Grand Canyon National Park

The big daddy of ‘em all, the Grand Canyon is so big you can see it from space. This place is so much more than meets the eye (even from space). Yes, it is a massive canyon that is 6,000’ deep at its deepest and 18 miles wide at its widest. Yes, its been carved out by the Colorado River for 5-6 million years. It’s even home to the largest North American bird!

But the Grand Canyon is also full of small slot canyons shrinking down to a foot wide, waiting to be explored. Its home to bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, cougars, coyotes, snakes, lizards, frogs, a million birds, and all kinds of other wildlife. It swings from temperatures up to 120 degrees in the summer to below zero in the winter (complete with a lot of snow, they got 64” of snow the month I was there!). Its filled with all kinds of activities, from rafting the Colorado in 15-21 days, taking guided mule trips into the canyon, hiking rim to rim, riding the Grand Canyon Railway, biking along the canyon rim, visiting the historic El Tovar lodge, and many others!.

I visited the Grand Canyon in the middle of winter (my favorite time to visit the desert), and was lucky that just the week before I got there a big storm covered the canyon rim in snow. Although it didn’t stick around inside the canyon itself (it was warmer at the lower elevations), the canyon rim was covered in snow and ice (my favorite conditions!). Being the 2nd most visited national park, I’ll take any excuse to find smaller crowds, of which winter is perfect for. The short days and low sun of winter also created perfect conditions for golden hour light. And lastly, being way out in the middle of nowhere, Grand Canyon National Park was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2016. Winter is the best time to view dark skies, as cold air holds less moisture.