While many people’s first experience with the Grand Canyon begins as a day trip from Las Vegas, those who want to explore the national park in more depth tend to book an overnight stay at a camping lot or one of several hotels in either the South or North Rim.
But in advance of Labor Day weekend and one of the most popular periods for such overnight visits, the main pipeline providing water to Grand Canyon suffered a series of breaks. With no water coming in, the National Park Service (NPS) made the call to cancel all hotels providing overnight stays to the park on Aug. 29 in a shutdown that could now last throughout the weekend.
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“Grand Canyon National Park will implement Stage 4 water restrictions on the South Rim starting the afternoon of Thursday, August 29, due to a series of four significant breaks in the 12½ mile-long Transcanyon Waterline that supplies water from the canyon for use in the park,” the NPS wrote in a statement. “Since July 8, the park has faced challenges with water supply, and currently, no water is being pumped to either the South or North Rim.”
With hotels shut down, here is where Grand Canyon visitors can go
The shutdown affects facilities such as El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge, and Phantom Ranch, as well as camping lots like Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village. Any hotels in the nearby town of Tusayan are not affected by the pipe breakage and are operating according to normal schedules although they may be see a flood of visitors who already came to the area and are now in need of a place to stay.
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There are also some grounds used for “dry camping” without running water that will continue to allow visitors for overnight stays; everyone else coming in will need to leave at day’s end and be prepared to not have running water in most of the restrooms or visitors’ areas.
“Spigot access at campgrounds on the South Rim will be turned off, though faucets in bathrooms will remain operational,” the NPS writes. “Water spigot access will be available at the Mather Campground check-in kiosk.”
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‘Carry all necessary water or methods to treat water’
The NPS said further that desperate water preservation measures are needed due to the poor condition of the 12-and-a-half-mile pipe, originally built in the 1960s, to provide water to the South Canyon and rising temperatures that the park has been seeing in recent years.
The park has routinely seen heat of more than 110°F in the last two months resulting in several catastrophic situations for visitors who underestimated how hot it can get. In July, a 50-year-old hiker from Texas was found dead from excessive heat on one of the trails.
“We are asking residents and visitors to help conserve water by limiting showers to five minutes or less, turning off faucets while shaving or brushing teeth, flushing toilets selectively, washing laundry with full loads, and reporting leaks to the appropriate offices,” the NPS writes. “Hikers in the backcountry must carry all necessary water or methods to treat water.”
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