Grand Canyon—a Good Rim to Rim to Rim (R2R2R) Backpacking Plan : Trip Reports : SummitPost (2024)

Overview and Planning

The Grand Canyon receives upwards of 5 million visitors ayear. Most of the visitors never venturefrom the rims. When visitors do venturefrom the rims, a common goal is to reach the Colorado River. Every year a number of visitors try to reachthe Colorado River who are unprepared and wind up needing a rescue orworse. I suspect this is why theinformation that exists about backpacking is somewhat sparse in terms of realplanning and advice, and long on cautionary tales and warnings. So much so, that I think it can be quitemisleading. Hence the format for thistrip report.

Let me start with some givens. The distance from the South Rim to PhantomRanch (where there is food, water and restrooms) is 7.4 miles, which includes acrossing of the Colorado River and ends up half a mile north of the ColoradoRiver. The distance from Phantom Ranchto the North Rim is 14 miles, and another 1.8 to the North Rim overlook at the North Rim Lodge. A return trip to theSouth Rim via a different path (common for rim to rim to rim hikes, also knownas “R2R2R”) is to take the Bright Angel Trail.

Some people trail run from rim to rim to rim in one day, andothers go rim to rim in one day, and then back to the other rim the next day (Isaw many of both on my first trip described in this trip report). These people are in shape, start early, arenot backpacking, do not have to worry about an overnight permit (which must begotten in a lottery), and will not be taking their time along the way. That was not our goal.

So we made our backpacking plan taking into consideration thatthere are three campgrounds along the main trails—Bright Angel campground atthe Colorado River, Cottonwood Campground 7.2 miles north of Phantom Ranch andIndian Gardens Campground which is about midway between the South Rim andPhantom Ranch along the Bright Angel Plan, and you are required to camp in onlythese locations on the main trails we would be covering. Our plan, which we followed and which I canalso highly recommend, was as follows:

Day 0: Drive fromLos Angeles to the South Rim.

Day 1: Take theSouth Kaibab trail to Cottonwood Campground (which is in the North KaibabTrail).

Day 2: Leave gear at Cottonwood Campground and hikeup to the North Rim and then return on the North Kaibab Trail, there being anextra 1.7 miles each way on the North Rim to the North Rim facility.

Day 3: Hike to Indian Gardens (taking the NorthKaibab Trail to the River Trail to the Bright Angel Trail) and then watch thesunset at Plateau Point.

Day 4: Hike up the remaining4.8 miles to the South Rim and drive back to Los Angeles.

As it turned out, this was a perfect plan. It was not too far on any day and, in fact,was quite leisurely, allowing plenty of time to take pictures, soak in thescenery, and enjoy ourselves. I did myfirst trip from May 18-22, 2013 with my brother Ed and my second trip May30-June 3, 2013 with my hiking buddy Mark J, his son Paul, and my stepdaughterArley. We had applied for our permits onJanuary 1, 2013 and won the lottery for each of the trips. (When you apply in the lottery you mustspecify each campground you will be staying at each night and if you receive apermit you can only camp in the specified campgrounds on the specified nightsset forth in your permit, so you do not have the luxury of changing yourschedule if you have planned poorly.) The temperatures on both trips were relatively mild, the high at PhantomRanch being about 95F the first trip and a little higher on the secondtrip. On the first trip it was cold onthe North Rim, but on the second trip it was positively hot sitting on the deckchairs in North Rim lodge facility looking out over the rim.

I have organized the rest of this report into discreetsections along with some commentary and additional commentary being providedwith the individual pictures. I haveincluded times of the photographs taken on my first trip for reference;pictures from the second trip are lacking times.

This picture was taken at 7:24 pm on May 18, 2013 from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at the viewing point near the Visitor Center.

Day 1—South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch (7.4 miles)

You can get a bus to the trail head from various locationsat the South Rim. We started at theVisitor Center and caught the first bus that was there after 5 am. The bus takes you to the trail head wherethere are toilet facilities but no parking for visitors. The South Kaibab Trail is billed as thesteepest trail in R2R2R, but it is not really that steep. It covers 6.9 miles from the South Rim to theColorado River, with a loss in elevation of 4860 ft. over 6.3 miles.

This trail starts descending from the South Rim withimpressive views from the beginning, and more views constantly coming intoview. The trail eventually proceedsalong a ridgeline and then goes down a path not really visible until you getthere, and then crosses the Colorado River via a bridge. Once across the Colorado River, Bright AngelCampground is on the west, and the trail proceeds up to Phantom Ranch. This trail has the most wide open views ofthe trails in this hike, with vast vistas along long portions of thetrail. I really liked this trail.

