My wife and I are going April 2nd from the South Rim and I'm trying to pare weight to save the knees. We have a BA Fly Creek UL 2 which has done us well and we can use a fast pitch with the footprint to do better. We can also do a poncho/tarp/trekking pole set up, which would eliminate the tent entirely. Or we're open to suggestions. Is there a reason to need the inner tent down in the canyon? Generally , I'd use the inner in the desert to keep out scorpions and maybe snakes, but we only have some Joshua Tree, Oak Creek Canyon, and other relatively flat desert hikes to go on. We live in Vt., so it's foreign turf for us. Thanks in advance.

I don't think that snakes or scorpions will be much of a problem for you in the Grand Canyon in April so in terms of weather protection a tarp would be OK. But, around the equinoxes you can encounter wind strong enough to move a lot of sand and silt. These winds can be particularly fierce in some of the side canyons and along the river beaches. With a tarp you are more exposed to this possible sand-blasting than in a tent. A tent won't stop all of the sand but it sure is better than is a tarp. Also, while snakes and scorpions are not much of a sleeping problem, ants can be and there are ants in all potential camp sites in the GC. Moreover, they don't always go to bed when it gets dark and some of the ant night-owls have sharp teeth. Because of wind and ants I generally take a tent, a Fly Creek Solo BTW.

On the other hand, I do see people using tarps or cowboy camping in the canyon without complaining about sand or ants so I guess it depends on your capacity to tolerate minor annoyances.

Pika, thank you. For various reasons, I dislike ants intensely.
We've gone really light on the sleep system, don't need the bear canister, as we do home and in the Sierra, and I've eliminated some other non-essentials. The tent can remain whole. It's shed lots of high wind for us already, and I like being out of the wind when trying to sleep. This was the exact info I was looking for. Thank you, again! I hope your holiday was wonderful.