Rim to Rim Grand Canyon Hike Guide

everyone i am at the grand canyon and in this video i'm going to show you what it's like to hike the rim to rim not just once but twice i'm going to show you the two most popular routes first i'm going to show you from the south rim from the south kaibab trail where i am now to the north kaibab trail in the north rim and then i'll show you what it's like to hike from the north rim north kaibab trail to bright angel to the south rim so really fun video really beautiful area obviously it's a bucket list hike it's an epic hike it's not a hike you just show up to and hike though and there's a lot of you know planning and itineraries and training involved i'm not going to talk about that in this video i'm going to put that on a web page and hiking guide because it changes and it's kind of boring for me to sit here and talk to you about that so go to hikingguy.com there's a link to that right under the video but check that stuff out if you're thinking about doing this hike and when you plan and get some tips from somebody who's done it a number of times which is me now i'm also going to make two 360 videos from for each uh each route where you can pause and look around and see what it looks like in 360 i know some people are scared of heights worried about the cliff side or whatever it might be with these videos hopefully it'll lay some of your fears if you are scared of heights or wondering what the edges are like you can watch those 360 videos and i'll put links to those underneath as well one last item if you like the video if you can click little thumbs up it's an easy way to say thank you for me making the video it's also an easy way for the video to get found by more hikers and uh kind of pay it forward to other people so they can watch the video and know what to expect when they get here all right so i'm on the south kaibab trail let's get hiking i got a long day ahead of me going over there somewhere about 20 or so miles downhill and then uphill all right let's go all right so before we dive into the actual trail i just want to mention um a couple things about maps i highly recommend getting the national geographic map you can buy a paper version for probably under 15 bucks and you can also get the digital version as part of a gaia gps premium map subscription and i'll put links to those under the video but what's great about this map aside from you know being visually easy to understand having the different services available is that it has these little trail distances between the landmarks like this one right here and when you're actually hiking you can look at those and kind of set many milestones to mentally tackle this long hike and break it into small sections so um i highly recommend the national geographic map when you go out there you can use the paper one like i said or the electronic one they will um they will help you tackle this mentally all right so let's just quickly dive into the 3d map too so you kind of get a lay of the lands now mentally you can break this hike up into three sections there's the part where we descend to the river from the south kaibab trail then there's the part where we head up the canyons the bright angel canyon and there's the part where we do the final climb to the north rim if you break these segments down and i usually mentally don't think about the hike starting until i climb up to the north rim so everything here is sort of quote unquote easy it's not easy of course but uh that helps me save some energy for this final climb up to the north rim but let's go ahead and take a look here now we're going to leave the south rim we're going to go down the south kaibab trail you can kind of see it winds down along the ridge here all the way down to the colorado river we're going to claw across the black bridge right there and then we're going to go to phantom ranch which is right here now this is a great place for a stop and a break there's a little canteen there you can get food snacks you can also get supplies if you uh somehow need like a band-aid or something like that i think they have that stuff there that you can get so that's the first section down to phantom ranch then from there we have this section which is like the middle section the longest section it's gonna be about probably about eight miles uh and it's gonna go basically up bright angel canyon follow bright angel creek now this is a very subtle uphill with some downhill sections some rolling sections in here uh i think you climb about a thousand feet until you get up to the manzanita rest area which is right here but this is sort of an area where you can cruise nicely on um it's it's pretty easy is a tough i won't say easy but it's it's easier than the other sections and you can make some good time here then we go up a little canyon for away from manzanita but basically from manzanita the climbing really starts and let me go over here and here you can see this is our climb up to the north rim and this is really tough you can see it gets very steep towards the end as the grand canyon trails generally do and we get all the way up to the north rim right here now if you are parked here getting a ride this is where your hike will end if you are staying at the campground the campground is right over here and if you're staying at the lodge you're gonna have to walk about 1.7 miles down to the end here to the lodge and i'll talk about that in the guide as well but that gives you kind of a lay of the land here on the hike and again break it up into three sections there's the first descent which is about seven miles to phantom ranch then there's the middle section of the canyon about eight miles and then there's about a five mile trip up to the north rim right here all right let's uh let me show you what the trail looks like all right so from the shuttle bus we're just going to go up the paved path and make sure you are full uh with water you can get some water right at the bus stop back there but there's no water on the trail i'm just going to go up the paved path until we get to the actual trailhead which is right here and the trail is down to the left off to the right this little area for mules but down to the left is the south kaibab trail this is the start of our room term adventure to way over there we will end the hike and roughly i don't know nine to 12 13 hours from now we're just going to keep on heading downhill here at start of the trail it's kind of a nice gentle way to ease into it but pretty soon we're going to start going down switch backs and you'll see the trail down there in front of you winding along the cliff and here we go if you look down to the right there you can kind of get an idea of how steep these switchbacks are and don't worry the trail is always at least four feet wide it is designed for mules and mules can pass here it's really safe once you get used to it it might probably look worse on the video here but it's not too bad then after the switchbacks we kind of level out for