Comparison of A.T. to Grand Canyon

[tdoczi]

in the middle youll see an odd pile of rocks that looks bigger a little more perfect than the rest of the random jumble.... thats a cairn marking the "trail." thats the AT on the trail north side of mt monroe in NH.

i mean mt madison. duh... too many presidents to keep track of.

[DavidNH]

the AT is a whole lot wetter than the Grand Canyon!

[sits-in-car]

You owe me a keyboard. Or at least a replacement of the coffee I just spit.

I currently live in mid-coast Maine. My partner section hikes and I usually shutle with the occasional hike. (Thus my handle). We've had about 7 inches of rain this past week. We really call this 'mud season'.

We used to live and work at the grand canyon. My partner worked at the ranch for 2 years. We've both worked and hiked on both rims. Yes it was a bit less humid there.

We refered to the Bright Angel trail as the highway. We prefered the south kaibab trail. steeper, but shorter.

The main difference to me is the view. Every trip into the canyon was awesome. It never looks the same.

I'm not a fan of hiking in 'the green tunnel'. Mold should not be a food group.

[fredmugs]

First time I hiked the GC it kicked my @$$. 2nd and 3rd time too. 4th time was better. The last time I hiked the GC it was about two weeks after doing a 170 mile section on the AT from Standing Bear shelter to Dennis Cove Rd. I went down the Kaibob trail, thru Phantom Ranch, and up the Bright Angle trail (16.6 miles) in 6.5 hours. It was cake. The AT in Georgia will definitely be tougher.

[fiddlehead]

Lots of different trails in the Grand Canyon system and the Bright Angel Trail is about as easy as any.
It's all downhill heading down to the river and all uphill coming back.
GA has ups and downs with probably some steeper grades at times, has shade once there are leaves on trees, has water available (at least in the spring and winter when I've been there).
The footing is different, grade not steady like the GC.

If you want a better comparison, try the Boucher trail down to the Tonto rim and hike a bit parellel to the river and then back up the Bright Angel.
I think it would give you a better idea of what GA AT is like (but add trees, road crossings, and way different kinds of rocks)
And everything is a different color.

Hard to compare really.
Hike them both and tell us what you think is the difference. (at least you don't need a permit in GA or need to carry too much water)

[bigcranky]

The AT is like a hike that never ends. It will never be as hot as The Canyon, and you'll never have to go up 1476 meters (4780 feet) in elevation in one day;

Hmm, this is only true if you mean 4780 feet in one single climb -- there are plenty of places where you'll climb that in a day. And much more. You'll just have some steep downhills in between the uphills.

My memory of the GC is the temperature difference: 37 degrees (F) at the parking lot on the North Rim, and 105 at Roaring Springs. The hike back up was well graded but we took it very slowly. I honestly think the hike up The Priest southbound is comparable, and I did that after hiking down Three Ridges, then had several more climbs that day, then a steep steep steep down into Montebello. That day was more exhausting than the GC hike.