Any advice on hiking Hawaii, Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion?

In Feb and March I'll be leaving the snowshoes behind and heading to hiking where it's a bit warmer. Has anyone got any advice on hiking Kauai, around Waimea Canyon, also the north side of the Big Island. Then it's off to Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion for some more hiking. Any info would be appreciated.

Patty, the only one I can help with is the Grand Canyon. My son and I hiked down into it and camped for several days. The best book in my opinion for someone going there for the first time is Hiking The Grand Canyon by John Annerino. I found a copy of it at Eastern Mountain Sports, or you can find it online at a lot of places. Amazon carries it here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-9816903-5471367?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

If you are just day hiking, you will be OK, but if you plan any overnights in the Canyon, you must obtain a backcountry permit from the Canyon Backcountry Reservations Office. Check this link for a lot of good info on trails, shuttles to trail heads (there are limitations on parking and entering the canyon area) etc:

http://www.kaibab.org/bc/gc_trail.htm

You won't have the crowd problems at your trip time that you would in the summer months, so entry to the South Rim and parking will be less of an issue. I'd lend you the copy of my book that I mentioned above, but it's already on loan to a friend who plans to go there this year!

Also, you'll want to go to http://www.google.com and enter search words, like grand canyon hiking zion hiking etc and see what pops up for information on the web.

Max