Backpacking Rim to Rim at Grand Canyon National Park

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We’ve backpacked in Grand Canyon National Park before. We hiked down the North Kaibab Trail and up the Bright Angel Trail. It was glorious. But ever since that first trek, we’ve had visions dancing in our heads of backpacking rim to rim at Grand Canyon National Park.

Because: a.) doesn’t rim-to-rim just sound epic and exciting? And b.) I just had to add that route to my backpacking resume. Here are the deets: North Rim to South Rim involves a loss of 5,781 feet on North Kaibab, a gain of 4,400 feet on Bright Angel, 24 miles one-way, not including little side-trails to mesmerizing Ribbon Falls on North Kaibab and the 3-mile roundtrip Lookout Point from Indian Garden Campground. There’s South Kaibab trail, too, on the South Rim, but there’s no water or shade and while the trail is shorter, it’s steeper and not quite as lovely (in our opinion). Needless to say, rim-to-rim is not a route for the faint of heart.

Really, I should thank my fifty-something-year-old parents for this trek. While Josh and I did indeed aspire to complete it, we had no definitive plans to do so in the near future. It was when my parents said they wanted to finally go to the Grand Canyon and backpack down (after hearing about our first trip, I might add) that we decided it was time for our grand return. We bribed them with our company if they agreed to go rim-to-rim. To my surprise, they did. I shouldn’t have been that surprised–my dad introduced me to backpacking before I turned 10 and my mom, who doesn’t backpack frequently, is still an outdoorsy lady.

Planning for Backpacking Rim to Rim at Grand Canyon National Park

So, since they are planners (we’re more of the spontaneous lets-show-up-and-see-what-happens type), we started getting things sorted. We actually applied for a backcountry permit months in advance–the day backcountry camping permit applications were available for the dates we wanted to go, in fact–and got a permit for the dates and sites we wanted. Huzzah! You can read more about how to get a backcountry camping permit at the Grand Canyon here.

Then I started outlining exercises for them (and us) to do in the months before to get ready for the tough ascent and descent (uphill’s exhausting but it’s downhill that’ll tear you up) and started figuring out how we were going to get from the popular South Rim to the under-visited North Rim. While you can practically see it from the South Rim, it’s a four-hour drive around the canyon. Boo. And what I found was not encouraging.

Sure, there are several shuttle companies that will take you from rim to rim before or after your hike, but they aren’t cheap. In fact, I couldn’t find anything less than $90 per person. Holy exorbitant price-gouging, Batman! You know I wasn’t paying that. So I got crafty, as I am wont to do in these sorts of situations, and I turned to ridesharing sites and good ‘ol Craigslist. Craigslist didn’t let me down.

Only a few days after posting in the rideshare section of the Flagstaff Craigslist page, a man named Sabro emailed me and said he and his wife were hiking down from the North Rim the same day we were. They would even meet us at the South Rim the day before, we could all drive together, camp in a free dispersed campsite on the North Rim the night before we hiked in, and start backpacking the Grand Canyon together. Yes, I am a brilliant force of craftiness, thank you. But possibly not as crafty as Sabro and his wife, Marquita: they did not end up having to take a shuttle back to their car, either, because in the backcountry office before they hiked in, they met a guy trekking from South to North and decided to meet in the middle and swap keys. He would drive their car back from the north rim and none of us would have to take the shuttle. How’s that for making human connections and keeping your hard-earned money in your pocket (while simultaneously feeling incredibly intelligent to have out-smarted the overpriced operators)?

In any case, the six of us had a great time on the drive over and the hike down, though their itinerary was a day shorter than ours. So, unfortunately, we parted ways when we arrived at our campsite and they carried on to Phantom Ranch. But getting started wasn’t as stress-free as it sounded; on the drive to the North Rim, we very nearly got more excitement than we bargained for.

