Wheelchairs are provided by the National Park Service for day use free of charge at the Canyon View Information Plaza near Mather Point. However, if you are traveling to Grand Canyon South Rim on the Grand Canyon Railway, you should be prepared to bring your own wheelchair. This is due to the distance and the impracticality of getting to the Canyon View Information Plaza from the Grand Canyon Railway (or GCRy as we say in “the biz” Depot. Trying to get there and back would consume the better part of your sightseeing time, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that. The Grand Canyon Railway does have wheelchair lifts on the Coach and First Class cars. They can also assist you with getting to the canyon rim upon your arrival in the park.
If you are driving your own personal car into the park (and not taking the train), it should be noted that you can also ask for an accessibility permit upon entering the South Rim at the Canyon View Information Plaza, Yavapai Observation Station, El Tovar registration desk, the Bright Angel Lodge transportation desk, and the Kolb Studio (due to its age and location [pre-ADA of course] the Kolb Studio is virtually inaccessible to wheelchairs; try to obtain your permit at one of the other locations because you’ll need to show ID – hard to do if you can’t get into the place :\). This will allow you to drive yourself to areas which are usually closed to private vehicles, namely, the Hermit’s Rest Road, also known as the West Rim Drive.
For more information on getting around Grand Canyon National Park if you have a wheelchair, scooter or other mobility aid, visit http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm to download a copy of the park’s Accessibility Guide.
Can we hear from anybody who has driven from Williams to the South Rim??
Have they driven onto Mather Point, Hermits Rest Road etc. What was the trip you did from William. Thanks for any info.
Hi Jeanette and thank you for reading! We’ve actually sent you driving directions from Oak Lawn IL to the Grand Canyon under separate cover, but you’ve touched on a very important subject for folks like you planning a Grand Canyon vacation: how to map your drive. At the risk of being publicly flogged, I have to confess that I don’t like MapQuest. I prefer Google Maps simply because I find it easier to use, especially when I want to map a Point A to Point B to Point C to Point D kind of trip. If you’re experienced difficulty finding the Grand Canyon using online mapping tools, it’s because the American Southwest is one of the last areas of the continental US to be mapped, in both the traditional and the virtual sense. I’ve found that for best results, it helps to be famililar with airport locator codes. For Grand Canyon South Rim’s Grand Canyon National Park Airport it’s GCN. Grand Canyon Village is about 5 miles due North of there.
Grand Canyon North Rim (which by coincidence I just wrote about today) is a bit trickier. Most online mapping sites still direct you out into “No Man’s Land” if you enter “Grand Canyon National Park North Rim” as your reference. I’ve found that Jacob Lake Arizona is recognized by most mapping sites, then the park is about 50 miles due South of Jacob Lake.
Another thing: DO NOT RELY 100% ON GPS’S OUT HERE! Every year, about a dozen horror stories surface in the regional media about folks getting horribly lost on some unmarked backroads and in some cases getting stranded for days simply because they took the instructions of their GPS as gospel. A good rule of thumb for travel in the Southwest: when in doubt, check it out.
How well do telephone signals and GPS signals reach in the areas around the Grand Canyon? We are planning a loop ride beginning in Las Vegas in early June. We are all on the Alltel/Verizon signal.
Thanks, Sally
Hi Sally – actually Alltel and Verizon are the primary cell service providers in the Grand Canyon area, so that should work in your favor. That being said, even Alltel and Verizon’s subscribers report that their service can be spotty due to the altitude, ruggedness of the terrain and extreme weather that can sometimes occur. Due to the construction of new cell towers over the last few years, though, it’s a lot better than it used to be.
Now, let’s talk about GPS’s. As I alluded to in the post above, you DO NOT want to rely on them 100% when traveling in the American Southwest. A lot of information out here has yet to be programmed into a lot of automated navigational systems, and every year we hear horror stories of people getting stranded out in the puckerbrush because they took the word of their GPS as gospel. This usually results in a costly (and embarrassing) search and rescue operation. Here in the Southwest, we love technology as much as everyone else does, but some things are still best done the old-fashioned way, as in use a map as a back-up. Hope that helps!
