Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim Hike

This hike was incredibly beautiful but definitely challenging. It required a lot of planning ahead. The total hike is 24 miles one way. You will descend 6,000 ft in elevation and then climb 4,500 ft on your way out. You will need to bring food for as many days as you plan on hiking, but there are plenty of water sources for hikers along the trails. We did this hike in 3 days, but we really felt like we should have stayed longer. We didnt get to spend any actual time at Indian Garden Campground.

You will need a backcountry permit to reserve camping at any of the camping locations along the trail. If you plan on doing the hike in one day, you do not need to get a permit. When you check in for your hike, the park rangers will give you all the information you need to safely complete your journey.

If you are doing the hike as a one way trip you will need to arrange for the trans-canyon shuttle to bring you from the North Rim to the South Rim or vice versa. Since Catalina has knee injuries we chose to do the hike from the North Rim to the South Rim since that is the recommended easier route.

The campgrounds are primitive and do not include anything except the spot to put your tent up so you will need to be very well equipted with everything you need cook and eat your meals. When purchasing your tent you need to make sure its a light weight hiking tent and we really recommend bringing a sleeping pad since the hard rock is obviously not very comfortable to sleep in and you will want to get a good nights sleep to continue on the hike the next morning.Your backpack, when fully equipted with all your hiking needs, should not be any more than 30lbs and that doesnt sound like a lot of weight but hiking 23 miles with that much weight makes the hike even more difficult not taking into consideration the elevation gain and losses. For this hike we trained for 2 months beforehand. We worked out 5-6 days a week and did a lot of cardio and leg exercises.

Visit the National Park Service website for more information on the procedure for back country hiking. The permit is awarded on a lottery system and you must apply 4 months before your intended stay. We stayed at Cottonwood Campground, and Indian Garden campground. There wasnt really anything special to see at Cottomwood campground but the hike out of there on our way to Indian Garden was incredible. Indian Garden campground was beautiful and we were sorry we didnt get to spend more time there.