One Best Hike: Grand Canyon

One of America’s most iconic national parks, and one of the world’s most spectacular places, the Grand Canyon attracts over 4 million visitors a year who visit the canyon and peer over the edge of the abyss. A small number of these tourists leave their cars and trek from the rim to the banks of the Colorado River on one of the best-known hikes in the country. On the journey hikers take a "geologic journey through time" and pass layers of colored rock and surreal formations that make the canyon so picturesque. Some of these hikers are adequately prepared for the rigors of what can be a dangerous journey. Many are not, and the trip can be deadly. The most popular route into the canyon is from the South Rim on the 16.2-mile round-trip hike descending the South Kaibab Trail to the Colorado River at Bright Angel Campground and ascending the Bright Angel Trail, with an elevation gain and loss of more than 9000 feet round trip. Although the hike is non-technical, following well-graded trail the whole way, would-be hikers need to be prepared for extreme heat in summer and icy conditions in winter, elevation gain, and other potential dangers before they embark on this trip. Author and seasoned Southwest hiker Elizabeth Wenk provides the authoritative, step-by-step guide to planning and completing this superb excursion with safety advice, insider information, detail, and reassurance found nowhere else. Elizabeth Wenk, 2010, 173 pages, softcover