a little bit and you can cruise here you can kind of see that has the uh those little steps in the rock as we go down there and you can see the switchbacks down below as we continue down here towards point which will be our first kind of landmark on the south kaibab trail and here it is this is a popular destination for day hikers it's a great place to watch the sunrise somebody has fallen off here in recent years climbing around on the rocks so please be careful um you know stay on the trail overall if you want to be safe once you have your fill here we're just going to continue on downhill and the trail twists back this way and you can kind of get an idea of the craftsmanship of the trail here as you go down there's a few different surfaces including this sort of cobblestone surface there's not a lot of this on this trail other trails have that but you're going to get some nice trails some nice views as you see trail wind down in front of you and a nice view of the different layers here of the grand canyon if you go to hikenguy.com i'll explain what those layers are now you're going to go down to one of the most beautiful parts of the south kailab down towards o'neill butte down there we're going to wind around a little bit and then we're going to go over a ridge kind of like a narrow spine of a ridge as we get close and again this looks worse than it really is it's not quite so steep but you can see the trail winds down to the right as we get great great views the butte we're going to be going down past that down towards the uh the right of it but otherwise we're going to keep on going down these switchbacks and enjoying the downhill and pretty soon you're going to get to cedar ridge and off to the left there are a bunch of cedar trees off to the right there is a toilet no water but a toilet and the trail is actually just across this open area here you're going to go across and then down to the right a little bit you can see the trail here sometimes it's hard to find this if you're off to the left where the trees are i'm going to continue on down towards the butte and skeleton point which will be our next landmark on the south kaibab trail this part's not as steep either you can see there's a little level area here where some people take pictures by the butte overall really beautiful area and most likely you'll be doing this around sun sunrise it's uh the colors are spectacular here as you can see now from here to skeleton point it's not so steep anymore um it is downhill but there are some leveler sections and uh it's not so rough on your knees and at this point right here we're almost totally flat so if you're having a hard time on the descents you're going to get a little break at this point now here's skeleton point this is the first point where you can see the river now the trail is straight here and we'll come back there which goes straight down and do the trail but if you do a one minute detour off to the left here you just walk to the left until you get to this cliff you'll be able to see the first glimpse of the colorado river down below there it is nice and green that's where we're going check out the river there's where we came from way up there but otherwise keep on heading down towards our next landmark which is going to be uh the tip off see some trail runners sometimes people do a rim to rim to rim in one day our trail runners will do that but as we go down here you're going to see the switchbacks kind of unfolds nicely beneath you down towards the right which is where we're going that's all the south kaibab trail down there here you can see we're on the cliff it looks again worse than it really is you have plenty of room to hike here even when you're passing somebody and you can see it's switchbacks down there below there's the tip-off and the distance there that's our next stop now the tip off can be a little bit confusing when you get up here the bathrooms are off to the right over there but the actual trail the south guy bob trail stays on the left hand side and goes straight downhill there's also a smaller kind of unmarked intersection with the tanto trail so if you see a trail coming in from the left or right as you can see here that's the tonto we're not going to take that that's a pretty primitive trail we're going to keep on going down the south kaibab trail now at this point we're going to be getting pretty close to the river and the views of the river are going to start getting better and once you kind of come through the gap past the tip off you can see look at the beautiful green colorado river down there you can see the trail winding around down there towards it i'm going to continue on downhill here down towards the river this is a nice cruisy downhill it's not so steep and it's it's beautiful it's hard to explain in the video but basically when you hike this your head is kind of on a swivel just because everything is so stunningly beautiful that you want to see everything it's really spectacular including very cool rock formations like this as we go down through the different strata of the grand canyon [Music] and you can see here it's downhill but it's not too steep so it's uh it's a little bit easier on your knees at this point as we go down eventually going to come down you're going to get more glimpses of the river down there it's going to be so close you can almost touch it and we're almost there probably 15 minutes at this point we'll be down at the river there's a little use trail off to the left here i recommend just staying on the main trail it's not an official trail so let's try to respect the rules stay on the main trail keep on heading down and when you get here you're going to be able to see black bridge which we're going to cross right there in south kaibab and up in the distance silver bridge which goes to the bright angel trail up the river a little bit which we're not going to cross on this hike but if you come back the other way and go up the bright angel you will cross that bridge down there and from at this point it's just a little bit more we're going to come to the junction with the little connector trail it goes over the silver bridge but we're going to go right down to the black bridge right down there you can see in the distance as we go down here and just a little bit more and then we're going to go through the tunnel and this is a short tunnel that's not too bad um go through the tunnel and we're going to come out on the black bridge and cross the colorado river and these are some of the oldest stones down here these are actually almost 2 billion years old these stones down here the vishnu and i think zoroaster layers of stone going across the bridge really nice bridge you can see colorado is nice and green right now you can see down to the bottom it's nice and clear sometimes it's brown full of sediment but uh today it's clear you'll probably see groups of uh rafters going through there it's really nice don't go in there to swim people have died doing that so be careful there