If it’s your first visit to the Grand Canyon South Rim, you can easily be overwhelmed by the choice of trails. Many first timers are itching to hike below the rim, but if that isn’t you, the best trail is the South Rim Trail. It’s flat and offers great views all along the Canyon’s southern rim. The drawback, of course, is that it’s heavily traversed nearly all year. But the big upside is that it’s paved and can accommodate wheelchairs, strollers, and the like. Plus, if you overshoot your ability, you can hop on the shuttle for your return.

South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Ahh Point

If you are a moderately skilled hiker with good fitness and really want to tell your friends you hiked into the Grand Canyon, South Kaibab Trail is one of the best options. Your hike begins on Yaki Point Road where you’ll find the South Kaibab trailhead. You’ll want to take the Orange shuttle from Grand Canyon Village, since there is no parking on Yaki Point Road near the trailhead.

The descent to Ooh Ahh Point offers exhilarating vistas and beautiful wildflowers along the trail. It starts with several steep switchbacks that are doable even for kids. It’s also where most of the shade is (mornings only). The total distance to the point is .9 miles, which should take you about 40 minutes. When you reach Ooh Ahh Point, you’re rewarded with dramatic panoramic views that show off the splendor of Grand Canyon east.

Bear in mind that you’ll need to bring plenty of your own water on this moderate hike, although it’s also seasonally available at the trailhead. Hats, good hiking shoes or boots, high protein snacks, and sunblock are also recommended. Depending on your endurance, the hike back is only about ten minutes longer than the hike down, for others it takes double the time to ascend as it did to descend. Expect a 90-minute to two-hour roundtrip hike.

Stretching Your Hike to Include Cedar Ridge

Nearly anyone who hikes South Kaibab Trail will tell you that the extra .6 mile from Ooh Ahh Point to Cedar Ridge is well worth adding onto your hike. It follows the ridge line in full sun as you descend into the canyon. When you reach Cedar Ridge, you’ll discover phenomenal 360-degree views from nearly the center of the Grand Canyon where spectacular cliffs and crevasses seem nearly endless.

There is an outhouse style bathroom at Cedar Ridge with no running water, and a hitching post for mules since this is one of their rest stops into and out of the Canyon. Take your time here and fully immerse yourself in the enormity of the Canyon, maybe even have your lunch here before beginning your ascent back to the rim.

Lots of people underestimate the difficulty of the return trail, or maybe overestimate their fitness and endurance. Either way, plan for your return trek to the rim to take a lot longer from here than your descent. Be smart and make frequent stops. After all, each stop is another opportunity to admire the natural beauty all around you. The three-mile roundtrip may not sound like a lot, but when you get to those challenging switchbacks at the top right as you’re your most tired, you’ll get it. So, take it easy on the way back up to the rim.

Back at Grand Canyon Village

After an arduous hike below the rim and back, you won’t want to go far for comfort. Enjoy a meal at one of eight Grand Canyon South Rim restaurants. There’s a variety of choices from casual budget-minded establishments to higher end fine dining. If you plan ahead, you could even stay the night at one of six Grand Canyon Village hotels where an afternoon nap before dinner may be in order!

When you’ve reached sensory overload from the high energy lights, sounds, and thrills of Las Vegas, Papillon Aerial Sightseeing Company has an adventure of a different sort waiting for you. As the largest and oldest sightseeing company in the world, they’ve taken more than 600,000 passengers a year on daily trips to Grand Canyon and the surrounding area. And lucky for you, four of those trips leave from Las Vegas – Grand Celebration Tour, Highlights Air Tour, Golden Eagle Air Tour, and Grand Voyager. There’s a Grand Canyon tour for you that will fit with both your budget and your schedule.

Let’s take a closer look at these four in-demand tours.

Golden Eagle Air Tour

Golden Eagle Air Tour is one of the most popular Grand Canyon tour choices, because all-in you’re away and back in 3.5 to four hours tops. Papillon will pick you up at your major Las Vegas hotel and whisk you away to their private Boulder City heliport to begin your adventure. You’ll board a state-of-the-art helicopter that has been specifically designed for sightseeing.

Perks of these high-tech birds include luxurious seating, wide-angle windows with a field of view that spans 180-degrees, and a passenger-to-pilot communication system. Choreographed music syncs to the visually stunning landscape through noise-cancelling headphones. You’ll gain an even deeper appreciation for what you’re seeing with multilingual narration during your flight.

