This blog is long overdue, but since many people (like me) start planning their Spring Break or Summer trips early, I figured better late than NEVER.
This past Summer we visit Grand Canyon National Park. WHAT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE and I think it is definitely something everyone should do at least once.
We decided we wanted to hike down into the Grand Canyon with our kids, ages 6 & 3, even for just a little bit so I set out on researching through google, and although information was scarce we were able to do it.
THE RIM TRAIL: The Rim Trail is an easy walk and has breathing taking views. This was easy for my 86 year old grandfather and for the kids. What I loved most about the Rim Trail was that it is fenced in for the most part so we were able to let my 3 year old walk without being worried about the edge of the Canyon or anything like that. Here are a couple of photos from the Rim Trail.
THE BRIGHT ANGEL TRAIL: This is the trail you want to take if you want to try to hike down into the Canyon with kids. Most of the research I did before hand suggested that we should stop at the first tunnel because of the heat, However, we started hiking this trail at around 4:00pm and we had a lot of shade and it wasn’t that hot and so we kept going until the first switchback. As you can see in the photo below, the whole trail was shady when we started.
The trail is narrow so as hikers were coming back up we had to move against the rocks to let them pass. Especially when we were taking photos.
We continued on to the first switchback and we got some really great photos. To be honest, we would have probably kept going but I didn’t want to push it. Make sure you bring plenty of water- even though it wasn’t extremely hot, and we were in the shade, we got very thirsty- The way back up to the care was definitely more grueling than the way down. My 3 year old was saying her legs were tired towards the end. The whole hike, from the top to the first switchback took us about an hour and twenty minutes. We stopped to admire views and take lots of photos which is probably why we took that long.
We also had some snacks, a battery pack for our phones just in case something happened, I always like to be prepared. Another tip is before you start the hike make sure your little ones use the bathroom- because we drank a lot of water while hiking, as soon as we got back to the car the kids had to use the restroom so we had to drive back to the rim trail to use the public restroom. We also used the restrooms at the Rim trail before heading to the Bright Angel Trail. We were there the first week of July and the heat was not unbearable, but I hear that it can get extremely hot sometimes during the Summer so be sure to check the weather forecast before you head out.
We got some really great photos and the views are just amazing. I really enjoyed hiking the trail even for just a little bit with my kids.
Coupon Parents 