once you get off the bridge you're going to go down river a little bit you're going to pass this little native pueblo you're going to see black bridge up there there's some interpretive displays here's some of the vishnu rock layer 2 billion or so years old really really impressive down here as you continue there's a little water refill this is your first water since leaving the trail head is also an emergency phone and the next big junction or important junction we're going to get to is this one right here and off to the left is the silver bridge and the bright angel trail but instead we're going to go right and go up bright angel canyon so bright angel canyon phantom ranch much different than the bright angel trail which is back off to the left here's another water refill but anyway we're going to go straight up the canyon here now i have to split the official trails off to the left you can also go right um all the trails basically go the same place we're going up the canyon here if you go right it's a little more shaded and you get to go by the mule pens but this is um you know there is private property here so be respectful of all different houses just stay on the trail and eventually you'll come back to the junction here where that other trail came in inside the official trail and we're just going to keep on going straight now you can stay at phantom ranch and i'll talk about that in the guide on hikingguy.com but most people who are not staying here just go to the canteen which is over here you'll pass it and you can get food they have some limited supplies you can mail postcards from here which travel up via mule there's a water refill some reason the lemonade got popular i got i like the unsweetened iced tea which is really good and they have ice which is also nice but do your break at phantom ranch and then come back to the trail and make the left and keep on heading up the canyon it's gonna be pretty much uphill from here on out uphill or flat at the end of phantom ranch are the toilets this is the line for the toilet so heads up there but we're going to keep heading up the trail and leave the phantom ranch area and this is a really scenic kind of underrated part of the hike between phantom ranch and kind of like the main climb up the north rim you're going to be going up along the bright angel creek which is right down here and the whole way hopefully the bright angel creek is flowing nicely and you can hear the babbling brook it's really a very beautiful area as you go up along these canyons right angel canyon at this point there's a little side trail it cuts down to the south kaibab we're not going to take that we're going to continue straight on up here and ribbon falls is going to be our next kind of landmark on this but between there i think there's about a five mile stretch or so we're going to be going through beautiful beautiful canyons like this very scenic the trail goes alongside the canyon alongside the creek and there's some sections of shade it's really really beautiful there's also a series of bridges here that we're going to cross probably half a dozen or so as we go back and forth over the creek on our way up towards the main climb on the north rim this is a little section called the box it was marked by that first footbridge and then the end is marked by this other footbridge it's really not the narrowest canyon here um that's up a little bit but it's it's beautiful you can see just breathtaking scenery as we hike up through the bright angel canyon this is very typical what you're seeing right now you can see we're hiking up alongside there stream is down to the left and it's also it's it's a little uphill i'd say it's rolling generally flat you can make some pretty good time here if you're um trying to book a little bit another bridge as we head on up beautiful beautiful part of the hike and you can see this is i think this is probably the narrowest part of the of the canyon here we go alongside the stream really really beautiful this is towards the end of the narrow part after this it's going to widen out a little bit and we're going to start going uphill before we split off in a little while yet another bridge to cross and we have one more in this kind of section down here but again you can just see we're surrounded by beautiful canyons here in the i guess the oldest part of rock on the on the hike down here as you go up you're going to get little glimpses in the distance of the north rim and then we're going to do this last bridge for a little while across this wider area and then from on from here on out the canyon kind of widens out and the slope starts going up a little bit it's it's almost undetectable but it does start to go up a little more than before now this is the first turn off for uh ribbon falls there used to be a bridge here they removed the bridge you can hike to the falls you have to walk across the creek it's a pretty cool area you can actually go behind the falls and you can see it from here too as you climb up if you're doing this as a multi-day trip um you know visiting the falls is a good idea if you're doing this in a day and you're trying to get done you know maybe save it for another time but you'll get some nice views of it here if you do go there do go behind it it's always a kind of cool experience to go behind the waterfall you'll notice here the hike started going up a little bit and then there's a little bit of a downhill here and you'll see the trail winding up in the distance there we have this little downhill and then we're going to come to the other sort of entrance to ribbon falls right here which is off to the left it's your last chance to hit the falls before heading up toward the north rim but instead we're going to go straight up towards cottonwood towards the next campground up here and this is beautiful again you know it's an it's a bucket list classic hike beautiful overall canyon walls streams brightening for creek there's a couple little creek crossings here but nothing too crazy beautiful views of the surrounding rock walls as we start to inch up a little bit you can kind of tell it's getting a little bit steeper here it's nice because it kind of gradually eases you into it as we go up this is a neat section along the cliff wall here with the creek way down below there and here we are at cottonwood campground and this is a really neat campground uh you know it's it's not too jammed together the spaces are kind of far enough apart that you don't really hear people and there are toilets here and there's water here as you go up you're going to pass a trail board right here there's a water refill and the campsites are kind of scattered along the trail as you go up here you'll see little numbered slots for the different campsites and go to hikingguy.com i'll talk about the um the camping options on there now from here you you're pretty much going uphill all the way there's a little dip or two as we go but it's definitely going to get steeper than it was before