Hiking the Grand Canyon

My friend Niki and I did some hiking in the Grand Canyon last week. It was amazing! We took the park shuttle to Hermit's Rest (south rim) and picked up the trailhead from there. We only had enough time to do a day hike, so we couldn't make it all the way down to the Colorado River. Actually, we probably could have if we'd started earlier in the morning but they don't suggest doing it in a day. Instead, we hiked to Dripping Springs (7 miles round trip, est time: 5-9 hrs). Started at 7000 feet, went down to 5000 feet and back up again. Seeing Dripping Springs was a bit anticlimactic, I think we were expecting something bigger. It was literally dripping....slowly. The uphill return killed, what a great workout for the glutes. It only took us 3 hours round trip! Hiking into the canyon was unbelievable. Next time I'd like to try backpacking for a couple days down to the river.