Hello Everyone!!

[Travis Hoopingarner]

My brother and I have decided to start taking up this adventurous hobby. We are planning our first trip to the Grand Canyon starting on the south rim and working our way to the north rim. My mind is overwhelmed with questions that I'm hoping y'all could help me with. First off, where would I fly into? Hotel recommendations for the south and north rims. Are there shuttles that would take one from a hotel to the rim and from the rim to the hotel? Where do I start at? I have a few months to get my gear together and do a few over night hikes here in North Texas, but any wisdom and advice would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.

[tmountainnut]

Flying into Pheonix or Vegas works best. Sometimes tickets are cheaper to Vegas, and but Pheonix is a shorter drive and Sedona is on the way. There is only Xanterra ran hotels within the boundaries of the park, and they will be popular for sure so check them out. Otherwise you'll need to stay outside of the park boundaries in Williams on the south side or Jacob Lake on the north side. As far as shuttles, there are free park-run shuttles in the village area of south rim. They even have a longer shuttle that'll take you along the entire south rim road to desert view. There's also the Railroad from Willams to the south rim if you're into that.

I wrote up an article on my Grand Canyon Trip for issue 18. Theres lots of info in it about the Grand Canyon backcountry if you're planning on backpacking. The key for getting primo sites is putting in for permits as soon as you can since the backcountry is pretty popular.

Let me know if you have any specific questions :-)