Community Forums

crslls · 09-26-2012, 11:41 PM

Any one have information about the camp grounds at the Grand Canyon. North rim and Mather CG.

born2travel · 09-27-2012, 08:18 AM

At the North Rim the park services close down on after 10/15. You can still get in until the road gets snowed in. It reopens 5/15(ish). Some of the NR sites are tight and your doors may open toward the road so keep that in mind if you reserve a sight. People would turn them around to get the doors to the campsite side but had to turn them back around. Apparently, in 2006 they had to evacuate the NR and RVs being parked backwards to the traffic flow turned the "orderly" evacuation into a cat herding operation. None of the NR sites have hookups.

Demotte campground is an option just outside the NR boundry and Jacob Lake has a few camprgrounds as well. NR doesn't do the first come first serve thing and booked full every night from opening day until closing day (per the CG rangers).

Mather is on the south rim (which is too crowded for us) and we can't speak about it.

crslls · 09-27-2012, 07:27 PM

We tryed to make reservation today and found out both the north and south rim are booked solid for the time we were trying to get. We were able to get reservationions but they will be out sidethe park. Some day I will quite the procrastination and get what I want. Maybe next year.

Jake21 · 09-29-2012, 06:49 AM

We stayed at Jacob lake this post summer. Good campground with full hook ups.

baraff · 09-29-2012, 07:24 AM

Just got back from GC. Our experience at Mather was that there were MANY sites that were not occupied, even though they said it was full. I think the NPS only opens a set number at a time for reservation. I would ask at the campground office (not the gate) and see what they say.
The village was VERY crowded when we were there in mid-September. Its like being in a foreign country, English was by far the least heard language. ( the US is on sale right now for Europeans due to the exchange rate). This was certainly not a problem, just surprising.
A better alternative for us was the Desert View NPS campground, deserted, quiet and isolated. It may close at the end of October though. We had a great time there. Be advised there is no dump station at Desert View, closest is at Mather.