Post Cards From the Edge of the Quiet Canyon

Alone in one of America’s most popular national parks? It seemed, well, almost unnatural.

But a ranger at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona suggested that I catch the sunrise from Point Imperial on the North Rim--the highest point (at 8,803 feet) on either rim of the canyon. So the very next morning, ever the dutiful tourist, I made the 12-mile, sleepy-eyed drive from my cabin, arriving just in time to grab a seat on a flat rock for the first rays of the sun’s colorful show.

The dawn danced quickly across the canyon walls, spotlighting hues of red and orange and purple like a spinning kaleidoscope gone wild. Morning is the best time to view the colors before they are washed out by midday glare. A slight breeze, stirring the pines, hummed a daybreak anthem to accompany the display.

Except for two rock squirrels playing tag on a nearby pine, I was alone. It was both surprising and wonderful.

In a year, the Grand Canyon attracts about 3.5 million visitors. On a busy August day, like the one just then aborning, more than 20,000 tourists will be on hand, most of them at bustling Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim.

When conservationists talk about America’s overused parklands, one of the places they generally have in mind is the village--a hub of hotels, lodges, a youth hostel, museums, restaurants, snack bars and curio shops on the canyon’s edge. Crowds pour in from the parking lots in waves.

No one except me, however, had been tempted by Point Imperial’s sunrise on this particular day. I have swarmed with the photo-snapping throngs on the South Rim in the past, but on this visit I went in search of some of the park’s special solitary places. You can, I was discovering, still find solitude in the Grand Canyon without wandering far from the well-trod paths.

Many visitors, I suspect, arrive at the South Rim village, walk a few steps from the parking lot to peer into the giant chasm and figure they have seen the Grand Canyon. I thought so, anyway, on my first trip 30 years ago. The three of us, recent college grads on a Western camping spree, spent maybe an hour at the South Rim, part of the time buying post cards, and then left feeling strangely disappointed. Only on later visits did I come to realize that the canyon impresses most when you get to know it better.

Once I swept through the canyon on a nine-day rafting adventure, camping under the stars each night on sandy beaches beneath the towering walls. The trip was exciting, but I was surprised how varied the scenery was deep down at the bottom of the canyon. Every twist of the river yielded a new perspective.

Our raft held only 15 people (including two guides), and only rarely did we float past another raft. Thus, I got my first taste of the park without the crowds.

I even began to appreciate the South Rim, once I had stuck around long enough to learn about the West Rim Trail. The trail begins roughly at the front door of El Tovar Lodge, an elegantly restored historic hotel in the heart of the village, and follows the sweeping curves of the canyon west for eight miles to Hermits Rest.

For the first mile or so, the trail is paved and as packed as any downtown street, but traffic thins quickly the farther you walk. Every yard you cover offers yet new canyon views and an inviting perch on which to sit and contemplate them. I packed a lunch and made a day of it.

The trail is mostly level and well-worn, and you are never very far from rescue should you tire along the way. Parallel to the trail but usually just out of sight is West Rim Drive. During the busy summer months, the drive is closed to all vehicles except passenger shuttle buses.

The buses make pickup stops along the full length of the drive, so you can hike the trail one way and take the bus the other. Remember to walk with the sun at your back so that you can see the play of light on the canyon walls ahead.

If I had so easily overlooked West Rim Trail on my initial visits to the park, I wondered, what else must I be missing?

So when my schedule allowed a brief return to the canyon last August--this time to the North Rim--the first thing I did was put the question to the park’s staff, and ranger Dale Schmidt, supervisor of programs at the North Rim, obliged.

An eight-year veteran of the canyon, he filled me in on several short day-hikes that would give me little-seen, unjostled glimpses of the canyon. And then, as if to tempt me to a return visit, he disclosed some of his favorite hidden spots in the most remote corners of the huge wilderness park.

I met Schmidt when I signed on for an afternoon’s hike that he was leading along the Widforss Trail. On our trek, I told him of my interest in the Grand Canyon’s less-visited areas. My query prompted him to gather his flock of hikers for a brief lecture on the differences between the park’s South and North rims. For visitors who want to avoid the park’s crowds, he told us, the North Rim is the place to begin.

Most visitors see one or the other rim of the canyon, but generally not both on the same trip. A 21-mile hiking trail links the two rims--down one side of the canyon and up the other--and a very strong hiker can make it in a day, although an overnight stay at the canyon bottom is recommended.

The shortest drive between the rims is 215 miles, and the trip takes about five hours. Both rims offer grand viewpoints of the canyon, though good viewing areas are more easily reached on the South Rim.

While the South Rim averages about 20,000 visitors a day, said Schmidt, the more remote North Rim averages only 2,000. The difference is easily explained. The South Rim offers about 1,400 overnight accommodations, the North Rim fewer than 300. Also, the South Rim is open year-round, but snow closes the North Rim from about mid-October to mid-May.