Watch out for Wildlife

Marquita drove. By the time we got close to the North Rim it was dark. From the front seat, Josh and I kept our eyes on the road, helping her spot mule deer in the dark. However, it wasn’t a deer, but a buffalo that appeared out of the tree line around 9:30 pm. And not just appeared: a full-grown buffalo was very suddenly barreling down the hill toward the road. I screamed, “Buffalo!” Marquita slammed on the brakes. We braced ourselves for impact. We were on a collision course–this massive creature was definitely going to crash into the side of the truck. There was yelling. Also a palpable sense of impending doom. Then, just as the truck jolted to a stop, still directly in line with the buffalo’s course, the animal swerved, missing the side of the truck by inches. No joke. We sat motionless in the truck, still screaming. Gradually our outcries turned into nervous laughter. We clutched our hearts, checked to make sure our pants were dry, and shaking with adrenaline, exchanged excited exclamations.

All except for my dad, who calmly remarked, “What was that about?” He had been chilling in the back seat, gazing out the opposite window, and missed the entire encounter. He never even saw the buffalo. The rest of us were all certain someone was about to die and he hadn’t even realized we were in danger. “I wondered what everyone was yelling about,” he laughed. We waited for our heart rates to descend and carried on, very slowly, pulling into the next turnoff, not caring if it was a proper designated campsite or not–we almost got mowed down by a buffalo!

Backpacking Rim to Rim at Grand Canyon National Park

As for the hike, we did it in four short days and three nights. I might have done it in three days, people do it in as few as one, but since there were four of us and we had the June heat to contend with, we opted to take it slow. Good thing we did. We were already waking up at 5:30, 6:00 in the morning to pack up camp and hit the trail to beat the heat. Fun fact: it’s freaking hot down there. It’s a mile lower in elevation than the South Rim and up to 30 degrees warmer. While we were hiking, I think the thermometer topped out at 130 degrees in the sun. One hundred. Thirty. Degrees. That’s freaking hot. You do not want to be hiking when it’s that hot. You’ll literally start baking like those tiny cupcakes in an Easy Bake Oven.

So we’d start early, finish by lunchtime, and take the rest of the afternoon to nap in the shade or just sit semi-submerged in whatever creek happened to be flowing near the campground. In fact, every time we crossed water we would soak our clothes, bandanas and hats to keep up cool for a while. It was at night when we couldn’t sleep because the air was so hot and still that it felt the worst. Even with no fly on the tent, it was torture. Some folks just brought tarps, sleep pads and a thin sheet for cover. They are braver than I: the last time we were down there at least one scorpion crossed our path.

But the heat gets far more people than scorpions. While we were hiking, no fewer than three helicopters touched down to pick up hikers that weren’t prepared and suffered some form of heat illness. At those temperatures, in the dry air, and when you’re exerting yourself, a few liters of water just isn’t enough. You need electrolytes and salty snacks, more of both than you think you might. Too many people attempt this hike without coming prepared and suffer greatly for it. We slept next to or hiked past many of them. Fortunately, my parents each brought a monstrous bag of Gatorade mix (these people do not know how to minimalize, I can tell you that much), which they shared or offered to share with several hikers who neglected to bring any beverage but water.

Backpacking Rim to Rim at Grand Canyon National Park: An Itinerary

The first day we started at the North Rim at the North Kaibab Trailhead around 9:00, much later than we should have, but several people needed fresh batteries for headlamps and the gift shop didn’t open until 8:00. We hiked 6.8 miles over six hours (there was a nice long break for lunch at the Pumphouse Ranger Station where we cooled down in the river and relaxed for an hour or so). We camped that night at Cottonwood Campground and spent a good deal of our time in Cottonwood Creek.

Day two we started around 7:00 and hiked about 7.3 miles from Cottonwood Campground to Bright Angel Campground, plus a .6-mile roundtrip walk to Ribbon Falls. I highly recommend you do not skip this side-trail as the scenery is stunning, just refreshingly lovely. We dropped our packs near the split and hiked in without them. We made it to Bright Angel Campground next to Phantom Ranch along the Colorado River in 4.5 hours. The rest of the afternoon was spent snacking, sitting in Bright Angel Creek, and sipping on ice-cold lemonade from the canteen ($5 for a cup with $1 refills). Totally worth if it just for the ice.

