Grand Canyon Complete

Trip Description

This fantastic Grand Canyon hiking tour offers you the opportunity to explore Grand Canyon from every angle: South Rim, North Rim, and Marble Canyon…the geographic birthplace of Grand Canyon. We hand-pick trails that best exemplify the beauty and unique character of each area. Each day holds a new and exciting adventure and your nights are spent in the comfort of a lodge in Marble Canyon, dining at various local restaurants.

Departures in May and June will include a boat trip on the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry, offering the opportunity to gaze up at towering canyon walls through one of the most dramatic stretches of river in the country. Departures in the fall months (September through mid-November) will include additional hiking on the final day of the trip.

Our professional Grand Canyon hiking guides take care of every detail to ensure that each moment of your vacation is carefree and spent simply soaking up the incredible scenery and creating memories to last a lifetime.

Call or email us with any questions.
877-272-5032
or
[email protected]

Overview

Trip Details

Type: Lodge-Based Hiking

Days: 4 Days

Distance: ~23 miles

Difficulty: Intermediate

Origin: Flagstaff, AZ

Cost: $1950

Single Supplement: + $300

Itinerary

Trip Itinerary

Day 1:

Depart Flagstaff early for your scenic drive through northern Arizona. Our destination will be the South Rim of Grand Canyon for a scenic day hike, viewpoints and a picnic lunch. We will choose a quiet trail and venture more than a thousand feet below the rim to soak up the majestic views and tranquil wilderness. After the hike we will rest our legs while we take in remarkable vistas including the many colorful layers of the Painted Desert, Little Colorado River Gorge, and Vermillion Cliffs before arriving at Marble Canyon. We will have a chance to get cleaned up before a relaxing dinner at the lodge.
Drive Time: 1.5 hours to South Rim, then 1.5 hours to Marble Canyon
Distance & Elevation: ~6 miles, 1500 foot descent/ascent
Light Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 2:

After an early breakfast we are off for a full day of exploring. Buckskin Gulch is the longest slot canyon in the world. Our access is via another, even narrower canyon where the sculpted sandstone walls are often only a few feet wide. Arriving in Buckskin, the canyon walls now tower 150 feet overhead and widen to about 20 feet. We will spend a few hours exploring this serpentine labyrinth admiring nature’s wondrous creation. If time permits later in the day, we will head to a wonderful expanse of sculpted rocks unknown to most visitors. This otherworldly landscape is unlike anything you’ve seen. After another great day of exploring, it’s back to the lodge for showers and dinner, and perhaps some evening stargazing.
Drive Time: 2 hours roundtrip
Distance & Elevation: ~8 miles, minimal elevation change
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3:

Today’s journey will begin early as we drive to the 9000ft Kaibab Plateau and Grand Canyon’s North Rim. Numerous hiking trails offer opportunities to get below the rim or visit isolated viewpoints away from the crowds. We will spend time venturing below the rim as well as exploring remote vistas. If time permits, we will stop by the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, a spectacular example of turn-of-the-century architecture perched right on the rim. Regardless of the exact itinerary, we will spend a full day exploring this remarkable area.
Drive Time: 3 hours roundtrip
Distance & Elevation: ~6 to 10 miles, up to 1500 foot descent/ascent
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 4:

May & June Departures: Today we will pack up and be on our way after breakfast. We then meet our raft guides for a float trip on the Colorado River through stunning Glen Canyon. This flat-water stretch of river features 2000 foot cliffs of red Navajo sandstone, ancient rock art and epic views of Glen Canyon Dam. Our river tour begins and ends at Lee’s Ferry, the official beginning of Grand Canyon. At the conclusion of the float trip, we will begin our drive back to Flagstaff.

