The Indian Garden campground was second on our list of stops for our trip. Most people refer to it as an oasis and I would definitely agree. It appeared to be larger then Bright Angel campground, with more open space, vegetation and shade. The camp area wasn’t secluded at all but it did have a table with a shelter over it. It doesn’t have the restroom facility like the other campground but more like wooden large porter potties. Sounds yucky but it is maintained and kept clean. To be honest, it beats digging a hole and using the rest room outside where other creatures are. But this area does have drinking water, which is always needed and a delight.
One thing that I did not like about this area, were the squirrels. I have never in my life every came in contact or even seen and animal so aggressive. The squirrels are all over the place and the main objective is to get your food. They would literally walk up to you and try to get whatever you got. The problem with this is, for one, you are not supposed to feed the animals and secondly, you are not and don’t want to harm the animals. So what are you to do to get them to leave you alone? The one thing you do is put all your food away as soon as you get there. If you must eat, don’t eat for enjoyment, eat for survival because once they get a whiff of your food, they are in your face. I found that once I put my food in the container, immediately they went away. Another thing that they have there are little lizards which were not a bother at all. They just roamed around and did whatever lizards do.
The best part of this area is the little pool that was made for people to wade in and cool off. My husband had the pleasure of sitting around talking to people from all over the world. England, Australia, Canada, France, you name it. Everyone was so nice and so friendly and happy. People shared their experiences thus far and different events along the way. There were people there with intension on camping out for the night but there were a few day hikers there as well. One particular day hiker had hiked to the bottom and came back up to the garden to rest. He looked tired but was in good sprits considering what he was trying to do (hike the canyon in a day).
All in all, the area is beautiful and great place to camp if you want to be adventurous and leave the rim.