I’m going to the Grand Canyon area in a couple weeks for April vacation, and I’m considering bringing my MUni. Does anyone have experience riding in that area? I’ve heard you can’t ride in the park itself, so where do you go for a good ride?
I’m kinda nervous about bringing my MUni on the plane, but I’ll have to deal with that to get to UNICON anyway. If I don’t have it, I’m sure I’ll find something I really want to ride.
I seem to remember meeting someone at NUC last summer who ran a unicycle club in Arizona. Does anyone from that group read this list? Are you anywhere near the Grand Canyon, and would you be interested in riding with a 16yr old MUni rider from Massachusetts?
Ben,
Did anyone get back to you on this or did you ride around or in the grand canyon when you were there?? Lindsey and I will be going to Arizona next weekend and taking a day or two at the Grand Canyon.
Has anyone hiked down the grand canyon on the south rim side? If you have, how were the trails, like would they be ridable? Too dangerous?
I called and asked if I could unicycle down the trails of the grand canyon and he had to ask someone else cause he really had no idea! He got back to me and said no, but after further researching, all I could find is that the rules state no bicycles are allowed! So technically, unicycles are OK!!! Therefore, if that’s the case I think we might take our chances and “ask for forgiveness” vs. “asking for permission”. But I want to make sure that the trails would be ridable before bringing the Muni’s with us on the plane…so please if you’ve been there and hiked down, is it a good idea to ride down the trail into the grand canyon??
I think we’d make it down the trail much faster than riding, then be able to walk back up the trail pushing/carrying the muni’s. What do people think??
The trails down into Grand Canyon would make awesome unicycle descents. But they are highly illegal and I do not recommend you attempt it. They are very prone to erosion, and get high traffic from hikers (and/or mules) all year round. There are lots of ways to fall to your death in and around the Grand Canyon! Jacquie bought a book when we were there last, called Death In The Canyon. It chronicles every recorded death there from the earliest (European) explorers to the tourists, rafters and hikers of today.
If you hike it use EXTREME CAUTION. The Grand Canyon is like climbing a mountain in reverse. Tempeeratures are 20 degrees higher below the rim, and of course the return hike is the hard part. Hiking to the bottom is a piece of cake, but will beat up your quads pretty good. The hike back out may kill you. The most common deaths in the canyon are from hikers to don’t bring enough water, eventually hallucenate, get lost and make other mistakes.
Wow, it’s funny to see this thread that I posted such a long time ago. I didn’t end up bringing my uni on that trip, but I did do a little mountain biking on a rented bike on some very good trails in Sedona. Like John said, I wouldn’t recommend trying to ride in to the Grand Canyon, at least on the touristy south rim. They seemed pretty serious about not letting any wheeled vehicles around there.
But certainly look in to other trails in the area, I’m sure there are some good ones.
That is funny to see a thread from so long ago resurrected. As you found out, Sedona has great trails. We spent 4 days there doing Muni back in Nov, 2003. Here are the photos: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/1079421
John, thanks for the info. Questions; Did you hike down into the grand canyon or has anyone else? What is highly illegal??? Don’t ya think mules would erode the trail more than unicycles? We are going in a week in a half so there shouldn’t be a ton of toursists so do you think we could get away with it??
The reason I posted on this old thread is because I used the search function first to see if there was anything related to the grand canyon and found this thread. So instead of creating a new one (like a lot of people do) I just added to this one!
We did a day tour that took us about 1/4 mile down the trail the mules use. Just a taste. Our guide mentioned that 90% of canyon visitors never set foot below the rim, so I thought that was pretty cool. Later on we walked a little bit down one of the steeper trails. Hiking the whole thing is generally an all-day affair, and I don’t recommend it unless you’ve hiked up several thousand feet before. Even halfway (to the mule lunch stop) would be quite the strenuous return.
Yes, not only would mules create more erosion than non-braked unicycles, they poop as they go. I always like to remind people of this when campaigning for cyclists rights on horsie trails. Hardly anyone I know does that.
But erosion isn’t the issue. The issue is safety, liability and legality in America’s national parks. If you did try to ride the trails in the canyon, DO expect to be caught, detained and prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. This is one of those situations where “when in doubt, be a bicycle.”
I will back you up if you want to start a campaign to legalize such trails for cycling (or just unicycling), but please wait until it’s legal. Don’t make us look bad!
I think it would be perfectly legal to ride up in the rim areas, but in general the rule is that cycling is only allowed on pavement. The same is true in Yellowstone, with a few exceptions. One of which I rode on so I can say I rode in Yellowstone. While on this deserted (closed gate) dirt road, I startled a huge elk, and exchanged stares with a coyote. Pretty cool.
Kudos to you for setting a good example! When I started reading this I wondered why Ben was unsure about bringing his unicycle on a plane. Then when he mentioned 16 it still took me a moment to figure out to check the date!
