Trail Tour: Grand Canyon

Majestic views, purple hues, canyon walls, and desert flowers. If this sounds like the desert dream you’ve been looking for, the Grand Canyon should be the first on your list. This was our first stop on the #SwiftwickTrailTour.

The Grand Canyon, located in the northwestern corner of Arizona, is 6,000 ft deep at its deepest point and 18 miles long at its widest. It has been carved by deposition, uplift, down cutting, and erosion, or DUDE as the National Park Service has coined.

Need to know - Grand Canyon National Park

While you will need a National Parks Pass for entry into the park, there are no reservations or timed entry needed. Dogs are allowed in the park but must remain leashed and are not allowed on any trails below the rim.

If you’re planning on visiting the Grand Canyon in the summer, there is one thing you need to know - bring more water than you think you need. Dehydration is real at the Grand Canyon. With the high summer temperatures averaging over 100 degrees, you’ll be happy you brought the extra liter (so you don’t end up like this guy)!

Hike from South Kaibab Trailhead to Ooh Aah Point

We chose to hike to Ooh Aah Point because it offered incredible views, and was in good proximity to the South Rim entrance of the park. This hike also wasn’t too intense of a distance or elevation change - we were still getting our sea hiking legs.

The hike from South Kaibab Trailhead to Ooh Aah Point is at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This is a beginner-friendly 2-mile hike with 790 ft of elevation loss and stunning views along the entire trail. It took us about twice as long to come back up the trail as it took to hike down. There is water available at the trailhead but none once you start the hike so make sure to fill up before you get going.

As you make your way down the trail, you’ll walk along the canyon walls, pass other hikers, and maybe meet a Park Ranger. Sweeping views of the Grand Canyon unfold in front of you the farther down you hiked. We passed signs that warned of extreme heat and advised hikers to take precautions before attempting to hike down to the bottom of the canyon.

Once you make it to Ooh Aah Point, it’s time to soak in the panoramic views. There are few places that compare to the vastness of the Grand Canyon and this is the perfect place to get up close.

Racheal and I (Kristen) knew we wanted to get jumping videos at every National Park we visited. This is where we asked a kind lady to take the video for us. Little did we know, that 4 days later, we would randomly ask the same exact lady to take another video for us at Arches National Park. Our minds were BLOWN! She just happened to be at the exact same spot as us when we decided to take our jumping video. Small world, huh?

What we brought:

• 18L hydration pack with 2L of water each
• Snacks
• Sunscreen
• Hats + sunglasses
• VISION Impression Grand Canyon socks
• SPF long-sleeve shirt
• Moisture wicking t-shirt

Next Stop ➜ Zion

Our next stop on the Swiftwick Trail Tour was Zion National Park. We grabbed our favorite road-trip snacks and hit the road for a 4-and-a-half-hour journey from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to Water Canyon Cliffside Camping Spot, a camping spot just 45 minutes away from Zion National Park. Our camp spot had beautiful views of the backside of Zion’s famous cliffs (not to mention the show the stars put on for us after the moon set behind the cliffs).