North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Last night I asked my dog Melody to compare her visits to the two Rims.

2005 - South Rim - She remembers a chilly picnic dinner at sunset with her sister along. She also remembers her pads were sore from hiking down at Sedona, so she and Diamond were wearing protective booties (and many of the other tourists wanted photos of our silly girls).

2014 - North Rim - A warm picnic lunch with her grand-daughter. What was most special was spending time in daddy's lap while he sat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the lodge's lower patio just soaking up the view. Much more relaxed than her first visit.

I think some of the prior debate in this thread is like telling someone who's visited Honolulu that they haven't seen Hawaii because they didn't go to Volcano National Park on the Big Island. They're different experiences, but they're both truly visits to a place.

Our impression of the vendor run Trailer Village in S Rim - pay your money, sign here and don't ask any questions. :S But it has location including the shuttle. :C

Both N Rim and S Rim have great and unique views, different facilities, different experiences and lots more people in S Rim. We prefer N Rim but also want to go back to S Rim. It's a personal choice of course but go to both at least once. Perhaps S Rim should be the first to visit. :@

The N Rim campground is close to the lodge, dry camping but nicer for us than S Rim.

A clarification to mikestock. It is not just handicap vans but anyone who has a Senior Access pass, handicap license plate or handicap mirror tag.

I agree that, wheather you prefer the north or south rims is totally dependent on what you are looking for. The north rim is less crowded and would have probably been my favorite if I had been less restricted in ability to hike the trails to the isolated spots. My wife has RA and, like all of the places we visit, we are restricted to points you can reach with minimal walking.

For this reason, I would advise anyone with physical limitations to stick with the South and West rims. Travel to the West rim is limited to tour buses and handicap vans.

Lauren wrote:
OK, harold, you are a hiker; and a very good one. You are, by far, the exception. And I applaud you.

In due respect, age does have a lot to do with it; not entirely, but a lot.

In my 40's and 50's I ran 18 marathons, 4-50K (nationally ranked at age 47), a 50 mile trail run and a half marathon twice to the summit of Pikes Peak up the Barr Trail - and hiked it once with Barbara. When living in Estes Park when I retired we hiked all over Rocky Mtn NP; mostly above 10,000 feet. We both still swim and hike a lot but not looking for 10 milers at elevation.

I did not mean to digress like that but just because you are exceptionally capable does not mean that 99.5% of the people are. Of course it CAN be done but by a limited number of people...I did not say it could not be done.

Oh yeh, the old 3 hour thing....have heard that before. That is for those driving from Williams or taking the hokey train from there for the most part. Those are the people who want to say they have BEEN to the G C; not SEEN the G C.

And truly seeing it means sunrises and sunsets; not hiking a trail down to Phantom Ranch. Hey, that is fine but not the colors and shadows one gets from the Rim(s) at dawn and dusk.

Hey, I was scheduled - when working / living in Minneapolis - to run Rim to Rim to Rim. I was fit and could do it - down from the S R, up to the top of the N R, get a slap on the butt and turn around and return.... about 20 hours continuous running the trails.

Sorry, folks, he got me going. :-) Kudos to him but not the norm.

I will agree,its not the norm. A good percentage would probably not walk more than a couple of hundred yards to see anything, even those in good health. We volunteer at parks all over the US and have noticed the vast majority do not even get off of the pavement or sidewalk.

Hard to believe it has been 10 years ago. These are only a few of the great views from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

North Rim Views

EDIT TO ADD: All of these scenes and many more like them were taken without any hike over 5 minutes.

AND ;) that "honeymoon couple" had been married for only 48 years--now 58 as of June 22!

2gypsies wrote:
The North Rim is an excellent spot for many reasons: cooler in summer, less crowds, quiet, perhaps on the traveler's route more so than the south rim, perhaps they've been to the south rim and now want to try the north rim.

Ourselves - we've been to the south rim often and enjoy it - off season. It's not a summer place for us. We've hiked the canyon. We've rafted through the canyon for 10 nights and slept on the canyon floor. We have tons of professional-type photos. We don't need any more. Our favorite now is the North Rim. We go there to soak in the quietness and beauty and instill past memories in our mind of what we've experienced from both Rims.

By the way, where is the documentation that the average time spent by visitors is 3 hours? Granted, the big bus tours of foreign visitors might take some selfies and leave for their third national park in a day. However, I really don't think most visitors do that.

nationalparktraveler.com
you do the math.
PS: My mistake, the latest estimate is 4-5 hrs average.

Lauren wrote:

And I am not saying there are NO views (of course there are); but a very limited viewing of the Grand Canyon.

I have been to both North and South and did not find the North views limited at all!

I liked the North better, and am going back this year.

The North Rim is an excellent spot for many reasons: cooler in summer, less crowds, quiet, perhaps on the traveler's route more so than the south rim, perhaps they've been to the south rim and now want to try the north rim.

Ourselves - we've been to the south rim often and enjoy it - off season. It's not a summer place for us. We've hiked the canyon. We've rafted through the canyon for 10 nights and slept on the canyon floor. We have tons of professional-type photos. We don't need any more. Our favorite now is the North Rim. We go there to soak in the quietness and beauty and instill past memories in our mind of what we've experienced from both Rims.

By the way, where is the documentation that the average time spent by visitors is 3 hours? Granted, the big bus tours of foreign visitors might take some selfies and leave for their third national park in a day. However, I really don't think most visitors do that.