Day Hikes

North Kaibab Trail

Highlights: Less crowded than the Bright Angel Trail. Great for a first backpack trip into the canyon. Drawbacks: At 14.4 miles and with a vertical drop of 5,850 feet, it's much longer, and drops farther, than the South Rim corridor trails. Difficulty: Descends gradually from rim to river. Ample water and shade. Tests endurance more than agility.

Forget the myth about corridor trails being easy. The North Kaibab Trail will test any hiker who attempts to go from rim to river (or vice versa) in a day. By comparison, the South Rim corridor trails, the Bright Angel and South Kaibab, travel 9.2 and 6.7 miles, respectively, and fall about 4,800 vertical feet from rim to river. Despite the length and the big vertical drop, the North Kaibab Trail is one of the nicest place for backpackers to first experience the canyon. The scenery is lovely, the grades on the trail manageable. The North Kaibab has beautiful views down two side canyons -- Roaring Springs and Bright Angel -- but unlike the South Rim trails, you see less of the gorge cut by the Colorado River. It's also less crowded than the South Rim corridor trails.

The trail begins with a long series of switchbacks down the head of Roaring Springs Canyon. At over 8,000 feet, the first switchbacks are in thickly forested terrain that could just as easily be found in the Rocky Mountains. Aspen, Douglas fir, and Gambel oak shade the trail and hide many of the rocks in the Kaibab and Toroweap layers. The Coconino Sandstone, whose sheer cliffs hold too little soil for these trees, stands out against the greenery, its white rocks streaked tan and black by mineral deposits.

The next major landmark is Supai Tunnel. At 2.7 miles from the trail head, and with seasonal water, shade, and restrooms available, this is an excellent turnaround point for day hikers. Beyond the tunnel, the canyon warms up, and heat-tolerant plants such as squaw-bush, pale hoptree, piñon pine, and juniper appear. The trail descends in relatively gradual switchbacks through the Supai Group, then crosses a bridge over a creek bed. Past the bridge, the creek plummets. The trail travels along the south wall of Roaring Springs Canyon, on ledges above Redwall cliffs. A spire of Redwall Limestone known as The Needle marks the point where the trail begins its descent of the Redwall.

Roaring Springs, the water source for both rims, becomes audible just above the confluence of Bright Angel and Roaring Springs canyons. A .2-mile-long spur trail descends to the springs, where water pours from an opening in the Muav Limestone and cascades downhill, pooling at the bottom of the creek bed. Around those pools grow Arizona grape, scouring rushes, and box elder and cottonwood trees. You'll find drinking water, shade, and picnic tables here. This is the farthest a day hiker should go.

Below the springs and 5.4 miles from the start are a pump house (with a water faucet), a heliport, and a residence for the pump house operator. In this area, the trail begins a long, gradual descent to the Colorado River, traveling on or near the floor of Bright Angel Canyon for most of the way. The rocks along this stretch can be difficult to sort out. In addition to the layers seen everywhere in the canyon, you'll find members of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, including the reddish-brown Dox Sandstone, purplish Shinumo Quartzite, orange-red Hakatai Shale, and numerous dikes and sills -- places where lava filled cracks in the earth.

Two miles past Roaring Springs is Cottonwood Campground. By camping at Cottonwood Campground on the way to and from the river, backpackers can extend their trips while hiking reasonable distances.

About a mile past Cottonwood Campground, a spur trail leads to Ribbon Falls, the centerpiece of a large natural amphitheater. The waterfall is usually a short detour off the North Kaibab Trail (when the water level is high, a sign points the way to Ribbon Falls and you'll walk across a bridge). Don't pass up a chance to hike to the base of these falls, which roll off a high sandstone ledge and arc gracefully to earth, skimming an apron of travertine on the way. This apron formed when calcium carbonate precipitated out of the water as rock. You may see small, brown birds known as dippers (the name alone describes them) fishing in the pools around these falls.

About 2.5 miles past the falls, the trail enters a long stretch of narrows known as The Box and remains there, winding alongside Bright Angel Creek, until just above Phantom Ranch. To keep hikers dry in these narrows, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s built three bridges over the creek and blasted ledges in the cliffs of the Vishnu Formation. An immense flash flood swept away most of the originals -- steel and all -- in 1966. A flood in July 1999 damaged the trail so badly that it was closed for more than 2 months.

2 miles to Supai Tunnel; 4.7 miles to Roaring Springs; 6.8 miles to Cottonwood Campground; 14.2 miles to the Colorado River. Access: On North Rim entrance road, 2 miles north of Grand Canyon Lodge. Water sources at Roaring Springs (seasonal), Bright Angel Creek, Cottonwood Campground (seasonal), Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground. Maps: Bright Angel Point (7.5 min.) and Phantom Ranch (7.5 min.) quadrangles. Note that under no circumstances should you attempt to hike from the rim to the river and back in 1 day!