September, October, & November Departures: After a final breakfast at the lodge and checking out, we are off for one more day of adventuring. We will drive to nearby Lee’s Ferry, the historic river crossing that marks the geographic beginning of Grand Canyon. Our hike entails a 2-mile, steep ascent to the top of the Echo Cliffs, gaining 1800 feet in elevation. The jaw-dropping views from the top will leave you breathless: the sinuous Glen Canyon to the north and Marble Canyon to the south. Then it’s back down to Lee’s Ferry for lunch by the banks of the Colorado River and some final sightseeing before the journey home.

Drive Time: 3 hours total
Breakfast, Lunch

*Final itineraries are occasionally subject to change due to permit/campsite availability, park restrictions/closures, weather conditions and/or road closures.

Details

What's Included

  • A professional, licensed and medically trained guide
  • All necessary gear: day pack, trekking poles, traction devices (for icy conditions)
  • Three nights lodge accommodations in Marble Canyon
  • All meals from a light breakfast on Day 1 through lunch on the last day + trail snacks
  • Roundtrip transportation from your hotel in Flagstaff, AZ
  • Park entrance fees
  • 5% National Park Service Commercial Fee (a required fee that passes through to Grand Canyon National Park)

What's Not Included:

  • Transportation to/from Flagstaff, AZ
  • Lodging the night before/after the trip
  • Clothing, raingear, and footwear
  • Personal toiletries, sunscreen
  • Water bottles/hydration bladder
  • Headlamp or flashlight
  • Guide gratuity (suggested 10-20% of trip cost)

*Upon booking you will receive a detailed trip information packet

How many people are in the group?

Most hiking trips in Grand Canyon will accommodate 6 people plus one guide. On occasion, a group may be as large as 9 people plus 2 guides.

Are there age restrictions?

Children under the age of 12 are generally not permitted on regularly scheduled trips. This restriction may be negotiable on private tours. Please contact us with any questions regarding this policy.

How do I sign up?

In order to confirm a reservation, we require an initial non-refundable deposit of $250 per person, with the final balance due 90 days prior to the trip’s departure. If you book a trip within 90 days of the trip’s scheduled departure, then full payment is due at the time of booking.

Your deposit is payable over the phone by Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, or Discover. You can also pay by personal check or PayPal (PayPal incurs a 1.5% surcharge). Call our office Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm Arizona time. 1-877-272-5032

Travel Logistics

Where does the trip begin/end?

This trip will begin/end in Flagstaff, AZ and you will need to spend the night prior to your trip’s scheduled departure in Flagstaff. You will want to fly into either Phoenix (2 hour drive) or Flagstaff.

Where do meet our guides?

Your guide will pick you up at your Flagstaff hotel the morning of your trip’s scheduled departure, at a pre-determined time. Most trips depart between 6am and 8am. We strongly recommend staying at the Little America Hotel in Flagstaff the night prior to departure, where we have arranged discounted rates for our guests.

You will receive an orientation email approximately 5 days pror to your trip’s departure with last-minute details and helpful information.

What do we do with our car and extra stuff?

We will provide all transportation to/from trailheads for the duration of the trip. We will pick you up at your hotel in Flagstaff and return you there at the trip’s conclusion. Guests staying at the Little America Hotel (recommended) can leave their cars at the hotel. The hotels will often store your luggage for you, as well. If not, we are happy to store extra luggage at our warehouse for the duration of the trip. If you are staying at a different hotel, you will need to check with them as to whether you can leave your car there.

What time will we get back on the last day?

Expect to be back in Flagstaff by 5pm at the latest on the last day of the trip. Many trips will return earlier but we cannot make any guarantees. In general, it is recommended that you do not plan to fly home on the same day your trip finishes. Since each trip has slightly different logistics, feel free to contact us with specific questions related to the expected return time for your trip.

Trip Dates

2024 Dates

May: 13-16, 20-23, 27-30

June: 3-6

September: 12-15, 23-26, 30-October 3

October: 14-17, 22-25, 28-31

November: 4-7

 

Don’t see your dates? Custom dates may be available!

Call 1-877-272-5032 or email us for details.

