We had originally reserved 6 nites at Mather campground in "South Rim City." We spent one day there walking the south rim trail which was interesting but crowded. The best part was that we could see our entire route for hiking to Phantom Ranch and back the next two days. When we returned to Mather campground after our Phantom Ranch hike, we decided we had had enough of the traffic noise, crowds, and commotion, so we cancelled the last 3 nites at Mather and moved to Desert View. What a difference! Desert View was much quieter and also much closer to the rim. We had nice campsite with afternoon shade at the picnic table.

The watchtower and store are within walking distance of the campground. The store is smaller than the one in "South Rim City", but it has everything you need and it has a more laid-back and friendly atmosphere. The watchtower itself is really cool but tends to be crowded.

Now here is the scoop on how to see the south rim in the Desert View area without the crowds: Walk to the NE end of the camping area and pick up the trail to the ampitheater. Continue past the ampitheater and you will come to viewpoint after viewpoint of the Grand Canyon and no crowds. You can return to the campground by simply walking uphill to the west thru the PJ forest.

Another great viewpoint can be reached by going north from the campground down the gravel road that goes to the service area for the shops. On the right side of this road there is a hiking trail that leads downhill to a ridge that sticks out into the canyon with views on 3 sides. It's a great place to watch the sunrise or sunset. There is also a trail that leads directly from the campground to this viewpoint which is a little shorter. If I remember right, you can reach this trail by walking to the ampitheater and turning left.

See my "south rim" review for one more place to go near Desert View where you can see incredible scenery with no crowds.

Desert View campground is first-come first-serve, so just get there early for best site selection.

This campground is really nice and secluded. The campsites are spacious and provide some privacy from your neighbors. There are only about 40 campsites so it isn't very crowded. The bathrooms were clean. There is water on site but no showers. The location to everything in the park was nice too. There is a store, gas station and cafe outside of the campground in the park. This was my first time camping in a long time and I highly enjoyed this campground.

We planned a trip to GC on Labor Day weekend. We drove all day and night and arrived around midnight. My parents had come earlier to reserve a spot for us since we expected the park to be packed. Maybe the rest of the park was, but even at midnight we had our pick of spots at Desert View. Can't really say much about the campground since we ate breakfast, packed up and headed out. It was a typical forest CG and had all the important amenities (flush toilets).

However Desert View point is an absolutely fabulous first glimpse of the Canyon....Make sure to spend some time enjoying it.