On this out-and-back Grand Canyon helicopter tour, there are no stops. What you’ll see is 70 minutes of astonishing geological vistas of Grand Canyon from your theater-style seat. You’ll soar over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Grand Canyon West Rim, and close-up views of cliff faces, Guano Point and Eagle Point rock formations.

Reserve a tour online through March 2020 and save big – up to $150. These prices aren’t even visible on the Papillon website, but are offered through Grand Canyon Deals where you can even book now, fly later.

Grand Celebration Tour

If not landing in the Grand Canyon seems like a disappointment to you, then the Grand Celebration Tour will fix that for you. This upgrade of the Golden Eagle Tour uses the same state-of-the-art, luxury helicopter. You’ll still see Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and Grand Canyon West Rim. But on this tour, you’ll also have the thrilling experience of landing below the rim in Grand Canyon! This signature helicopter tour is Papillon’s best-seller.

On this four to 4.5-hour roundtrip tour, you’ll spend 70 minutes of flight time and 30 minutes of on-the-ground time in the canyon, 4,000 feet below the rim. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to do some exploring of your own and indulge in a light picnic with champagne.

Book your Grand Celebration Tour online through Grand Canyon Deals and save up to $100 per person when you book before March 2020 – fly anytime.

Highlights Air Tour

If you’re traveling with family to Las Vegas, this Grand Canyon side trip will provide the thrill of one of our greatest natural wonders without breaking the bank. The entire Highlights Air Tour is four hours hotel-to-hotel. You’ll be picked up at your major Las Vegas hotel and be taken to your plane. From there you’ll be on the Grand Canyon airplane tour 70 minutes, taking in the aerial views of Grand Canyon West, Skywalk, Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Hoover Dam. Get picture perfect views and take photos from your comfortable seat.

Book your flight online through Grand Canyon Deals now through March 2020, for unbeatable prices. Fly anytime.

Grand Voyager Tour

This all-day adventure is the ultimate Grand Canyon experience at 7 hours hotel-to-hotel. You’ll fly in an airplane from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West where you’ll board a helicopter that takes you 4,000 feet below the rim, landing in the Canyon. There, you’ll hop on a pontoon boat to cruise the Colorado River before returning to the Rim for a hop on, hop off shuttle to Guano and Eagle Points. Then it’s back to Las Vegas via airplane. Your Grand Voyager Tour includes four hours at Grand Canyon.

Save more than $150 per person when you book your trip online in advance at Grand Canyon Deals.

Important: All passengers must have a government issued ID or passport.

There is only one structure for lodging beneath the rim of the Grand Canyon in the national park and it has been there for almost 100 years. It is Phantom Ranch, the brainchild of the National Park Service and the Fred Harvey Company, the handiwork of Mary Jane Colter and the welcome relief stop of the hardy hiker who opts to walk to the bottom of the canyon.

Fred Harvey

Frederick Henry Harvey sailed from England to New York City in 1853 when he was seventeen years old. He scrubbed pots in a restaurant before heading west to New Orleans and then St. Louis. Harvey eventually found work with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.

In 1873 Harvey began operating a small trio of restaurants along the tracks of the Kansas Pacific Railroad and three years later he closed a handshake deal with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to open eating houses along the great railroad line of the Southwest. There would come to be 84 Harvey Houses where railroad passengers could get a meal and bed for the night. Fred Harvey was known far and wide as “the Civilizer of the West.”

Harvey died in 1901 (according to a biographer his last words were “Cut the ham thinner, boys.”) and his sons took over operation of the Fred Harvey Company. In the 1920s it was decided to open a lodge on the Grand Canyon floor.

Mary Jane Colter

Mary Jane Colter was the architect responsible for most of the structures in Grand Canyon National Park. The site selected for her to build the canyon floor lodge was one long popular with Colorado River travelers, shaded by cottonwoods and boasting a sandy beach. Theodore Roosevelt and his party had camped here.

All the building materials save stone had to be ferried to the bottom of the canyon on the backs of mules. The resulting melange of wood and native stones became known as “national park rustic” in shaping lodges in the park system’s future. Colter completed her initial series of sketches for the compound and all involved gave a hearty endorsement. But when Colter was informed that the lodge was to named after the President’s camp – Roosevelt’s Chalets – she stated that in no way would her work be associated with that project. She had a name picked out already: Phantom Ranch. Teddy’s honorarium was scuttled.

