I am planning another Arizona trip. It will be our 30th wedding anniversary. We loved Arizona. When we were there last time, we decided we had to come back some time and hike down the South Kaibab Trail and back up the Bright Angel with stops at Phantom Ranch and Indian Gardens. My wife is not an avid hiker. She has done most of Acadia with me. I have done Maine and NH on the AT and 42 of the 4000' hills along the way. I am having a hard time gauging how tough the Grand Canyon hike would be on my wife. I notice one comparison in the comments section on the following link. It is the 1st comment.

http://equipped.outdoors.org/2013/10...palachian.html

I plan on carrying most of the gear. I hike 5 to 10 days at a time in Maine and NH. I believe I will be fine lugging enough stuff for the 3 days for the 2 of us. I know I will need to lug a lot of water going down and the up to Indian Gardens. My only concern is how a novice hiker will do going up, especially the last leg from Indian Gardens to the south rim.