Arizona with kids- Grand Canyon

We traveled to the Grand Canyon with the boys. It was a nerve wracking trip to plan for because our Ben likes to run without thought. The husband and I spoke at length about ways to prevent him from running off the side of the Grand Canyon. We knew from research that while there are fences in certain areas that most of the area is open and has the potential a fall. With that in mind, we did some research on the best way to keep the kids safe. After research, we decided to buy a climbing harness and added a leash to the back. My son was over 60lbs at this point and the safety harness for kids juts wouldn’t handle his weight. Here is his photo:

We only use the harness when we were walking on the trails to keep him safe. He likes to push the limit:

So once we settled on the harness we decided to do research to see which paths we should take and what we should see while we were there. We ended up stumbling on the website: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/ and I was hooked. This girl lays out plans for each place you visit and for a small amount you get to see the itinerary to follow. We bought the Grand Canyon plan and followed it. Just the detailed layout for the bus system was money well spent. Quite a few tourists approached us and asked about bus lines and what each color meant. She gives you a nice cheat sheet and we used it often (and helped others too!!)

So that takes me to arrival at Grand Canyon. Be warned…there is a line to get in. We were not prepared for the line of cars in front of us and regretted not arriving a bit earlier. We only had one day here so we wanted to get the most bang for our buck. Good news!!! The line moves FAST! Have your money ready to go when it is your turn!

Next, we drove up and were AMAZED to see all of the elk roaming around. My boys squealed and clapped their hands as we drove up. I took it nice and slow because I didn’t want to hurt these beautiful creatures. I also warned my boys not to run towards them and to give them plenty of room. We talked about wild animals and the importance of remembering they are wild:

We got out and there were elk grazing so I took a quick photo and we moved on with our day. We visited in March so the weather was chilly in the morning. I had purchased Columbia fleece in anticipation of this and also brought hats and gloves. The boys were layered and I had a backpack to add the layers as they took them off. Long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and fleece. It worked well.

The next thing that surprised me and I was NOT ready for was the bus system. I knew how to use the buses, thanks to Dirt in My Shoes, but I had NO idea how long the wait would be for the buses to get around. You have to park at the visitor center and take buses to get to the “interior” of the park so you are at the mercy of the buses. We ended up waiting for 45 minutes to get to Angel Trails and my kids were going nuts. If I had known, I would have brought activities to occupy them! It was this way each time we needed to catch a bus to get from place to place. It would have been fine if it was just my husband and I, but with the boys it was exhausting.

The biggest piece of advice I can give. Plan ahead with activities for waiting in line. Plan ahead with getting a tour plan, like the one we got with Dirt in my Shoes and plan ahead if you have little ones to occupy on buses. Here are some photos. It is well worth the visit and we will go back again when the boys are older:

We took the bus up to Hermits Point and I would suggest the trip. It was a long bus ride and wait but the views were beautiful and there was a small gift shop and food area. We had packed our own lunch which I had in my backpack so we sat and ate. It was so peaceful and the boys enjoyed stacking rocks. I usually discourage them from stacking rocks in National Parks because I strongly believe that we enjoy nature and we don’t leave our footprint behind. We stay on trails, we carry out trash we create in our packs and we don’t alter what we find. There are picnic tables at Hermits Point to eat so we ended up sharing a table with another family. We were also very careful not to linger. We ate, cleaned up and moved on!