Because the South Rim is 1,000 feet lower than the North, it gets less snow and rain. Warmed by winds from the canyon’s interior, its vegetation is sparse and desert-like. The North Rim is heavily wooded, its meadows lush and dotted with wildflowers. You feel as if you are in a northern forest. “On this plateau,” said Schmidt, “the deer outnumber the people.”

Schmidt’s basic guideline for getting away from the Grand Canyon’s crowds is to get a good map “and see where most people would not want to go.” That generally means some place reached by dirt roads, hiking trials or no trails at all.

Also, he advises, pick your seasons carefully. Summer is busy, spring and fall are less so, and winter is the time for real solitude.

Among Schmidt’s suggestions:

--Ken Patrick Trail: “It’s quite under-used.” Twelve miles one way, the trail is the hiker’s route from the Grand Canyon Lodge area on the North Rim to Point Imperial. It follows the canyon rim east through thick forests, and the climb is gentle. You probably will want to arrange to be picked up at the end of the hike.

--The rim-to-rim hike: You can do it in either direction. From the North Rim, you descend for 14 miles on the North Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch or Bright Angel Campground at the canyon’s bottom (overnight reservations are required at both). Early the next morning, make the steep seven-mile ascent of Bright Angel Trail.

During the summer months, a van makes a daily shuttle between the two rims to return you to your starting point. The shuttle departs the South Rim at 7 a.m. and the North Rim at 3 p.m. The one-way fare is $50.

To escape the masses, a hiker can descend either of the trails part way and double back on the same day. Hiking down is deceptively easy; the climb back up at the park’s high elevation can be very difficult. On any summer hike into the canyon, avoid the heat of midday. On the trail, carry plenty of water--a gallon a day per person is recommended--because the temperature in the inner canyon can soar above 100 degrees.

Several other trails descend into the canyon, but they are not always maintained. They are linked by the 70-mile Tonto Trail below the South Rim, making it possible to plan a circle route in and out of the canyon. If you are unfamiliar with the canyon’s hazards, consult rangers before attempting such a hike.

--Kaibab National Forest: “There’s a lot of territory out there.” The vast pine forest serves as a protective barrier north of the park’s border on the North Rim. It is laced with dirt roads, several of which lead to Grand Canyon overlooks reached no other way.

Schmidt suggests taking the Widforss Road that continues 17 miles beyond the Widforss trail head to Point Sublime, which he calls “one of the best viewpoints in the park.” You probably will need a pickup truck or other vehicle with a high chassis. Mountain bicycles are becoming increasingly popular on the forest roads.

Unlike in the national park, camping is permitted almost anywhere in the forest without a fee, although developed campgrounds also are available at three remote canyon viewpoints.

--East Rim: This is a five-mile hike that begins just east of Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. Go out to Yaki Point, a popular viewing spot where the mule trips emerge from the canyon on the South Kaibab Trail. Then, says Schmidt, “take a hard right turn and walk to Shoshoni Point.” No official trail exists, which eliminates most foot traffic, but if you follow the rim there is no great risk of getting lost. On your left will be the canyon; on your right, but generally at a distance, will be East Rim Drive, the first leg of the highway to the North Rim.

--Supai: “One of the more sublime places.” The tiny village of the Havasupai Indians, Supai lies deep in the Grand Canyon far to the west of Grand Canyon Village. It can be reached only by foot or horseback over an eight-mile trail or by helicopter, and visitors are welcome at a small guest house and campground. Near the village, the clear waters of Havasu Creek tumble in a series of waterfalls into inviting pools.

--Hermit Trail: “One of my favorites--the geology is fabulous,” says Schmidt. Beginning at Hermits Rest on the South Rim, the trail makes a nine-mile descent to the Colorado River at Hermit Rapids. In rafting season, you won’t always be alone. But you will have one of the best vantage points in the entire canyon to watch the passenger-filled boats plunge through the rapids.

For a good circle route, descend Bright Angel Trail from Grand Canyon Village, turn west on the Tonto Trail and ascend the Hermit Trail to catch the shuttle bus back to Grand Canyon Village.

--Tuweep: Located in what the Park Service calls one of the most remote desert pockets of the United States, Tuweep offers an unusual view of the canyon not seen elsewhere from either the North or the South rim. In most places, the canyon averages about 10 miles in width, but at Tuweep it narrows to less than a mile. From the viewpoint, the canyon wall plunges a straight 3,000 feet, and you can see the river clearly below.

The viewpoint can be reached by one of three dirt roads--from 55 to 90 miles long--that head south from Arizona Route 389 west of Fredonia. There is a modest campground, but no water is available. The Park Service warns that the drive should not be attempted “without ample preparation, including water, food, gasoline and tools.”

And, oh yes:

--Point Imperial at sunrise: Ranger Schmidt casually mentioned this easy excursion during our group hike along the Widforss Trail. I sensed it was a gentle hint to the lot of us that we had only begun to discover the hidden Grand Canyon. Thus nudged, I was wonderfully rewarded by the beauty of the canyon’s solitude. Alone in the Grand Canyon? It’s the best way to see this magnificent park.