February 21st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Can I rent a wheel chair upon entering the south rim? Thank you
February 24th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Wheelchairs are provided by the National Park Service for day use free of charge at the Canyon View Information Plaza near Mather Point. However, if you are traveling to Grand Canyon South Rim on the Grand Canyon Railway, you should be prepared to bring your own wheelchair. This is due to the distance and the impracticality of getting to the Canyon View Information Plaza from the Grand Canyon Railway (or GCRy as we say in “the biz”
Depot. Trying to get there and back would consume the better part of your sightseeing time, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that. The Grand Canyon Railway does have wheelchair lifts on the Coach and First Class cars. They can also assist you with getting to the canyon rim upon your arrival in the park.
If you are driving your own personal car into the park (and not taking the train), it should be noted that you can also ask for an accessibility permit upon entering the South Rim at the Canyon View Information Plaza, Yavapai Observation Station, El Tovar registration desk, the Bright Angel Lodge transportation desk, and the Kolb Studio (due to its age and location [pre-ADA of course] the Kolb Studio is virtually inaccessible to wheelchairs; try to obtain your permit at one of the other locations because you’ll need to show ID – hard to do if you can’t get into the place :\). This will allow you to drive yourself to areas which are usually closed to private vehicles, namely, the Hermit’s Rest Road, also known as the West Rim Drive.
For more information on getting around Grand Canyon National Park if you have a wheelchair, scooter or other mobility aid, visit http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm to download a copy of the park’s Accessibility Guide.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Can we hear from anybody who has driven from Williams to the South Rim??
Have they driven onto Mather Point, Hermits Rest Road etc. What was the trip you did from William. Thanks for any info.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Can we drive from Oak Lawn, Illinois to the Grand Canyon and can we have a map directing us from Oak Lawn to the Grand Canyon please.
Thank You
Jeanette
April 7th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hi Jeanette and thank you for reading! We’ve actually sent you driving directions from Oak Lawn IL to the Grand Canyon under separate cover, but you’ve touched on a very important subject for folks like you planning a Grand Canyon vacation: how to map your drive. At the risk of being publicly flogged, I have to confess that I don’t like MapQuest. I prefer Google Maps simply because I find it easier to use, especially when I want to map a Point A to Point B to Point C to Point D kind of trip. If you’re experienced difficulty finding the Grand Canyon using online mapping tools, it’s because the American Southwest is one of the last areas of the continental US to be mapped, in both the traditional and the virtual sense. I’ve found that for best results, it helps to be famililar with airport locator codes. For Grand Canyon South Rim’s Grand Canyon National Park Airport it’s GCN. Grand Canyon Village is about 5 miles due North of there.
Grand Canyon North Rim (which by coincidence I just wrote about today) is a bit trickier. Most online mapping sites still direct you out into “No Man’s Land” if you enter “Grand Canyon National Park North Rim” as your reference. I’ve found that Jacob Lake Arizona is recognized by most mapping sites, then the park is about 50 miles due South of Jacob Lake.
Another thing: DO NOT RELY 100% ON GPS’S OUT HERE! Every year, about a dozen horror stories surface in the regional media about folks getting horribly lost on some unmarked backroads and in some cases getting stranded for days simply because they took the instructions of their GPS as gospel. A good rule of thumb for travel in the Southwest: when in doubt, check it out.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
How well do telephone signals and GPS signals reach in the areas around the Grand Canyon? We are planning a loop ride beginning in Las Vegas in early June. We are all on the Alltel/Verizon signal.
Thanks, Sally
April 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Hi Sally – actually Alltel and Verizon are the primary cell service providers in the Grand Canyon area, so that should work in your favor. That being said, even Alltel and Verizon’s subscribers report that their service can be spotty due to the altitude, ruggedness of the terrain and extreme weather that can sometimes occur. Due to the construction of new cell towers over the last few years, though, it’s a lot better than it used to be.
Now, let’s talk about GPS’s. As I alluded to in the post above, you DO NOT want to rely on them 100% when traveling in the American Southwest. A lot of information out here has yet to be programmed into a lot of automated navigational systems, and every year we hear horror stories of people getting stranded out in the puckerbrush because they took the word of their GPS as gospel. This usually results in a costly (and embarrassing) search and rescue operation. Here in the Southwest, we love technology as much as everyone else does, but some things are still best done the old-fashioned way, as in use a map as a back-up. Hope that helps!