One of My Favorite Trails
- Rim Trail - Grand Canyon National Park
- Jun 16, 2015
- 2 min read
Walking through Hermit's Rest early in the morning gives me that peaceful feeling that I so love. The scent of Ponderosa pine is strong in the air and I always love that smell.I had taken the challenge of hiking the Bright Angel Trail and the Kaibab Trail and the tales of the other awesome trails through Grand Canyon National Park are vivid in my mind. However, on this day I experienced the solitude of walking on a trail that I had not experienced in this park. The Rim Trail runs (some how or another) all the way from Yapi Point, through the busy Visitor Center area and all the way to Hermit's Rest. This 1 mile segment from Hermit's Rest to Pima point quickly became my favorite trail that I have ever hiked. Many miles of the Rim trail are paved and that is never my favorite terrain to hike, but this portion is off road and wonderful trail that skirts the actual rim of the Grand Canyon. There are many trails here with more popularity, adoration, challenge, etc. This trail is does not have that level of challenge that the South Kaibab trail does, though it does require some scrambling and it presents a challenge that those who are affraid of heights might have to overcome. The 1 mile trek from Hermit's Rest to Pima Point have that combination of pine woods and canyon edge and comes with the most spectacular views I have ever scene. During the entire hike the landscape view of the Grand Canyon in all of it's grandeur are to you left (or right if you are coming from Pima Point) and it's impossible to hike without stopping every 50 feet to take it all in. Hermit's Rest is a quaint area at the end of the Redline shuttle bus route, which makes it a place to meet many people. So we decided to go early in the morning before the "Amusement Park" atmosphere overtakes it. There are those areas of the world where the peacfulness give me such a relaxation that I feel as though I never want to leave. As I left the Rest and began hikin a along the Rim trail the peacefullness held it's power adding the excitement of the hike. Full of salty Cliff Bars, electrolyte dose of Cytomax and of course a full Dueter reservoir I began to lead a group of five adventurers through the Rim trail. As all of our group is camera hungry and being a complete shutterbug myself, the stops along the trail soon began to take over and the hike became more of a stroll along the edge of the Grand Canyon. The combination of a magnificent vista view and the actual scrambling up rocks and hoping down into small slots of the trail made this hike a most enjoyable hike. Pima point came into sight much to quickly and though this trail continues on for 7 miles our daily schedule that day and concern for one of the group halted our hike that day and we continued on with our schedule. As for me that day I found my favorite trail.
