Hermit Road (The West Rim Drive): Riding the Free Red Shuttle to Hopi Point & Hermits Rest

Stretching for 11.2 kilometres (7 miles) west of Grand Canyon Village along the edge of the abyss to Hermits Rest, Hermit Road (formerly West Rim Drive) is closed to private passenger cars for nine months of the year (from 1 March through 30 November—in December, January and February, you can drive your own car out!). During the car-free months, you explore its nine extraordinary overlooks by hopping on and off the 100% FREE Red Route (Hermits Rest) Shuttle Bus or by walking/biking the paved Greenway Rim Trail between stops!

1. How the Red Shuttle Loop Works (And the Best 3-Kilometre Walk Between Stops!)

Board the Red Route Shuttle at the terminal two minutes west of Bright Angel Lodge. On the outbound (westbound) journey toward Hermits Rest, the bus stops at all 9 viewpoints; on the inbound (eastbound) return journey back to the Village, it makes an express return stopping only at Hermits Rest, Pima Point, Mohave Point and Powell Point! Here is the smartest way to experience the road in 2 to 2.5 hours without riding every single stop on the bus:

1. Stop 1 — Trailview Overlook: looks straight back east at the switchbacks of the Bright Angel Trail and the rooftop of El Tovar Hotel perched on the cliff!
2. Stop 2 — Walk the 2.4-Kilometre Flat Rim Trail from 'Powell Point' → 'Hopi Point' → 'Mohave Point'! Hop off the bus at Powell Point (crowned by the 1914 granite memorial to one-armed Civil War veteran Major John Wesley Powell, who led the first wooden-boat expedition through the Grand Canyon in 1869!). From Powell Point, walk 10 minutes (500m) flat along the cliff path to Hopi Point—the single most famous sunset viewpoint on the South Rim because it juts furthest north into the canyon! Then walk another 15 minutes (1.3 km) along the quiet rim path to Mohave Point and The Abyss (a sheer 900-metre vertical drop!), where you get a jaw-dropping view of three distinct stretches of the Colorado River and roaring Granite Rapids!

2. Pima Point (Hear the River Roar!) & Mary Colter's 1914 'Hermits Rest'

• Pima Point: stand in silence at the railing of Pima Point—even though the Colorado River is 1.4 kilometres (4,500 feet) below you, on a calm day you can clearly hear the deep, echoing thunder of Granite Rapids rising up the canyon walls!
• Hermits Rest (1914 — End of the Line): step inside Mary Colter's buried stone cabin (named after 1890s Canadian-born prospector Louis Boucher, 'The Hermit') to see its colossal arched stone hearth and grab a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookie and hot coffee for the shuttle ride back!