as we start climbing up towards the north rim and at this point if you've got you know maybe 15 or so miles in your legs it's going to be it's going to be tough for most people so just take your time it's not a race more beautiful waterfalls i mean the scenery is what really keeps you going on this if you told people you're going to hike 20 plus miles you know in a knee-banging descent and a crippling uphill they'd probably tell you not not for me but because the scenery is so beautiful you know it's it's just makes it easy to do or easier to do here we have one last bridge before we go up a little bit and then here we are at manzanita which is a place where a lot of people sort of rest before you start going uphill this is the beginning of the uphill uphill from here on out it's steep till we get to the north rim but you can refill with water here you can use the toilets on this nice little place to take a break in the shade here and refuel before you start going back uphill here you can see there's a little trail board and some water fills but take your time there and then start hiking up you can see it's raining and it does rain in the grand canyon it does snow in the grand canyon the north rim is closed for about half of the year from snow so nice to know before you start going here and again i'll talk about planning on the website but if you look up there you'll see the head of bright angel canyon up there but we're going to kind of swing off and go into roaring springs canyon and there's roaring springs right there that's actual water source of all the water in the grand canyon so the water comes out of roaring springs gets pumped up to the north rim and also down to the south rim so the water you've been drinking is coming from there they can go down to these springs but otherwise if you want to stay on the rim to rim just go straight through this junction and start climbing you'll start to see pines ponderosa pines and higher up there's uh more vegetation as we go you can see it's indicative of the fact that we are getting higher up in elevation as we go here now this part of the hike up roaring springs canyon is beautiful um it's a spectacular trail it's spectacular scenery and we kind of hug the cliff wall up on the left-hand side for a while as we travel back up through the different rock layers you can see the trail winding around there beautiful beautiful rock formations and eroded sections here that make it really really spectacular and if you have a problem with heights this section might be challenging but again it's still all four feet and uh in the article on hikingguy.com i'll talk about some strategies that you can use to conquer your fear of heights here uh but just know that literally hundreds of thousands of people make it through here here you can see is a section of the trail it's blasted through the cliffside and you can see the trail coming up the canyon there from below this is tough too i mean you're you're going uphill at a decent um decent climb here so take your time this kind of shot kind of gives you an idea of how steep this is as we go up and you see the rock formations really beautiful beautiful area here and you can also maybe notice that there's a little bit more vegetation you can see the north rim up top there that's where we're going to be going and more of the hike here along the side of the cliff if you're watching this in 360 video you can pan around and kind of look over the side if you're worried about what that looks like and again just relentless uphill i mean it's only i think it's about five miles from from manzanita up here but it's it's tough don't uh don't try to to cook yourself just pace yourself and take your time and make it to the top more cool rock formations as we go up and then you're going to have a little bit of a downhill and there's the red wall bridge down there it's going to be our last bridge that we cross and we're going to do this little downhill cross over the bridge which is spectacular nice views down the canyon can't quite see roaring springs anymore but you can see down to the bright angel canyon way below there and then up top there is where we are going at that top layer of limestone now from here on out it's steep it's steep it's tough you know you've got a lot of miles in your legs at this point so take your time there's a lot of switchbacks as we go up and you can see down there some of the switchbacks back down to the bridge as we hike up here and our next um next destination is going to be the supai tunnel you can see the switchbacks winding up there you can just break it down we'll switch back at a time until you get to the supai tunnel at this point it's a short tunnel through the rock and once we come through here there's a little rest area you can see some of the holes where they blasted the tunnel out pretty cool once you come through here a little rest area it doesn't matter which way you go here i'll go to the same place there's a toilet and water you're going to want to make sure you check the park website before you um plan your water refills out because sometimes these are closed we're going to go past and then keep on heading up and you can see it's a lot more lush at this point a lot more vegetation as we get closer to the north rim and again it's steep there's some longer switchbacks then we get some tighter switchbacks but the top is within your grasp right there that's where we're going but you can see how steep it is in the shot as well almost there and of course when you get tired you can just look back down way back down there is the bright angel canyon that we came up from about four miles ago at this point more switchbacks there's the top right there almost there almost at the trailhead but you can see switchback goes back to the left over here the next sort of destination is this overlook which is about a half a mile from the end it's a popular day hike for people visiting the north rim check out the overlook enjoy the views uh kind of one last time from here we're gonna kind of twist back get a couple more switchbacks in the open here but we're gonna kind of twist back into the trees into the forest for one or two long switchbacks which will seem long seem longer than they probably are for you at this point and then eventually you get to the trailhead this is the north kaibab trailhead and this is the entire hike so at this point you've done it sometimes there's a shuttle bus down to the lodges but otherwise you have to walk to the lodge which is about 1.7 miles and i'll put all that information on the website but that's it that is south rim to north rim so that's south to north i'm up here at the north kaibab trailhead i'm gonna go to the lodge get a good night's sleep drive a couple cheeseburgers into my belly and then i'm going to come back tomorrow and i'm going to show you what it's like to do north rim on the north kaibab to south rim on the bright angel so uh let me get up get a snoozer and we'll get rolling again all right