Oh boy, where to begin. First, I'll tell you I consider myself in excellent shape. I'm a 48 y/o adventure seeking mom, walk 5-6 miles 4+ times a week. I go through my weight training periods but all I'm doing now is walking/hiking. My friend is in just as good of shape. She also plays in a tennis league. We brought her 14 y/o travel soccer playing son and her 9 y/o daughter who is small and slight (4'6", 70 lbs). All that to say, we made it with a 9 year old but it was a bit challenging. But she's still alive. All the Danger Warning signs everywhere, yeah, there for a reason. I'll probably bring my husband and his muscles and 11 y/o daughter back sometime.

Here is our journey with notes/tips: -9am arrived and went inside center to grab free gorge floor permit. This is only needed if you want to continue once you descend all the way down. They will tell you about the hike and the dangers and check your footwear. I had tennis shoes on. In hindsite, good grippy water shoes in addition would have been great to bring but I made it barefoot when needed. I would for sure bring waterproof bag to keep anything dry that you don't want to get wet like your cell phone. Also a small towel would have been nice. Absolutely bring a minimum of 32oz water. I rarely drink much on my hikes and I took my last sip at the end of the hike. It was about 90 that day so not terrible (after being in 100 degree weather). Also, at the end of our hike they still had permits left but on weekends, I'd probably get there early. They only give out 100. -9:15 took North Rim trail and went down all the stairs (500+). Stopped along the way at the overlook to take pics of the waterfall. Took 20 min to get to bottom. -9:35 prepared to cross the rocks including removing shoes and tying them on my small pack so they wouldn't get wet. Also hooked my Hydroflask on. I wish I had taken a small backpack with a dry bag in it. You will absolutely want your hands free!!! We had to wait for people to move out of the way. They get stuck and get scared. I wasn't scared but I was a little nervous for my friend's daughter. Height is your friend as you'll need to stretch across the rocks. I had to grab her hand and carefully bring her across. It's slick in some areas. I saw a woman slip and it looked like it hurt. Worst case though, you slip into the water, the rocks will stop you and there are what looks like slow pools. It took 30 minutes in total for the 4 of us to reach the other side -10:05 stopped for a snack once across and let the adrenaline drain from the little one. Trekked along the floor past Oceana Falls (looks like a tall sliding rock but keep going, that's not it) to Bridal Veil (Sliding Rocks). -10:55 arrived at sliding rocks. The kids swam for a good half an hour. While the kids were swimming and sliding down the rocks, I was searching for a way to get our packs across the river without getting them wet. It was very slippery which makes for excellent sliding but not for excellent keeping-your-stuff-dry. Lol We ended up having the kids swim across while my friend and I tossed stuff over to her son. Then we carefully got ourselves across. I saw someone slip and cut her chin. I saw people carefully and very, very slowly trying to walk their stuff across. Seriously, traction is your friend on this hike. You CAN turn around and go back the way you came, cross that river, climb back up all those steps but it's better to climb up on the other side of the sliding rocks. -12:05 reached the other side of the sliding rocks and got our shoes back on and prepared to climb up. -12:30 reached the top! Took a small break and started back along the South Rim trail. Involves walking along the highway to cross the gorge. -1:05 arrived back at the visitor center! Grabbed our water bottle sticker from the gift shop and headed out feeling very satisfied!

The only other thing I would note is that I would in no way do this hike when rain is predicted or it rained recently. You need traction and you need free hands! If you are decently fit, this hike is completely worth it!