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Tag Archives: South Kaibab Trail
May 29, 2017
My 25 Most Scenic Days of Hiking Ever
By Michael Lanza
You’ve had days like this. Maybe it was a dayhike, or a single, exceptional day on a backpacking trip or hut trek—one so gorgeous and inspirational that it forges a lasting memory as one of the best experiences you’ve ever had in the backcountry. From iconic national parks like Yosemite, Zion, Grand Canyon, and Glacier to some of the world’s great treks, like the Alta Via 2 in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains, New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park, and Iceland’s Laugavegur Trail, here’s a list of the 25 hands-down prettiest days I’ve ever spent walking dirt and rock footpaths. I think many of these places would make your top list, too. Continue reading →
May 21, 2017
Ask Me: Where Should Our Family Backpack in the Grand Canyon?
Dear Michael,
My wife and I take our kids to Ketchum, Idaho, every summer and became fans of your site by finding your great recommendations and tips for the White Cloud Mountains. We are now planning a trip with our kids to the Grand Canyon. Our kids are 13 and 14 and are accustomed to multi-day backcountry hikes in the White Clouds and Sawtooths, with 2000+-foot elevation gains. We were seriously considering your suggested four-day trip east to west from Grandview Point to the South Kaibab Trail, but I just noticed that you have also recommended that to someone else in your Ask Me section in response to a request for a “big dayhike.” We don’t want to kill ourselves with an unreasonable pace, but I don’t want to allocate four days for a trip that my kids could reasonably do in two or three. Do you have any advice for what might be the best way to do this, or whether there is an alternate route you would suggest? Continue reading →
5 Great Adventures You Can Still Pull Off in 2017
Ramona Falls, along the Timberline Trail around Oregon’s Mount Hood.
By Michael Lanza
So you didn’t plan far enough in advance to reserve a permit for backpacking this summer in Yosemite, Grand Teton, Glacier, or another popular national park, eh? So, now what? Where will you take a big outdoor adventure in 2017? Here are five backpacking trips that even slackers still have time to plan and execute this year. Three of them are in top-tier national parks, and the other two are multi-day hikes with national park-caliber mountain scenery. Continue reading →
April 18, 2017
Photo Gallery: Hiking Across the Grand Canyon
By Michael Lanza
Whether you backpack it or hike it in one very long day, trekking across the Grand Canyon from the South Rim to the North Rim is one of our National Park System’s most scenic and aspirational adventures, in one of the planet’s most magnificent and unfathomable landscapes—as this photo gallery illustrates better than any words. Want to take this hike? Read on to learn how. Continue reading →
April 3, 2017
My 10 Most-Read Adventure Stories
By Michael Lanza
Like anyone who runs a blog and website, I keep track of which stories generate the most interest among my readers—including which destinations and outdoor adventures they most want to read about. And I know that you, my readers, may be curious to know what other visitors to The Big Outside are reading. Using my blog’s current analytics data, I produced this top 10 list of the most-read stories about trips I’ve taken, from national parks like Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Canyonlands (twice) to the Teton Crest Trail, Idaho’s Sawtooths, Patagonia, Italy’s Dolomites, and more.
I think it’s a pretty darn good list of adventures. Read on and see for yourself.