let's talk about the route from north to south taking the bright angel back south kaibab was over here right angel is over here this way so let's head on down to the north rim now you can see once again if you're staying at the lodging you have to walk over here but we have this nice long descent down on the north kaibab trail until we get to roaring springs in the manzanita area which is right here that's about five miles then we have the journey down through the canyon which will be downhill we're gonna descend probably about a thousand feet or so until you get the phantom ranch which is going to be around nine ish miles or so and then we're going to cross over silver bridge and instead of going up the south kaibab we're going to go along the river here on the river trail this section is a little bit up and down mainly flat and then at river rest house here which is also pipe creek beach we're going to go up along pipe creek up to the section called the devil's corkscrew which are a series of switchbacks we're going to leave pipe creek head up along garden creek all the way up to indian garden which is right here and then we're going to basically hike up to the three mile rest house which is there the section is called jacob's ladder and then we're going to go from there up to the mile and a half rest house which is right here and then we have the final mile and a half which will feel like 10 miles up to the bright angel trailhead so again break this into three sections um you know you have the descent you have the middle section along the canyon and then you have the climb up once you cross the river which starts gradual and then gets steeper as you get closer to the top all right let's uh let's take a look at what this trail looks like all right so from the north kaibab trailhead we're just going to head down into the canyon apologies for these stutters in the beginning here gets better in a second or two but we're just going to head down the trail and eventually going to pass a sign that tells you not to bring any pets or watch out for the mules and be careful and all that fun stuff as we go down here there are some people who do day hikes down to different points along the north kaibab trail but in a minute or two you're going to come out of the trees and get some great views down into the grand canyon which is nice as we start heading downhill here you'll also be able to look down to your right and see the trail wind down there basically heading down this canyon here um all the way down until we get to bright angel creek at the overlook you can check this out this is about a half a mile in and another popular spot for people who just want to kind of dip their toe into the canyon but we're going to be going down roaring springs canyon down there and all the way down to the bottom unlike most other people who come down to this overlook and we're just going to keep on heading down here it's it's a nice long downhill lots of switchbacks it's kind of steep but not crazy steep you should be okay but your knees might get a little sore as you go down here i'll give you some strategies on coping with the downhills and the edges and all that fun stuff on heikenguy.com as you go down as you leave the limestone you'll notice that the soil turns red here we're going to go through all the different strata and eventually we're going to come down to the supai tunnel rest area and there's a toilet here and there's some water but you always have to check the park service website to make sure the water is on and i'll talk about water in the guide as well so check that out then right after the supai tunnel rest area is the actual supai tunnel and it's not long or anything it's a really short tunnel but still pretty neat and you can actually if you look down you can see where they blast in the rocks the little holes that they drilled into the side of the walls to blast there's one of them right down there pretty pretty cool and when you come out of here we're probably going to go down what's the steepest section you'll see the trail unfolding in front of you like a ribbon and we're going to basically go down about 15 million switchbacks until we get down to the redwall bridge which is down in the canyon down there so go ahead take your time and watch your footing obviously as you go down here it can get slippery on the the dust as we go down along the wall and all these trails are wide enough for mules to go up they're all about four feet wide at a minimum so nothing to be scared of millions of people do this hike i think millions at least hundreds of thousands do it as you continue on down here so if they can do it you can do it eventually you're gonna come on down to the um to the red wall bridge but before that you're gonna be able to look up and see the trail where you came down originally it's amazing how quickly you go downhill without knowing it before you know it you'll be down about a thousand feet and then even more we're gonna cross the bridge get some nice views down into roaring springs canyon down there nothing's flowing right now eventually we're going to see roaring springs down a little bit which is what supplies the entire grand canyon area with water but first we have this little uphill a little bit of a kicker um before we start heading downhill again not a big deal and then the section right between basically between here and roaring springs is really beautiful and there's a lot of sections that go right along the canyon wall if you're scared of heights there's sections where there's a sheer drop down in the left so just take your time and enjoy the views don't look down if it scares you you can see some older rock coming up there as we go down into another strata of rock down here which is really really beautiful especially in the morning when the sun is hitting all these cliffs the the colors are incredible down here you can see the trail winding down along the cliff in front of you as we continue down here for a lot of this they've actually blasted through the canyon walls you can see how we're going down here and this is an actively maintained trail so you might even see trail crews as you go out here and you hike down really neat as we go down here as you can see we've blasted into the wall to make the trail as we keep heading down some switchbacks and follow the trail down along the canyon wall down over there also take note that there's still some pine trees and lush vegetation that's going to go away as we get lower north rim is a relatively high elevation i think you're around 8 000 feet at this point you're going to probably hear it first but you'll see roaring springs over there falling down the mountain and that's the water source for the north and south rim of the grand canyon so it's pretty neat all the water that you drink on the trail comes from warring springs there's a little side trail down to the left if you want to visit if you're doing the rim to rim i don't recommend that i just focus on getting across um but