Hiking the Grand Canyon - The Corridor Trails

If you are like most people (99 percent of them anyway), you will come to the Grand Canyon, ooh and aah a little from the rim, and go to the next place on your trip. This video will give you many of the views that can only be seen by hiking down. So you can get a lot of benefit from very little effort. That's a very good deal.

Before going on, I want to also praise this video for choosing to cover all three main trails to the Colorado River from the north and south rims. Even those who hike the Canyon will seldom do all three of these trails. I got useful ideas about the potential benefits of doing the two trails I have not yet hiked. In addition, the computer graphics in this video are simply outstanding and make the narration much more meaningful.

I have only two quibbles about the video. I found Jeannine McNamara's voice as narrator a little hard to listen to. The narration script does a good job of describing the dangers of doing these hikes (dehydration, falling, heat prostration and stroke, flash floods, rapid currents in the Colorado, and being hit by rocks), but I thought these were repeated a little too often.

Let me tell you a little about my experience hiking the Bright Angel Trail, so that you will realize why you will benefit form this video. I had first come to the trail as an adult with my two sons when they were young. My older son, then 5, wanted to hike down a little. He and I loved it, but it scared me because he wasn't really old enough to be careful. I promised him we would come back someday. We did not return until 20 years later. Hoping to make the experience something special, my wife arranged for a special early morning tour by a park ranger. That tour gave us a lot of background that is not in the video. I highly recommend doing this. The fee is well worth it, but there is limited time for rangers to do this. You have to schedule well in advance. Part of the tour included hiking down about 500 vertical feet on the Bright Angel trail. When it was time to go back up, my older son and I looked at each other and said, "We're going to go a little further." The ranger with us warned us that on a July day it was really too late to be getting started to hike the whole trail, and briefed us on what else we needed to do about food and water while encouraging us to stop before it got too hot. We followed the directions (similar to those on the video) and had a magnificant hike. We spent the heat of the afternoon resting in the shade at the bottom, and hiked back up to finish just before sunset. This was one of the best days of my life, and made fantastic a memory that my son and I will treasure forever. I intend to share this video with him tomorrow night to help us recall our wonderful time together. The material on the video exactly matches what we saw, down to the big-horned sheep and deer we passed on the trail.

We were pretty impressed with ourselves for doing this until a 74 year old man and a 12 year old boy passed us going up just before dusk. They had started by flashlight at 3 a.m. and had been down the Bright Angel Trail and on to the base of the North Rim and back in one day. I suddenly realized that I needed to come back and hike the Canyon again with my grandchildren in about another 20 years.

If you are like me, hiking the Canyon will be one of the high points of your life. Be sure to take those you love with you (or at least as many as you can persuade after showing them this video). Plan ahead. Everything takes reservations months ahead, including staying in the park so you can get an early start. The video will tell you what to do.

After you have enjoyed your hike, I suggest you think about other places where the grandeur of nature can provide a wonderful hiking experience that fits with your interests and physical abilities. Plan you next family hike today!

See the world up close!


A Valuable Hiking Assest   September 28, 2000
Erin Sullivan (Connecticut USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Hiking the Grand Canyon is not only an assest but a necessity for anyone drawn to the beauty and mystery of this natural wonder. It is obvious from the presentation that much time and thought went into creating such a practical guide. Detailed computer graphics, picturesque video, and a superbly performed voice-over of all information make this video as enjoyable as it is useful. Five stars! Here's hoping the creators will search out other US trails and parks to present to the populace. As an east-coaster, I'd like to suggest the Appalachian Trail.


The all time #1 Grand Canyon Hiking Video   March 22, 2001
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I like the author of this video hiked through the GC for the first time in 1993 and was hooked. I have returned many times since always finding something new just below the rim. I can say easily that the canyon changed my life and my view of the world around me. This video comes the closest to showing to the world that world below the rim that hikers find. I think that anyone who is interested in hiking there should definitely see this video. It gives the most information on geology and trail conditions I have seen in any video (even the one from the backcountry office). I give this video the highest rating because I believe from my own experience that it deserves it!


The Grand Canyon video for Hikers!   June 18, 2000
Joe Bartels (Phoenix, AZ USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

The video hikers have been waiting for has finally arrived. Computer animations lead you through the corridor trails. The Bright Angel, North and South Kaibab trails are covered in full. These rim to river trails can be extremely dangerous even for an experienced hiker. As webmaster of HikeArizona.COM, which focuses on day hiking, I've avoided these longer trails in the past. Having viewed the video I feel more prepared and confident in tackling a trip down to the river.

Important information about pace and hydration make this video valuable. Additional general information about preparing for the worst may save your life. Profiles of the canyon's layers have boggled my mind in the past. You can read all you want but the visual presentation makes more sense. All the above plus trail specific information make this a great video.

Ironically few videos cover this beautiful canyon. I'm pleased to highly recommend, "Hiking the Grand Canyon" - the corridor trails. Let's hope the future holds a second video highlighting other canyon trails. - joe


Trail footage and animation bring the Grand Canyon alive.   July 10, 2000
rmu252 (Whittier, CA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Ken McNamara and crew have combined actual trail footage with animation to document and explain the most popular trails in the Grand Canyon. The viewer is treated to a complete explaination of the three main trails in the Canyon: The Bright Angel, The North Kaibob, and The South Kaibab.

Trail tips from what and how much to drink to prevent dehydration, when to hike, milage points, where to camp, and tempatures are discussed. A geology of the canyon's formation is reviewed as well.

As an outdoorsman, an avid hiker of 30+ years, and in my position as Webmaster for a hiking website, I am asked to review many hiking books and videos. This one sets the mark for providing the exact infomation hikers need to know in a format that is both entertaining and infomative.

Hikers and non hikers will find this film full of usefull information and enjoyable. bob@boulrich.com