This trail has toilet facilities at Cedar Ridge (1.5 milesfrom the start) and at Tip Off (4.4 miles from the start), but no water alongthe way. When you get to Phantom Ranchthere are toilets and an air-conditioned cantina with snacks and drinks. I had approximately five 16 ounce glasses of teaand/or lemonade (with ice) each time I passed through this cantina.

This picture was taken at 5:47 am on May 19, 2013 as we began the South Kaibab Trail.

This picture was taken at 6:17 am on May 19, 2013 heading down the South Kaibab. In this picture you can see the trail down below as it follows to the east of the ridgeline.

This picture was taken at 5:58 am on May 19, 2013 starting down the South Kaibab Trail.

This picture is perhaps my favorite picture from my trips. It was taken at 6:53 am on May 19, 2013 looking west from a ridgeline opening along the South Kaibab Trail.

This picture was taken at 6:59 am on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 7:19 am on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 7:19 am on May 19, 2013. It is looking west and the Colorado River is in the bottom of the canyon (but not visible) in the middle of the picture.

This picture was taken at 7:37 am on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 8:32 am on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 8:20 am on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 8:43 am on May 19, 2013. Unfortunately, hikers have to share the trail with mules on all of the main trails on this trip. This is one example.

This picture was taken at 8:53 am on May 19, 2013. Bright Angel Campground is across the Colorado River. Phantom Ranch is further up from Bright Angel Campground.

Day 1—Phantom Ranch to Cottonwood Campground (6.8 miles,
excluding trip to Ribbon Falls)

Shortly after leaving Phantom Ranch this trail turns intonarrow canyons and becomes far different from the wide open vistas seen in themorning. I am not sure what I wasexpecting, but this was not it. Some ofthe canyons are relatively narrow. Thematerials from the Park Service say this portion of the trail can get very hot,and this is undoubtedly true. But giventhe narrowness of the trail, sun only hits the trail during limited times ofthe day, and the Kaibab Creek is available at many points along the trail forwetting your hat and shirt to help keep you cool, which we did about every halfhour or so. Also, the elevation gain onthis leg of the trip is slight, which means this section has no realelevation gain to slow you down.

During parts of this hike I thought it seemed like I wassomewhere else instead of in the Grand Canyon, given the rushing water and allof the greenery around it. On my firsttrip there were flowers in bloom everywhere (see a separate photo album alsoposted on SummitPost showing the flora seen on my first trip). We decided to stop and enjoy ourselves, andcool down, at several points along this trip. There is plenty of time for such stops, and no reason to becomeoverheated. Over time we all started toenjoy our stops when we soaked our shirts and hats in the cold stream water.

When you eventually come out of the narrows area, the trailstarts to open up and go through a plateau or plains like area that willeventually lead up to Ribbon Falls, described in its own section below. After Ribbon Falls, the trail goes about amile and a half until it reaches Cottonwood Campground, and there are somepretty impressive views between the narrows and Cottonwood Campground.

There are no toilet facilities along this route, but thereis plenty of stream water.

This picture was taken at 11:12 am on May 19, 2013. It is taken on the North Kaibab Trail before going into the narrows section, south of Phantom Canyon.

This picture was taken at 11:41 am on May 19, 2013. There were sections of the trail where it cut into the rock along the river. This is an example of an overhang.

This picture was taken at 11:14 am on May 19, 2013. One of the strange and unexpected things was to see these old poles located throughout the trail, sometimes in rather unusual and hard to get to spots. It is just not something I expected to see on this hike.

This picture was taken at 12:42 pm on May 19, 2013. You can see the trail running along the Kaibab Creek that has cut through these canyon walls.

This picture was taken at 1:08 pm on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 1:33 pm on May 19, 2013 above the narrows portion of the North Kaibab Trail looking north up the trail.

This picture was taken at 3:04 am on May 19, 2013. On my first trip I did not know to cross here, so we merely used the stream to wet our shirts and hat; on my second trip, this turned out to be the crossing that then led up the easier and shorter route to Ribbon Falls.

This picture was taken at 1:42 pm on May 19, 2013. This picture shows a number of different interesting formations of rock strata seen at differing elevations in this picture. The picture is shot looking to the left proceeding up the North Kaibab trail shortly after leaving the narrows portion of that trail.

Ribbon Falls

On both trips we stopped at Ribbon Falls on our firstday. On the first trip, because I didnot know where Ribbon Falls was, I kept going along the trail at a sign markinga fork in the road, which means going up a hill and then back down it and thenbacktracking across a bridge and back to the Falls. On the second trip, we crossed Kaibab Creekand proceeded directly to Ribbon Falls, which was the better option (althoughour two younger members had some difficulty crossing the stream). The stream crossing is not difficult foranyone with any experience in crossing streams on rocks. Even if you go in the stream, there is notmuch to worry about because you can dry off pretty quickly at Ribbon Falls.