you can continue if you like to and then once we pass roaring spring there's uh about three quarters of a mile down to the manzanita rest area and that's kind of the the end of the really steep portion of the downhill in manzanita there's a toilet and there's also water and some picnic benches a lot of people will stay here and take a breather but if you want to continue we're just going to keep on going straight and past manzanita we're going to cross one of about a half a dozen bridges over the creek here now at manzanita we actually go into a different canyon we're in the bright angel canyon or the north kaibab trail but the bright angel canyon not bright angel trail and we're going over actually bright angel creek here and we're going to follow it all the way down to phantom ranch in the colorado river now at this point i think you have maybe about eight eight or nine miles until you get down the colorado river and we're basically going to be going down this canyon the entire way and it's beautiful you're going to be following bright angel creek and doing some bridge crossings and some parts of the canyon are narrow some of them are wider but overall it's a really beautiful beautiful experience as you go down here you'll also notice some of these campsites we're coming down to cottonwood which is a great place to camp if you go to the website i'll talk about itineraries and possibly camping and doing this in multiple days we're going to go through cottonwood there's a trail sign a little thermometer up there hopefully it's not too warm there's some water one of the advantages of these corridor trails north kaibab bright angel south kaibab i'm sorry north angel the north kaibab and south kaibab is they all have water at the end of cottonwood there's a ranger station there's toilets there's something wrong that's the place to deal with it but otherwise keep on going through we're going to head down towards ribbon falls head up along the canyon now this stretch is um kind of like a i guess you'd call it a false downhill it's sort of rolling you can see we're up along the ledge here there's the creek down there there's a couple of uphills but in general i think between cottonwood and the river you're going to lose maybe about 1500 feet so it's overall a downhill and you can kind of cruise you can see the trail there winding in front of us going down the canyon [Applause] the trail in the canyon is kind of wider at this uh upper portion let's see there's some little creek crossings there's some little waterfalls overall really really beautiful and the idea is that basically as we go down farther the canyon gets a little bit narrower now at this point there's the turn off for ribbon falls used to be a bridge they dismantled it you can go there and you got to walk across the creek if you have time it's a beautiful place to go you can see the south rim peaking up above the rise there there's a little bit of an uphill past that and then you're going to go downhill but on the downhill you're going to be able to see ribbon falls up there and if you do have time to make the side trip you can actually go behind the falls which is really neat um if you're splitting these this hike over a day or two it's worth a side trip but again if you're doing it today just focus your energy on getting across the other side i think that's probably a prudent move now after that little downhill it's basically just a gradual downhill for the rest of the way and you can see the fauna has changed no more pines now there are cacti and uh you know scrub down here as we head along bright angel creek there's some buttes it starts to feel more like the grand canyon that you've probably seen in the videos before as opposed to the way it is in the north rim where it's a little more pine and alpine all right now we're going to cross a bridge as we head downhill there's a few bridge crossings in a row as we do the next few miles and it's going to be about four or five miles until we get the phantom ranch down here from rivet falls this is kind of my favorite part of this stretch um in the middle here the path gets narrow the canyons get narrow they get really scenic they're beautiful it's pretty easy hiking you don't have to watch your footing too much it's not a steep downhill and it's not a crazy steep uphill it's just sort of a nice cruisy hike along the bright angel creek and the canyon and you can see here how beautiful kind of the the canyon walls are and as you go down this is the oldest stone in the grand canyon the oldest stone down at the bottom is actually close to 2 million years old the vishnu formation so it's pretty amazing when you think about it another bridge another crossing of the bright angel creek and this stretch is neat where it goes along the cliff wall you can see they've blasted out of the cliff as we keep on heading down bright angel creek here now another bridge as we go across and there's a section called the box which is not quite as narrow as the last section um but it is beautiful and again more canyons more creek more cruisy downhill trail you can kind of get an idea of what the walls of the canyon look like and just a heads up if you're using a gps it might go crazy in these canyon walls it's a it's a tough environment for gps and what happens basically in practical terms is that your gps will show you a different distance than what you think it should be so don't rely too much on the gps as you go through here i recommend getting the national geographic map which has little distances between each landmark it's a it's a great way to navigate the hike and to plan the hike that little section back there was the box crossing back over into the canyon as we approach phantom ranch it starts to widen out a little bit hopefully we get some nice cool breezes coming up from the colorado river and here we have a junction with the trail that cuts across to the south kaibab we're not going to be taking that at this point you maybe have a half mile to go or so until you get to the beginning of the phantom ranch area and again it's the same idea just this beautiful trail along the bright angel creek here and there's the south rim we'll be going up that shortly but here's the beginning of phantom ranch and phantom ranch is um there's cabins down here there's a campground at bright angel and there are private residences for the park service so please be respectful as you go through here there's a toilet up top would otherwise go through to the main area you can see some of the ranger cabins here and there's a little work area and private area for the rangers there's a lizard the main attraction here is the canteen where people stop and you can get cold drinks with ice you can get food you can get some basic supplies you can mail postcards that gets sent up by the mule which is right over there on the right so check out the canteen but otherwise keep on going straight down through the phantom ranch area and there's some splits here you can't really go