Guest Testimonials

Guest Testimonials

“Wow..just WOW! I had such an amazing time. My mind is blown, and all I can think about is going back to see more! Huge thank-you to FSG for such a well-planned, carefully thought-out, enjoyable, and memorable adventure! I am so humbled by the beauty and vastness of the Canyon, I just cannot even believe it. My heart is soaring!
Thank you, FSG! I’ll be back.”      – Meghan Z.


“My daughters and I truly enjoyed our Grand Canyon Complete adventure with Four Season Guides. We had initially heard of Four Season Guides through friends who had relied on their expertise for their own travels. Dave presented several options to us, especially since the popularity of hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon limits the number of permits that are available by lottery. In retrospect, our Plan B adventure turned out to be even more fun than our originally planned trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. We hiked many miles, challenged ourselves by scrambling boulders and ledges in the Cathedral Wash of the Marble Canyon, and dined both on the trails and in restaurants at night in the Grand Canyon and at our cool hotel in the Marble Canyon.

We really enjoyed the time we had spent with our Guide, Karne. Her enthusiasm, friendly, upbeat nature, knowledge of the terrain, and access to areas far away from the typical crowds one might expect made our time in the Grand Canyon and the slot canyons even more memorable. Karne drove us to our different destinations, hiked with us, prepared our lunches, and took us to a number of unexpected places, including the California Condor release site in the Vermilion Cliffs (where we saw 4 condors), Navajo Bridge near Lee’s Ferry (where we saw a fifth condor), and the Cathedral Wash scramble, which turned out to be our favorite outing. While one could argue that we missed out on the experience of camping in platform tents at the bottom of the canyon and instead slept in comfortable beds with real showers and bathrooms, our adventure gave us the opportunity to experience a far greater variety of places around and near the Grand Canyon. Ponderosa pines on the North Rim, slot canyons, rides through Navajo Country, seeing a great number of different birds and animals in those different places, and even the experience of walking inside the Glen Canyon Dam and seeing Horseshoe Bend from the river made our trip exciting and unique.

Our time with Four Season Guides became far more than exploring the South Rim of an enormous hole in the Earth; it has become the standard by which we will compare any other guided adventures that we take in the future. We hope to use them again as well!” – Walter K.


“This was an amazing four-day trip. Our guides, Scott and Blair, did a fantastic job of showing us the incredible diversity of the Grand Canyon and were very knowledgeable about the natural history and culture of the region. I have done a lot of guided trips, and Four Seasons is right up there with the best of them. There’s not a single thing I would change. Thank you!!!”  – Liz O.


“There are no words! Sensory overload. Four Seasons provided an experience of a lifetime to see the Grand Canyon. We embarked on the Lodge Based 4 Day Hiking and Float Trip. Each day was brilliant and breathtaking and challenging. Our guide, Scott, was exceptional-cannot imagine doing this adventure without him. We took the paths less taken – that is, we did not do the main tourist routes. Our first hike at the South Rim-we saw 6 people on the trail AND it was challenging. Views of unspeakable beauty. Day two we went to Buckskin Gulch and wow – slot canyons! Conquered fears along my first slick rock climbs! Day 3-North Rim-trail hiking and take that picture at the highest points on the rim-then-oh yeah-eat lunch directly on the North Rim. Four Seasons takes care of all logistics (transportation, lodging, equipment, and meals-even on the hike) so that you can have a full experience! Our accommodations were basic but had modern day needs – but the FOOD! Delish! The restaurant at the lodge – no wonder guests from miles away came there, delicious and amazing presentation. And our guide, Scott, put together incredible meals on the trail-oh no-not mere sandwiches! Each day was a different meal format-who knew this was “roughing it” -it was not! Added in the Navajo Bridge! We saw the most people at Horseshoe Bend-which was amazing. Then off we go to Glen Canyon Dam and a  float trip around Horseshoe Bend.

Scott not only guided us along the trails but was exceptionally knowledgeable about the canyons, formation, history, and culture. He was also very accommodating. Looking for a second adventure and I will be going with Four Seasons!”  – Karen W.