Cedar Ridge - Grand Canyon, AZ

This was our first trip to the Grand Canyon and we wanted to make the most of seeing as much as we could, and of course, we had to fit in a hike.  We started out our exploration of the Grand Canyon at the visitor center.  The vistitor center was very impressive.  Great color maps of all the hikes and a wonderful shuttle system that took you to the start of all the trails.  The maps even had a picture guide to tell you how much water and food you should pack, Karen got a huge kick out of that.  We started out by taking a shuttle to a scenic overlook to get a few photos and actually got some great shots of us and the canyon.  See below.  The amazing thing about the Grand Canyon is that it is impossible to take a picture to include the vastness that you are seeing.  You can only get a snippet of the actualy scenery, it is that massive.

Unfortunetly, the Grand Canyon is VERY hot in August.  We weren't quite prepared for how hot it got in the actual canyon and we set out to do Cedar Ridge about midday.  We didn't have enough water and the rationing started on the hike down.  The actual hiking was strenous, especially coupled with the strong heat and lack of shade on our route.  The Cedar Ridge trail continues all the way to the bottom of the canyon and you can camp out the night and hike back up, but we only went down partially.  There are warnings EVERYWHERE that hiking to the bottom and back up to the top in the same day is deadly.  There was even a story of super-athletes that died in the canyon trying to do just that.  We have been much better about bringing enough water ever since that hike.

The Cedar Ridge hike is considered a good hike for starting late and hiking in the day.  It is only about 1000 ft of descension and then climbing back up.  It's only about 3 miles total, but it was a hot 3 miles and we were rationing ice cubes by the end and kicking ourselves for getting such a late start.  Also, the hiking guide recommended two sandwhiches (we had none) and double the water we brought.  It was a good hike though when it was all done and we finished in time to watch the sunset over the Grand Canyon.  We would definitely love to go back and take advantage of all the offerings.  Maybe some day soon.