Day three we started even earlier: 6:30. It took us 4 hours to reach Indian Garden by lunchtime. We enjoyed the creek once more, though it’s smaller at that point, then walked the 1.5 miles out to Plateau Point to watch the sunset. Full disclosure: it’s not that impressive without clouds. Oh, what we wouldn’t have given for some clouds, but that was less about sunset and more about wanting a break from the sun beating down on us every second of the day. I don’t think we saw a cloud in the sky the entire four days.

Day four we awoke at 5:00 to mule deer munching on greenery in our campsite and were packing out before 6:00. The climb from Indian Garden to the trailhead at the South Rim is a long one and full of switchbacks and only intermittent shade, so we wanted to beat the heat. We took it slow but still reached the top in under four hours. We then enthusiastically swapped sweaty synthetic fabrics for cotton (only backpackers know how good a cheap cotton tank top feels after days of polyester), filled up on food that wasn’t freeze-dried, bought the rim-to-rim T-shirt, and were on our way.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience…unless you don’t want it to be…

This being my parents’ first time at the Grand Canyon, I asked if they wanted to go to a few lookout points before we left the park–we had only been to one before we set off with Sabro and Marquita–but they declined. They had already seen the most picturesque and perfect parts of the canyon from the bottom, up, they said. I have to agree. While the stacked layers of colorful rock and stone that are on all the postcards, the sheer width and breadth of this natural wonder, are impressive, even breathtaking, the vista doesn’t hold a candle to the views from inside the canyon. It may seem strange to the 98% of visitors who only stay two hours, take a few selfies from the top and go on their merry way, but if you’ve been to the bottom, you don’t need to gawk at the top; you’ve seen and experienced the real Grand Canyon. And it’s amazing.

Tips for backpacking rim-to-rim at Grand Canyon National Park:

• Don’t just bring water; bring enough electrolytes for at least one liter a day. Gatorade powder and Propel packets will do, or if you don’t mind Stevia in your beverages (I’m not a fan), Nunn is a more wholesome alternative. Just make sure you’re drinking plenty of both.
• Bring salty snacks. One ranger we met had a bag of potato chips in her daypack. Those are a bit empty on the calorie front, but salty trail mix, snack bars, soy jerky (we love vegan brands Primal, Sam’s Harvest Jerky and Louisville Jerky), etc. will do nicely.
• Start early in the warmer months. It’s too hot to hike in the middle of the day. Start early, finish early, relax in the shade until dinnertime.

Things we’re glad we had:

• trekking poles. We didn’t bring them last time and suffered dearly.
• Wide-brimmed hat. My dad opted for his trusty ball-cap style running hat (despite my suggestion that he purchase something with a brim) and admitted that a wider brim would have come in handy when that desert sun was beating down on his neck.
• A long-sleeve shirt. I never wear even short sleeves in the summer in day-to-day city life. I will, however, while I’m backpacking to protect sensitive shoulders. But at this altitude and heat, I felt like I was frying (indeed, I got burned a bit the first day) and so I donned a synthetic long-sleeve shirt my mom brought. It kept me protected and actually much cooler than in a Tee as I could keep the sleeves (usually the whole shirt) wet (and thus cool).

Things we wish we had:

• Saline nasal spray. It’s seriously so dry down there in the summer you feel like you can’t breathe. This would have gone a long way toward lubing up the workings.
• Hard candy. For calories, sure, but my mom wanted this mostly because as soon as you swallowed a drink of water your mouth was instantly dry because of the lack of humidity. Some hard candy to suck on would have helped our mouths not feel like they had been stuffed with cotton.

Ever backpacked in the Grand Canyon? Do tell! Questions about planning your own trip? Ask away! Wander on.