go wrong as long as you're going in this direction going straight you'll end up out the other side at some point but some of the attractions like the amphitheater and everything over on the left and we're just going to go down stay right along the trail here there's a bridge at this point that's the bright angel campground over there another great campground to stay at if you are doing this um with a backpack as an overnight that's a great option if you can book it i'm just going to keep going through and i'm going to come to this big junction there's a little bridge down in the right this is where we're going to make the right-hand turn head along the river if you ended up going straight you would go to the south kaibab trail we're not going to go up that we're going to go up the bright angel there's no water sources on the south kaibab so it's much better to go up this way to the south rim as we go over the bridge there's the last toilet i recommend filling up your water here this next section can get pretty hot until you get to the indian garden so prepare accordingly and i talk about that on the website so you don't have to remember it now eventually you'll come around the river you'll see the silver bridge over there i'm gonna cross over the silver bridge which is one of the highlights of the trip there's a grating at the bottom if you're scared of heights this might be a little bit rough but the river is really beautiful sometimes it's a little muddier a little siltier but today it's nice and clear and green you can see the rapids sometimes you see people going down in rafts and everything it's a really really cool experience across the bridge and to cross the river when it is clear you can look down you can see the rocks down the bottom and just enjoy the views there you can see some of the rapids and that's the black bridge up there if you come down the south kaibab you'll come across the black bridge but otherwise keep on across the bridge over the other side and over the over the other side you're going to make the right hand turn there's a short trail back to the left to go to the south kaibab but otherwise we're going to make the right and head down along the river trail to pipe creek and then we're going to head up um the bright angel this is one of my favorite parts it's a little bit of an up and down it's a little bit tough because it's sandy it's pretty hot down here as well but it's one of the only areas on this hike where you get to hike along the colorado river and the views down to the river are really nice and you can see some of the rapid sections really really cool this is all the oldest rock down here this is the 2 billion year old vishnu rock i think it's almost 2 billion in that ballpark what's a couple hundred thousand years right i'm gonna come up here we're gonna cro approach um pipe creek beach and you'll be able to see it down there to the right nice little sandy beach area and the trail twists in and if you go back to the right you can visit the beach and again if you want to dip your feet in there they don't recommend going into the river because obviously you can get swept away going to the rapids but otherwise we're going to go straight down here and start our long long climb up to the south rim and this is just a utility area here but otherwise we're going to keep on going past and cross where the river rest house is which is right here actually that's the sign to go back to the beach sorry the rest house is right ahead there and to get to the rest house you just cross across the creek across across the creek that's what i meant right over there and you can go to the little shaded area but otherwise we're going to head up pipe creek and up along the canyon and it can get pretty hot in here sometimes there's a cool breeze but the rock is all black so it attracts heat it can kind of get hot sometimes there's some stream crossings if you have trail runners it's nice to kind of get your feet wet cool them off but it's really beautiful here along pike creek with all the dark rock and rock formations in this narrow canyon one of the nice things about doing this climb is that in the beginning it's gradual you can see we're going up along the creek here we're going to be going up some switchbacks in a few minutes here but it kind of eases you in the hardest parts at the very end which i guess could be good or bad but it does easy and there you can see an area called the devil's corkscrew which is a series of switchbacks that are it'll be tough it's usually pretty hot here here we're going up them um this is your first real taste of steep you know grand canyon climbing the rest of it was sort of gradual but here you're going to do the steep switchbacks and climb on up and the nice thing is you can see down to the trail below you where you came up along pipe creek we're going to go all the way up there and just pace yourself you have a lot of climbing at the end so the trick is not to go super fast here just take it at your own pace you know enjoy yourself enjoy the views there is a point here where it gets a little bit uh less steep a little more gradual as you sort of go up there and wind around the canyon wall eventually you're going to come up and leave pipe creek and you're going to see another creek over here this is garden creek and it plunges down through a little slot over there down a waterfall and from here on out we're going to be following garden creek all the way up to indian garden there you can see it down there there it goes plunging through and the nice thing about this section is that it's um it's uphill that's not the nice part the nice part is uphill but it's not super steep and again we're just following the creek up along here it's pretty mellow and you can kind of get into a nice rhythm as you climb up here towards indian garden beautiful canyon also it's probably your last chance at solitude once you get to indian garden there's a ton of day hikers so the people who are down here a little more hardcore there's a family of bighorn over there hopping around the cliffs you got to keep your eyes open they're hard to spot but they're definitely a ton of them here also mule deer you can see sometimes but really really neat as we climb up along garden creek here you can see the trail is well maintained as always still the corridor trail the bright angel trail really well maintained trail as we go up here and you might even see trail crews working in this point now here's the intersection with the tonto we're not taking the tanto which is considered one of the primitive trails we could go over the south kaibab from here if we wanted to but let's just do it the right way head up bright angel once you pass that we're going to start entering the indian garden area you'll see a sign telling you that you're entering the area there's a little map here it's not too tough to navigate basically if you're not going uphill there's there's a misfire somewhere in your directions this is the pump house right