Most visitors see the Grand Canyon from the rim, snap a few photos and move on. A group of Arizona Trail hikers recently found out what they were missing — and it turns out the canyon's best views start only after you've dropped thousands of feet below the edge.
Writing on The Trek, one of the hikers describes a descent via the Hermit Trail to a campsite at Hermit Creek, roughly 8 miles down the trail and more than 4,000 feet below the South Rim. The group hitched onto a permit secured by a fellow hiker, since the Arizona Trail's usual route into the canyon bottom via the North Kaibab Trail was closed at the time. The full hike to the Colorado River from their starting point is about 10 miles.
The descent itself is dramatic from the first steps. Early miles pass stone steps, steep switchbacks and a historic stone shelter named after the "hermit" who once lived in the area — complete with a long-locked stone privy that must once have had the best bathroom view in America. Further down, recent rainstorms had left their mark: washouts with loose boulders, eroded gravel and fresh trail closures elsewhere in the park. The group scrambled through, noting that freshly disturbed rock is far less stable than it becomes with time.
There were surprises on the way down, too. An unexpected 600-foot stretch of uphill climbing, a cool dripping cave section of trail, and glimpses of the campsite — identifiable by its privy roof — thousands of feet below. Once at Hermit Creek, which has a privy, food-hanging poles and plentiful tent spots, two of the hikers did an bonus out-and-back to the river: 2 miles and nearly 1,000 feet down, reaching the raging, mud-coloured Colorado in about 40 minutes before climbing back out before dark.
Why does this matter for regular travellers? Because it shows the canyon is a completely different place below the rim, and you don't need to be a thru-hiker to taste it. Permits for backcountry campsites like Hermit Creek are the main hurdle — they're limited and sought after — but day hikes partway down the Hermit or Bright Angel trails need nothing but an early start, sturdy legs and respect for the heat. One rule everyone should know: descending is the easy part, and the climb back out always takes longer than you think.
The writer, who had visited the South Rim in 2021 but never gone below it, called the day one of their favourite backpacking days ever. That's a decent argument for making rim-to-river — or at least rim-to-partway — the goal on your next Grand Canyon trip rather than another lookout-point lap.
