and wet than the south rim. By far the best thing our trip to Arizona and Utah was Zion National Park. Awesome. It's a can't miss. The hoodoos at Bryce Canyon were cool, but Bryce is one of those Chevy Chase Summer Vacation spots, enjoy for an hour or so, and then move on. We did Sedona a few years earlier and it is truly a beautiful place. If you're an art lover, it's the place for you. If you're not staying there, however they roll up the sidewalks after dark. And there’s absolutely nothing to do.

 

[hmonkeyruns]

I'm sorry but I just have to disagree!

I understand your point if you are not people who like to hike, but if you do like hiking, when you get below the rim the Grand Canyon is just spectacular! It changes from minute to minute and the views are just incredible.

My husband and I spent 11 days at the Grand Canyon in 2008 on both the North and South rims and spent two nights inside the canyon itself on a camping trip. It wasn't nearly enough time.

The only flaw in the trip from my perspective was the lousy food. The best thing I had was a burrito from the food court. The restaurant food was awful for dinner (we couldn't get into El Tovar) but the breakfast was OK. Of course, we stuck mostly with pancakes, so I didn't encounter the lame eggs.

I agree that Zion National Park is great -- it's my husband's favorite. I am a particular fan of Bryce Canyon. One of the best day hikes I've ever done was the Fairyland Loop trail at Bryce. Gorgeous! But again, for me, the parks truly come to life when you get out on the trails, away from the lookout vistas and spend time inside the canyons looking up and out and not just down into them.

I haven't been to the parks around Moab but they are probably going to be my vacation destination for October 2011. Can't wait!

 

[sayhello]

I have to agree with hmonkeyruns. I totally enjoyed that first look at the Grand Canyon. But it just left me longing for more. After our morning spent visiting various beautiful highlights of the South Rim, we had free time, and I decided to hike part way down the Bright Angel trail. The perspective from the trail (looking across *at* the Canyon) was so much more spectacular than looking down *into* the Canyon. I would have kept going, but had to turn around after 2 hours to have enough time to get back up in time for our Sunset meet. I look forward to the day I can take the Mules down to Phantom Lodge, and spend a couple of days down there, really experiencing the Canyon. And I am very jealous of the ABDers now waking up to Sunrise over the Rim. I *will* do that some day!

Sayhello

 

[hookedonears]

We flew into Vegas, rented a car and drove to Zion National park. We planned the trip a year in advance and stayed at all of the National Parks. The hiking at Zion, we thought was the best. Wild turkeys, deer, and the colors of the canyon were incredible.

We drove the second day to the North rim. On the way we stopped at Bryce Canyon. It was very nice and we hiked the rim, maybe 2 miles or so. We ate lunch at the National Park which was awful. The trip to the North rim of the GC was like driving trough a lush rain forest in the middle of a desert. Our trip was in July and the temperatures were in the lower upper 50's lower 60's during the day. The food at the North rim National Park was very good and our cabin was nice.

The third day we drove to the South rim. An incredibly long drive. We spent 2 nights in a suite at El Tovar. The second floor suite was very nice with an outdoor patio with a view of the canyon. El Tovar is very rustic and old. I guess the history and location makes it nice. The food at El Tovar was good, not great, but good.

We took the mules down the canyon and spent the night at Phantom Ranch. The hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It was 68 deg. when we left that morning. The trip with a 5 1/2 hours on the back of a mule. We were allowed off of the mule for one 25 minute lunch break. It was 112 deg. at the bottom of the canyon, no breeze. Our cabin was rustic with A/C or should I say it had a box in the window that rattled. At midnight our cabin had cooled down to 90 deg. Every step the mule took was like going down a stair case on one leg jumping every 4 step landing on one foot. A massive jolt went through body with every step of the mule took.

We skipped the Indian tourist trap glass walk. It was 3 hours out of the way and we had already seen as much of the canyon as we needed. The thing that bothered my wife the most about the Grand Canyon was that the colors were relatively muted and not as vivid, as they are at Sedona and Zion NP.

 

[hmonkeyruns]

Ok that mule trip sounds awful! We hiked rim to river and camped at Phantom And we thought at the time that our hike (with 35 on packs) seemed way better than the mule ride and it was probably faster too!

We were there in mid-October so the weather was great - if anything it was too cold!