How to Visit the Grand Canyon With No One Else Around

Our home base for November in Kanab, UT, is just 90 minutes from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Knowing that it often closes mid-autumn, we would have to make the trip our first day off. The North Rim has a higher altitude than the south, and the highway accessing the park does not get plowed or patrolled after the season’s first significant snowfall.

Throughout all of October, we regularly checked the Grand Canyon website to see if the road has closed yet. We had our fingers crossed that it would stay open for our first weekend in Utah.

On Friday, November 6, the park issued a winter storm warning for the following day, when we were planning on making the drive. We woke up many times throughout the night, checking the weather and hoping we could still go. At 7 am the park announced it was open, and we set out for a windy, snowy visit to the grand canyon.

The drive started in the desert, turned to forest, burned zones, and then prairies with buffalo before reaching the park entrance. It was not at all what we had imagined just outside of the immense canyon.We were immediately astounded that we were one of 5 cars in the parking lot and only saw a dozen people the whole day!

Once we made our way to Bright Angel Point, we were in awe of the vastness of the canyon, all while blinking sand out of our eyes from the 30 miles an hour winds. We wanted to view the canyon up close, but the wind was so strong, even Andrew didn’t want to risk getting close to the edge.

We had planned to hike a bit into the canyon but knew it would not be enjoyable with the wind storm and didn’t want to risk being deep on a trail if the weather took a turn for the worse. Instead, we took the scenic drive to Cape Royal, where we the only ones there! This viewpoint was, by far, our favorite. The incredible formations there are aptly named Freya Castle, Vishnu Temple, and Wotan’s throne. We spent forever taking pictures and enjoying the peace of viewing one of America’s Natural Wonders all alone.

Our last stop of the morning was to the Point Imperial Overlook. On our way, we encountered many downed trees blocking the road, which we jumped out to move. In doing so, we made a couple of grouse friends that hopped on top of the car! Once we made it to the viewpoint, we learned it is the highest point in the park. 10 Washington Monuments could stand end to end from the Colorado River to the outlook on the rim of the canyon. Amazingly, the river cut through miles of rock over time to create one of the world’s largest canyons. It was wildly impressive to see.

As we headed back down to the park entrance, the rangers were closing the scenic drive. They were concerned about the downed trees and the incoming snow. We were hoping to get a short hike in but decided to descend to a lower elevation and avoid getting stuck in a winter storm. It was snowing heavily on our way out, and we were glad we left when we did!

Because our day ended early, we decided to head to another close-by landmark- Horseshoe Bend. On the way, we stumbled upon incredible rock formations and the Navajo Bridge spanning the Colorado River. By the time we got to Horseshoe Bend, the storm had followed us and turned into an intense sandstorm. We asked the attendant at the park whether it was worth it to brave the sand, and she told us it would be absolute torture to walk to the scenic point.

We opted not to make the mile and a half journey and headed home. The drive was twice as long as it would have been if we had gone straight home, but we saw such vastly different parts of Arizona and Utah that it was worth it.

It turned out that the North Rim of the Grand Canyon closed for the season two days later. We are so glad we could make it before it did. So while everyone might not want to run the risk of waiting until the very last minute to visit the Grand Canyon, we do recommend that if it is open, to go! Even if the weather is bad, the trip is worth it. We hope to come back one day and make a backpacking trip into the canyon or even a rafting trip down the Colorado River.

Travel Tip

While we didn’t have the most optimal trip to Grand Canyon National Park, we did our research. This might be obvious, but we highly recommend you do the same. Check the website before you go. It will tell you what entrances are open and what trails are within your time frame and ability. It is a four-hour drive from the North Rim to the South Rim if you were to get there, and it was closed.

Grand Canyon Mistake

Since we visited the park in the offseason, the visitor center was closed, and there wasn’t anyone at the entrance gate. So, we weren’t able to get a map. Since we already thought we knew which hike we were going to do, we didn’t save a map to our phones like we usually would. However, the weather kept us from our plans, and we ended up missing an alternate trail. The day ended up being great, but a downloaded map would have been a smart idea.