Phantom Ranch Today

Mary Jane Colter would still recognize Phantom Ranch 90-plus years later. There are dormitories for men and women and individual cabins available. The Phantom Ranch Canteen is open for breakfast and dinner seatings. All supplies still arrive by mule train.

The only way to get to Phantom Ranch is by foot or by raft. You can hike to the ranch from either the North Rim or the South Rim and nearby are the only two bridges across the Colorado River for scores of miles in either direction. From the South Rim the most popular route is 7.8 miles down the Kaibab Trail and 9.6 miles up the Bright Angel Trail. The Ranch is also the stopover point for ambitious Rim-to-Rim hikes.

Accommodations are not luxurious but neither are they primitive. You can expect a hot shower and a cold beer. There is no cell phone reception at the Phantom Ranch, however. 

Space is extremely limited and available on a reservation basis. On the first day of the month, 13 months in advance, reservations can be made. These sell out within hours which is why booking with a tour group is a favorite way to experience Phantom Ranch. Reservations are also required for the Canteen, although these are more easily acquired, especially when hiking during less popular seasons. Backcountry permits for camping at the nearby Bright Angel Campground can also be scored on shorter notice. 

All of the structures built at the Grand Canyon are fabricated to blend in with the timeless natural beauty of the landscape. Well, most of them. One that is decidedly not is the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped glass walkway that juts 70 feet out from the canyon wall and permits tour guests to look straight down to the floor of the canyon 4,000 feet below as they shuffle along.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk is found in Grand Canyon West, beyond the boundaries of the National Park Service in the lands of the Hualapai Nation. The Skywalk can not be reached by road fro

m inside the Grand Canyon National Park. Access is by road from Las Vegas (about two hours) or Phoenix (5 hours). Many visitors opt for helicopter tour service to reach the Skywalk – only a 45-minute ride.

It all begins with an idea

A businessman from Las Vegas named David Jin first approached the Haulapai Tribe with an idea for a glass bridge extending out from the canyon wall in 1996. The Haulapai representatives were adamant that nothing be constructed that would compromise the integrity of the canyon and it took seven years of back-and-forth talks before the tribe approved the plan.

Engineers had no prototype from which to work and teams from Lochsa Engineering and MRJ Associates debated about whether to build the skywalk out from the cliff’s edge or fabricate it on the ground and move it into place. The latter plan was adopted as it was believed to cause less disturbance to the existing rock; geotechnical engineers devised an anchoring system that would fasten the walkway to the the top of the cliff without requiring drilling into the canyon wall.

Becoming a Reality

The Skywalk was fabricated in Salt Lake City. The frame required the welding of 40-foot steel beams – so many that welders were on the job for four months. The existence of the Grand Canyon Skywalk is actually the triumph of welding. After the frame was finished 900 pounds of glass panels were adhered to the frame to create the finished bridge.

The entire shebang weighed 1.6 million pounds and had to be trucked from Utah to the remote location in Peach Springs, Arizona. Using a technique pioneered by the ancient Egyptians in building the pyramids, the engineers rolled the Skyway out from the cliff on cantilevered beams, an exacting procedure that required almost three days to execute.

“You feel like you are flying over the Grand Canyon”

Hualapai tribal members, David Jin and guests Buzz Aldrin (the second man to walk on the moon) and John Herrington (the first Native American astronaut) made the first stroll on the Grand Canyon Skywalk on March 20, 2007 – some thirty months after the ground breaking ceremony.

Each of the 46 glass panels under foot consists of five layers of glass bonded together to a thickness of 2 1/2 inches. Each panel can support 100 square feet and the Skywalk is strong enough to hold 71 million pounds of weight – the equivalent of six-dozen 747 jet planes. Only about 80-120 people are testing the structure’s holding capacity above the canyon floor at any one time.

There is not admission to the Skywalk only. Ticket packages, which include entrance fees to Hualapai Tribal Lands, from the Grand Canyon West Tour Center are required. Tours of Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk can be crafted to include helicopter and ATV experiences. Grand Canyon tour companies like Papillon and Maverick Helicopters offer tours to the Skywalk from Las Vegas.