Grand Canyon in the winter?

Thanks d2 coach... What i'm hearing is that one of the rims is closed in the winter but the south rim is not closed. Would I be missing anything if I only went to the south rim or is it kind of all the same?

Ganbatte wrote:

Thanks d2 coach... What i'm hearing is that one of the rims is closed in the winter but the south rim is not closed. Would I be missing anything if I only went to the south rim or is it kind of all the same?

South rim is great, especially in the off season.

You can run down to the river on the Kaibab trail. Maybe the first couple switchbacks can be tricky. It took me around 5 hours with a nice break at the river, round trip. (I was used to altitude at that time). You need to bring all your water since the spigots are turned off in the canyon but that should not be an issue, if you have a decent sized hydration pack.

Call us and ask. By us I don’t mean the information desk at the GC visitors center . They are still spewing the bs to make Trump happy. Call the North Rim Trooper Station . We’ve been told it’s shutting down Nov 1 because of Covid

I would head south of Flagstaff instead of going to the GC. GC is great, but there is a lot of amazing things to see and do in places like Sedona and down in the Sonoran desert. And the shorter winter days can really limit the hiking in the GC. Many of the best hikes in the GC are all day affairs.

You'll be fine, the canyon looks amazing when there is a dusting of snow! (probably the most you'll likely see.)

Ganbatte wrote:

Thanks d2 coach... What i'm hearing is that one of the rims is closed in the winter but the south rim is not closed. Would I be missing anything if I only went to the south rim or is it kind of all the same?

I had never been to the GC, and haven't been able to get back since. I don't feel like I missed anything by going to the south rim. That entire trip was 3 months well spent because although I've traveled a lot for business over the years, and I used to travel a lot to race, I have never really traveled much for pleasure. GC was so different from anything else I had ever seen it completely blew me away. You could have told me it was the south rim, the north rim, the best part of the GC or the worst part and it wouldn't have mattered because it was glorious. I got clear weather during the day both days.

Best time of year to visit the south Rim and go to the bottom.

Precious Roy wrote:

I would head south of Flagstaff instead of going to the GC. GC is great, but there is a lot of amazing things to see and do in places like Sedona and down in the Sonoran desert. And the shorter winter days can really limit the hiking in the GC. Many of the best hikes in the GC are all day affairs.

The Grand Canyon is way more spectacular than Sedona.

If you haven't been to the GC there is no question where to go first.

Have done the double cross many times, typically in October/early November as well as April. If you're looking to do a double then I'd advise against doing it outside of those times. Later then April and you really start pushing it with temps in the canyon and later than early November you risk the water and facilities on the North Rim being cut off. If you're just thinking of driving to the south rim and doing a rim to river and back up then winter is a great time. If the South Rim gets decent snow you can run into ice conditions up top (micro spikes are golden) but what's worse is just a half mile down everything turns into muddy clay, especially on South Kaibab, but the views of the canyon with a coating of snow on it are absolutely worth it.

I hiked R2R2R last December. My experience:

- I chose dates that fell right before the holiday rush to ensure I wouldn’t get slammed by Christmas hikers.

- I camped in the Canyon at the campsites to save $$$

- Shuttled to and from the Canyon using Fromm shuttles.

- Flew into Flagstaff from Phoenix. Small airport but worth it for me rather than renting a car.

- Weather wise it wasn’t too bad until I hiked out. Blistering cold that day and completely exposed to the wind. It had snowed several weeks prior, and there was residual snow left over from there. North Rim was closed, but South Rim was open.

- Running wise I’m sure you can run down into the Canyon. You’re biggest obstacles will be on the North Rim, as less hikers venture over there and the trails aren’t maintained.

Hit or miss .. can be cold and windy with some ice on the top of the trail, or it can be 65 and sunny.

Look at Jim Walmsley’s Strava . They run the rim to rim (south rim trails) regularly in the winter.

Best part is fewer crowds. South rim is always open, don’t listen to the other morons.

I think it was February 2017 or 2018 when the storm of the century hit, and I showed up the day after. Two and a half feet of snow in Prescott and two feet of snow at South Rim.

Packed snow and on the trails near the rim.

I booked a year in advance, and had already cancelled the prior trip, so I decided to go for it. Somehow I made it.