here this is where the water from roaring springs which we passed earlier gets pumped up the south rim and up to all of the attractions up there eventually we're going to come down to the indian garden area i'm going to make a left there's some shaded areas over there there's a thumb thermometer which always reads a little bit higher than it really is spoiler alert but there's water over here and this is generally a place where people will rest and regroup before climbing up the south rim which is probably the hardest part of this hike here once you pass that there's some toilets over here and there are other toilets as we climb up but we gotta go go there's a campground in here where you can also stay again it's hard to book these but uh it is a nice option this little desert oasis here i'm just going to walk through the indian garden area all the way out to the end and this parts it's just a gradual uphill it's not too steep that'll change a little bit you'll be able to see right up there these switchbacks now the switchbacks um between here and three mile rest house they're called uh jacob's ladder it's a really kind of intricate series of switchbacks and here we are we're on them we're doing the climb and from here on out you're gonna you're gonna have some pretty steep uphills there's not really any place to rest or hide it's about four and a half miles i guess up from indian garden to the top in the beginning it's kind of straight you know not too tough as we approach but there you get a good view of jacob's ladder and the switchbacks as we go up towards three mile rest house obviously as you go up take breaks if you need to enjoy the views that's what it's all about otherwise you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for these incredible views so use your slow speed to have an excuse to take in the views and this gives you an idea of kind of how steep it is it's really hard to to say but at this point you've got over 20 miles in your legs and you know you'll probably be feeling it there's three mile rest house up there you get a nice view of it it's kind of a major landmark as you do this tough part and to actually get to the rest house you have to go back and uphill a little bit of course but there is water there and there are toilets back there as well otherwise we're going to keep on heading up our next landmark will be the one and a half mile rest house and it's going to be more of the same steep climbing switchbacks and not a lot of shade as you go up here and views i should can't forget the views right it's always fun when you climb up here to see the day hikers coming down that's where they come down from that's the had a bright angel up there the people who don't know what they're in for always have a nice big smile on their face as they're cruising down nice views you can see back up the bright angel canyon where you came down earlier from the north rim [Music] as you get higher you're gonna come up through the strata of rock up to the limestone coconino up here we'll see the change the change in the color of the rock as you go up really beautiful and up there is the one and a half mile rest house bathrooms the bathrooms are back off to the left the actual rest house is off to the right just a heads up they're not together there are the bathrooms let's go to the bathrooms do it otherwise make the right and continue on uphill once you pass that little junction where the bathrooms are you come to the water and then right past that's the actual rest house up here again a really neat day hike destination if you want to kind of dip your toe into the canyon you can see there's a sign there's some stairs up to the rest house but otherwise we're going up the last mile and a half usually for me i've done this many times it's fairly soul crushing but uh you know you know you're close you can you can mentally tick off the mile or quarters of a mile as you go up here there's some last nice views as we head up and there's switchbacks it's steep it's just a tough tough climb so do what most people do and go a little bit take a break go a little bit and take a break if you're struggling there you can see the trail winding up right in front of us that's where we're gonna go that's the end right there hard to believe we've come all this way just a mile and a half or so we will be at the top [Applause] and midway here you're gonna pass through a tunnel there's another one before we get to the very top but it's a fun landmark to go through as we head up here more of these stairs more uphill more switchbacks all the things you love doesn't kill us makes us stronger as you do this last switch back here you're gonna actually see the trail go up and that's the end right there that's the end of the bright angel so at this point we're almost there i'm just going to hit another little tunnel head through this tunnel there's a thing warning you not to fall off the side of the cliff that's a good sign that there's a lot of day hikers and people just venturing down from the edge here but we're gonna go here and the nice thing is towards the end the gradient eases up there's a trail back to the left which brings you back into the lodge area but to actually go to the official trailhead we're just going to go straight all the way up until the very end and this is the official bright angel trailhead you did it 20 plus miles rim to rim go get an ice cream cone a beer a hamburger basically anything you want you just hike the rim to rim so that's it guys rim to rim to rim i feel like a million bucks not quite but i do feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment i hike all the time i do really hard hikes this is always a tough hike no matter what so if you do end up doing this and you finish what you kind of have to um you know kudos to you it's a tough tough hike and well done now if you want to get more information on this just go to the webpage on hikingguy.com where again i have everything else you want to know the itineraries training lodging gear everything else is on that webpage which i will keep up to date if you read that you still have questions come back to youtube and leave me a comment and i'll do my best to answer them uh and answer any questions that you guys may have i can barely talk right now i need to go collapse into a bed and uh anyway guys hope you enjoyed the video and i'll see you out there

Channel: HikingGuy.com

Views: 46,362

Keywords: hiking, hikingguy, hiking guy, hike, rim to rim, grand canyon, grand canyon rim to rim, rim to rim to rim, grand canyon north rim, rim to rim to rim grand canyon, grand canyon national park, rim to rim grand canyon, north rim, south rim, hiking the grand canyon rim to rim to rim, rim to rim grand canyon run, grand canyon run rim to rim, grand canyon rim to rim hike, grand canyon rim to rim to rim, hiking rim to rim grand canyon, hiking the grand canyon rim to rim

Id: uK2WnkhM4GA

Length: 60min 35sec (3635 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 10 2021