GCNP is my absolute favorite park but it is definitely hard to get to know. Much of its charm is below the rims. I've done 4 multiday hikes from different trailheads on each rim as well as a 15 day dory trip on the Colorado. There a number of truly magical places you encounter than cannot be seen from the rim. In the midsts of some of the harshest terrain, there are grottos in sidecanyons filled with ferns, trees, and a stream. Waterfalls gushing from caves high up on the canyon wall. Deer, bighorn sheep, and birds of all types. Geologic features that go back as much as 1.2 billion years. Fossils that come from some of the earliest examples of life on this planet. Artifacts of people who lived there a thousand years ago. None of this comes cheap but if you put in the effort, you experience something that will change your view of the world.

What I love about it is that more than any other park I've visited, it defies description. I adore Yosemite and Joshua Tree, for example, but I believe they can be understood from photography. Grand Canyon feels like it can barely be understood in person, like just the idea of it is too big or complex to hold in your mind and that is thrilling for me.