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Grand Canyon: a landscape that defies all superlatives
West side of the South Rim
Hermit’s Rest and Hermit Point/Hermit Trail are among the most beautiful places on the Grand Canyon’s South Rim precisely because they are often quieter than the busy viewpoints around Grand Canyon Village.
Everyone seems to stay in and around Grand Canyon Village.
Many visitors take the red shuttle straight to the end of Hermit Road. As a result, the first buses of the day are often surprisingly busy.
Tip: However, you can also get off halfway and continue hiking along the edge of the canyon from there.
By the afternoon it gets a lot quieter and you often have the viewpoints almost to yourself.
We did that and it worked fine.
We took the red bus to Hermit Point, got off at Mohave Point and walked along the rim to Monument Creek Vista (3 km).
There we crawled back on the bus to Pima Point, from where we walked the last part to Hermit’s Rest (1.8 km).
The latter is a very nice and safe walk.
East side of the South Rim
The east side of the South Rim is done by car. There are no shuttle buses there. The most beautiful viewpoints here are Desert Watchtower, Lipan Point and Moran Point.
We also walked over to the campground at Desert Watchtower, where I had initially booked a camping spot.
The campsite turned out to be full, with places that are remarkably close together, closer than we have seen on campings so far. I can imagine that it can get quite busy in the evening.
It was also very busy at Desert Watchtower itself.
During my preparations, I had already read that this place is often strongly hyped, and that impression was confirmed on the spot.
On the way from the Grand Canyon to Cameron we made a detour to Wupatki National Monument – out of nostalgia.
The park contains well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ruins and has clearly been refurbished over the decades.
But the blowhole has lost none of its power after the past 40 years. The fresh air rising from an underground cave system – a kind of natural air conditioning from earlier times – felt good in the hot desert.
A little further away is the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, an interesting stopover for those who are fascinated by geology or just have some extra time to explore the area.
The landscape still clearly bears the traces of the volcanic eruption that took place here almost a thousand years ago, with extensive lava fields
We didn’t see anyone in Wupatki. Really no one.
And that while this place, in my opinion, is at least as interesting as the Desert Watchtower.
It remains strange how some locations attract visitors en masse, while others – sometimes just as impressive or even more intriguing – hardly see anyone…
Emma
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