Grand Canyon Trip - Need Advice

Hey Guys,

I'm taking the wife and my son to the Grand Canyon this summer. I reserved a camp site at the mather camp grounds (South Rim) for Tuesday July 5th - Friday July 8th. We will be heading home on Saturday the 9th. I may hit Sedona up on that Monday prior to arriving at the GC.

I would like to find some places that are more secluded. My truck is plenty capable, but I'm not looking to do in major rock crawling as I will be by myself. I have a rear air locker, sliders, skids, high clearance bumpers and 33s". I'm looking to get away from the crowds and drive to some places the average person can not go. Maybe the Colorado river. I don't know the place well enough to even guess what I want to do. I'm assume I'm looking at some back country permits. I don't have to stay at the camp grounds the whole time, but that is my fall back. Besides, my wife will want the showers and restrooms some.

Can you guys give me some insight or point me to some good sources?

Any help for an Arkansas guy would be appreciated.

 

Are you guys into other activities (hiking/mountain biking/etc)?

How old is the kiddo?

I haven't been to the south rim or actually into the National Park. I have been on the Kaibab Plateau near/around the north rim several times.

Check the Kaibab National Forest for camping/driving options. Especially if you go around the canyon to the north side.

Vermillion Cliffs
Rainbow Rim (camp on the edge of the rim at 5 separate points and 18ish mile point to point bike/hike trail.

 

You can drive down to the Colorado at Diamond Creek. You probably (almost certainly) need a permit from the reservation though. I don't know much else about the area.

There are tons of places to go in sedona, trails and roads everywhere. Same with the flagstaff area.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll check into those. My son is 9 and where into about anything outdoors.

 

Thanks...Ill check into Diamond creek

 

If you want to get away from the crowds I would head to the north rim........south rim in July is packed beyond belief.........the are several good trails to drive in kiabab forest on north rim.

 

That is what I figured, but I couldn't find any open camp sites at the north rim. I literally just booked my south rim camp site today. Last minute trip.

 

Any trip to GC is great just for the views alone......you will enjoy it.......If you want to loose the crowds hike to the bottom.......there is cabins and showers at Phantom Ranch however it does require reservations booked months in advance.

 

Toroweep fits your description perfectly. Hours of driving on dirt roads to get there. Only a dozen campsites. And you just barely need 4x4 to access it -- minivans get stopped by minor rock obstacles about half mile out. It's on the North side, it'll take a while to get there from South Rim.

 

Campgrounds fill up - but there's always dispersed camping in the national forests. "This looks like a good spot, Honey" Just make sure you come completely self contained.

 

I assume camping in the national forest does not require back country permits? I think those are for Indian land??

 

Yes, no permit is required for dispersed camping on national forest.......just make sure you are not in national park or Indian reservation.

 

Haha...I'm not sure there will be many secluded spots near Sedona or the South Rim on July 4th weekend. You can check out Havasupai point on the south rim side - I believe it requires an indian reservation fee & technically a backcountry camping permit.

As others have mentioned, the North Rim is less crowded & much cooler, but a bit of a drive if you're coming from the south side. If you decide on it, there's a dirt road route up to the rim (past marble canyon) via buffalo ranch road you can look into. There are many less-traveled view points to check out on the north rim side (point sublime, fire, swamp, locust, etc) and further away towards toroweap (sb point, kanab, whitmore).

 

Lol...yea I know. Kinda funny...But my truck can get past most of the city slickers out there if I find the right spot.

 

Not exactly true - you need your fire permit. These are easily obtained and are good for an entire season, but you don't want to be caught camping without one - you need it for any campfire, stove, or camp grill. And fines for lighting a fire without having a fire permit in your possession are severe.

 

Interesting. Never heard of a fire permit & I've camped all over UT, AZ & CO. You definitely want to check for fire restrictions before lighting it up wherever you go.

 

You don't need them in any established campground. Only when doing dispersed camping.

 

As I dug into it to find a general link, it may be that the regulation is National Forest specific, and not nationwide.

But as an example, Eldorado National Forest is the closest forest to me, and this is what they have to say:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_018795.pdf

 

Are Tuweep reservations only made by mailing or faxing a form?

 

I dunno. I was there when they were still operating "first come first served" and they were going to be switching over to a reservation system.

You've seen this page, right?

https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/tuweep.htm