Tour Group or by Ourselves?
With all the dire warnings about the challenges and risks associated with a Rim-to-Rim hike you may be wondering why we would consider doing this on our own. Well, the main reason a hiker may want to do the hike on their own is cost. In principle, you may be able to save some money if your do everything on your own but when everything is factored in, an inexperienced hiker may not save that much money. Folks who hike into the wilderness, have experience handling the outdoors on their own, and have their own equipment may not find value with a tour company but we didn’t fall into this category.
A tour company provides a lot of services that we valued as novice hikers in the canyon. Permits are required to stay overnight in the campgrounds in the canyon. There are limited camping sites and the permits ensure that you have a spot to pitch your tent. The permits are provided on a lottery system and become available six months or so before the scheduled time in the canyon. A reputable tour company knows the ins and outs of the permitting process and obtains the required permits for the entire group on the hike.
Gear was a big factor in determining whether or not we wanted to hire a guide company. The tour companies provide much of the needed gear for the hike such as tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, food, etc. There were many personal camping items we would still need to bring but these major cost items were covered by the tour company. High quality, LIGHT camping items are not cheap. You pay more as the equipment weighs less. Since we don’t frequently hike and camp for days in the wild, we wouldn’t get value out of having our own suitable gear.
The tour company provides transportation to and from the canyon leaving one less item to be coordinated. Additionally, the guide provides a sense of security. Wes and I wanted to enjoy the canyon and the hiking experience. We didn’t want to spend time thinking about every detail of the hike. A guided tour left us free to maximize our enjoyment of the canyon and what it had to offer.
We really didn’t agonize over the decision to hire a tour company. Nor did we spend a lot of time researching and comparing different tour companies. A quick internet search will turn up many different options to choose from. We went with Discovery Treks https://discoverytreks.com/ after comparing the different options. We liked their website and competitive pricing. The details they provided on the website gave us confidence that they’d be a good choice for us. We couldn’t have been happier with our choice!
Discovery Treks had multiple options for Grand Canyon hikes. This is good and bad. The good is we had options. The bad is that we had to choose from the different options! 😊 Some of the hikes are in-and-out. You start at one rim, hike to some point in the canyon, and then return to the same starting spot. For Wes and I, we wanted to experience as much of the canyon as was practical on a hike so we selected the Rim-to-Rim Backpacking Tour https://discoverytreks.com/adventure/rim-rim-guided-backpacking-tour/ . The hike comprised a trek from the North Rim to the South Rim via Cottonwood campground, Bright Angel campground, and Havasupai Garden. The hike started and ended in Phoenix.
Discovery Treks required a deposit for the hike. We were not guaranteed an exact date for the hike until after the lottery. Once the lottery took place, we had our lock on the dates for our trip and we could complete the booking and plan our air and hotel for getting to and from Phoenix. We chose to spend a couple of days in Phoenix before the trip and an extra day afterwards. More on that in a later blog segment.
If you chose to follow in our footsteps, I can highly recommend Discovery Treks!
YogaGeorge