The Grand Canyon is made for hiking, enjoy it that way. Besides, the uphill would kill ya. If you are looking for MUni in the area, PM me and I will get in touch with the hardcore Flagstaff MUni gang.
Don’t bring your unicycle to ride down the grand canyon, not only is it against their “don’t erode what’s left of the trails” policy, but it would be extremely hard. They have logs in the path every ten feet or so to stop erosion and each one is followed by a foot drop from all of the people that have walked on it before you. Just hike it, don’t try to ride it.
If you are going all the way to the bottom though, I suggest you take the bright angel trail, at least on the way back up. It’s awesome.
I felt the need to chime in here. My Grand Canyon resume includes over 100 nights spent below the rim and over 700 miles walked on every named trail, both north and south rims. As was said earlier, the park rangers will ticket you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. I’ve heard that the law specifically states “wheeled vehicles” and they are indeed serious about it. Plenty of places on any of the trails are precarious and a minor slip-up could easily result in a 500 ft. sheer drop. There are places I worry about this when I’m walking and topheavy with the weight of a backpack. Erosion is also an issue. I mountain bike and muni (a little, easy stuff) so I am sympathetic, to a point, but I also hike a lot. I have to admit to getting irritated when one of my favorite hiking trails get discovered by mountain bikers. There is definite and noticable erosion from the foot traffic but once the mountain bikes start running back and forth a deep rut quickly develops in the trail.
As for muni opportunities, on the south rim, anything with a wheel on it is restricted to pavement:( . On the north rim, there is a long rim trail that is open to cycling and is supposed to have spectacular vistas. Keep in mind though that it’s a 5 hour drive around the canyon from the south rim to the north.
As for trail riding in northern AZ there’s plenty of great stuff around here. If Moab is considered the mountain bike capital of the world Flagstaff/Sedona has got to be a close second. There’s a huge mtn. bike community here and a reasonably good sized muni group as well. Aspenmike referred to the hardcore muni gang here. I’m not good enough to consider myself a part of that group but they do exist. It’s become fairly commonplace to see somebody muniing on the local trails here.
If in Flagstaff, stop in at AZBikes right downtown. They seem to be the most keyed in on the Muni group.
Thanks for all the helpful info guys, especially you Underdog. Sounds like you are the most experienced and I think we’ll take your advice and not Muni in the grand canyon but might consider bringing them anyways for riding around Flagstaff/Sedona.
Now a question or two about not Muni’ing, but the Grand Canyon. Should we just go there and see it and not venture down into the canyon, or is it worth it to hike down some of it and back up it in a day (I know you can’t go all the way to the river and back up in one day), but is it worth it to go halfway down or 3/4 of the way down? I think we’ll only have one day to spend at the canyon, so what would people suggest we do? Thanks in advance for any advice!
To answer unicycle6869; you get a very different perspective of the canyon by hiking down into it. I highly recommend it. An earlier post in this thread mentioned that over 90% of visitors never go below the rim so going in sets you apart from the crowd. Since you only have one day, I’d recommend the Bright Angel Trail. The trail head is right by all the lodges in the South Rim Village (this is where you’ll be anyway). The easiest thing to do is go down the the 1 1/2 mile resthouse on the trail. This will give you a taste of what it’s like to hike in the canyon. If you’re still feeling energetic, the next obvious turn around point is the 3 mile resthouse. Those in really good shape can go to the Indian Garden Campground at 4 1/2 miles. This is half way to the bottom. You’ll be looking at spending about 6 hours of your day to go to Indian Gardens and back, if you’re a pretty strong hiker. Don’t forget that if you’re really tired when you get to wherever you’re going to turn around that you’re going to be hating life very quickly. It’s after you turn around that you’ve got to start climbing. Carry plenty o water. And take some snacks to keep your energy up.
I agree with your earlier statement that the mules probably cause as much or more damage than a Muni would but to change it you’d be battling 150 years of the history and traditions of the old west. Not likely. And, I think it would involve changing policy at the national level since I think most national parks have the same kinds of rules. Dang!
Last question; if I could talk my girlfriend into 2 days, would it be worth hiking down to the river, camping and then hiking back up the next day? And if so what would be the best route/campsite?
Jamey, we can’t stay two days, because we might be going there with my dad and rose… also, there is a ton of stuff we are going to be doing with them for the rest of the week, so we need all the days we can get, and right now, we only have 6 days with them.
So technically, unicycles are OK!!! Therefore, if that’s the case I think we might take our chances and “ask for forgiveness” vs. “asking for permission”. But I want to make sure that the trails would be ridable before bringing the Muni’s with us on the plane…so please if you’ve been there and hiked down, is it a good idea to ride down the trail into the grand canyon??
