grand canyon questions!!?

Question

OK. We are going to Grand Canyon from Vegas and I was considering two trips.

1. Go to North Rim via Utah and stop at Bryce and Zion Parks along the way. (allowing 3 days)
OR
2. Go to Flagstaff, stay the night, wake up and hit the south rim via the east entrance, then head to the north rim for a night stay, explore the north rim and on home to vegas.

The only thing is that my dad has a bad hip and hiking longer than a mile is out of the question. I heard the North Rim requires some hiking to get to the views. I also hear the South Rim is overloaded with tourist in the summer but has more to do. (We'll be going Labor Day, Monday and Tuesday.) Because of his knee, I'm looking into helicopter or Jeep tours to get more out of our experience. But I am not sure very many companies will actually depart out of the north rim. Does anyone know of any trips that do depart out of the north rim?

Answer 1

This is going to be a lengthy reply and I don't have the time to write that much at the moment since I type at glacial speed.
I have lived in the area and spent much time hiking Grand Canyon. I am very familiar with all the possible routing's
A couple of things;
How long can your father stay in a car before his hip acts up. ?Theses are the big empty spaces of the West and it can be hours between suitable stopping places w/nothing in between.
For helo's out of GCN give Papillion a call
An alternative to staying in Flagstaff would be staying at the Cameron trading Post in Cameron AZ 1-800-338-7385 or www.camerontradingpost.com
That way you could drive to the Canyon, exit the Park at Desert View and spend the night in Cameron- jct SR64 & US 89
Doing that would shorten up Day 2's drive to Hurricane UT via US89>US89a > AZ 389/ UT59.>UT 9 considerably.
Day 3 would be
UT9 E > US89N >UT 12 E> UT 12 > W >US 89S> UT14W> 1-15 S
TBC

Answer 2

I've only been to the North Rim lately, but it was fine. The hole in the ground is the same on both sides, and you absolutely should go see Zion and Bryce Canyons on that trip. My wife and I liked those two more than the Grand Canyon.

There are roads along the north rim of the Grand Canyon, so I don't recall long walks to the viewpoints.