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PARKS
Grand Canyon National Park
North Rim Trails
Bright Angel Point/ Transept Trail
These paved, heavily traveled rim trails, which head in opposite directions from a shared starting point behind Grand Canyon Lodge, are pleasant walks for canyon veterans and neophytes alike. Passing wind-battered juniper trees, the Bright Angel Point Trail makes a short, .25 mile (each way) jaunt to the tip of a peninsula between Bright Angel and Transept Canyons—two side canyons of Grand Canyon proper. This lightning rod of a peninsula affords a nice view down Bright Angel Canyon to near where it intersects the gorge carved by the Colorado River. After you tire of the crowds at Bright Angel Point, walk the other direction from Grand Canyon Lodge on the Transept Trail. This trail follows the rim of Transept Canyon, undulating through ponderosa pine forest en route to the North Rim Campground.
Widforss Trail
This moderately challenging five-mile (each way) trail, one of nicest rim trails in the park, is a great place to spend a day hiking and picnicking. It travels primarily in ponderosa pine forest, on ground blanketed by lupine and Indian paintbrush. After passing a few interpretive markers, the trail skirts the head of Transept Canyon (one of many capillary-like canyons branching from Grand Canyon proper), passing a balancing rock. It then travels several additional miles through the forest before dead-ending at the rim, with views of Zoroaster, Brahma, and Buddha temples and the central Grand Canyon.
Uncle Jim Trail
This relatively easy 2.5-mile (each way) hike travels along the rim of Uncle Jim Point, opening onto views of Bright Angel and Roaring Springs canyons. The disadvantage to this hike is the first mile, on the Ken Patrick Trail, which be dusty (or mucky) from heavy mule traffic. The advantages to this hike are the views and the easy access from the North Rim entrance road.
Cliff Springs Trail
This half-mile-long, relatively easy trail off the Cape Royal Road passes an Anasazi granary en route to Cliff Springs, where water drips from overhanging rock. The trail offers little in the way of canyon views, but it does venture through box elder and fir trees and has ample shade.
Ken Walters Trail
Perhaps the most challenging rim walk in the park, this 10-mile trail has a variety of terrain: a mile of easy trail worn to dust by mule trips; steeply rolling, thickly forested, seldom-traveled paths; deep ravines, and some spectacular canyon views. At times it gives the illusion of being in the deepest wilderness, though in truth it's near relatively busy areas. You won't want to walk it all in a day unless a ride awaits you at the trail's terminus: 8,800-foot Point Imperial, the highest spot on either rim of Grand Canyon.
Canyon Trail
North Kaibab Trail to Roaring Springs
With its trailhead at 8,250 feet, this corridor trail passes through high-alpine species such as Douglas fir, white fir, and quaking aspen before descending into more temperate climes. In places, the rock layers are visibly offset along the Bright Angel Fault. The trail descends in switchbacks through the upper rock layers, traverses on ledges above the Redwall, then descends to Roaring Springs, the water source for the canyon's South Rim. Here, water pours from an opening in the Muav limestone, slowing in pools surrounded by scouring rushes, box elder and cottonwood trees. At 4.7 miles and 3,050 vertical feet below the rim, Roaring Springs is the farthest day hikers should travel into the canyon.
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