Ribbon Falls is a side trip not to be missed. The Falls are located in an area protectedfrom the sun most of the day. That iswhy you see this enormous rock with moss on it, where the water from the fallsruns down. I saw pictures of this area fromthe early nineteenth century (albeit in black and white) where the same mosscovered rock was easily identifiable. The water pool by the falls is fairly shallow and you can go in it andcross to a hole in the rock where the water runs down. You can also take a trail up behind thefalls.

There is plenty of time to spend an hour or so enjoying thisarea, especially if you have members of your group who need to change socks anddry out their shoes or boots from an imperfect stream crossing. And, after all, why rush when you shouldstill have plenty of time to Cottonwood Campground.

This picture was taken at 3:49 pm on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 3:50 pm on May 19, 2013.

This picture was taken at 4:00 pm on May 19, 2013. The picture is taken after hiking up behind Ribbon Falls and if you look closely in the top center of the picture you will see water coming down that is then splashing on top of the rocks which are the moss covered rocks seen in pictures of Ribbon Falls from a distance.

Cottonwood Campground

This campground has toilet facilities and running water,when it works. On my first trip we hadrunning water. On my second trip thewater was not running on the first night here, but was on the second. So you want to make sure somebody in yourgroup has water treatment pills or drops.The campsites here are numbered and laid out, each of which has a picnictable, large ammo boxes for food storage, and racks for hanging yourpacks. Many of the sites have some treecoverage. One thing to remember aboutsuch sites, especially if you doing the R2R2R backpack described here, is thattrees interfere with star gazing at night, which was one of the more enjoyableaspects of this campground. The starsare incredible. Also, as was pointed outto me by a ranger on my second trip, if you know where to look, you can see alight at the North Rim facility at night from this campground. (If you are at the trial at campsite 4 andaround that area, look left up the large canyon to the rim and you can see thelight.)

This picture was taken at 5:11 pm on May 19, 2013.

Day 2—Cottonwood Campground to North Rim (6.8 miles), then
North Lodge (1.7 miles), then Return

Before describing the hike for this day, it is worth notingthat you can leave your tent, extra food, and sleeping gear at your campsitetoday, which means you will not be carrying this weight on the ascent, and yourcampsite will be waiting you upon your return later in the day, which makesthis day much less strenuous, especially since you can buy your lunch (when theNorth Rim Lodge is open) on the North Rim.

The North Kaibab Trail starts off slow with little elevationgain, but good scenery, up to the Pumphouse Ranger Station 1.4 miles north ofCottonwood Campground (there is a toilet facility and water, when it isworking, and a stream at this point). From Pumphouse Ranger Station up to Roaring Springs (another 0.7 miles)the trail starts to turn a little steeper. Roaring Springs is somewhat of an unusual place. The Springs appear to be coming right out ofthe rock, and the water pours out from Roaring Springs, where there is a pumpingfacility. After Roaring Springs, thetrail winds upwardly and goes through some really interesting areas, with veryinteresting trees and views, and some steep drop offs over the side, until yougo down in elevation to cross a bridge. Once you cross the bridge, it is switchbacks up to the Supai Tunnel,which is 3 miles from Roaring Springs. This is the hardest (but not that difficult) portion of this hike, butvery scenic, and it is nice to be doing this portion of the hike in the morningwhen light is good for enjoying the scenery. There are toilet facilities and running water (when it is working) atSupai Tunnel. From Supai Tunnel, it isrelatively easy long uphill switchback trails up to the trailhead, there beinga very scenic overlook at Coconino Overlook.From this overlook, we could see San Francisco Peaks to the south.

When you get to the trailhead at the end of North KaibabTrail, there is running water and toilet facilities. From the trailhead it is another 1.7 milesalong a designated walking trail to reach the Grand Canyon Lodge, which isdefinitely worth the walk. At the GrandCanyon Lodge there is a gift shop, regular toilets, a sit-down formal restaurant,a saloon, and a cafeteria where we had pizza and cold drinks. The Grand Canyon Lodge has outside terraceswhere you can sit in lounge chairs and soak up the view as the terraces have asteep drop-off beneath them for a fantastic view of the Grand Canyon.

Once you have slaked yourself with food and enjoyed the viewat Grand Canyon Lodge, you turn around and retrace your trip to CottonwoodCampground. As this is going downhill,it is a very easy and enjoyable hike, especially since you left gear at yourwaiting campsite.

This picture was taken in the afternoon of my second trip.

Day 3—Cottonwood Campground to Phantom Ranch

This portion of the trip retraces ground from Day 1, but nowearly in the morning. One thing toconsider, which I did on my second trip, is a side excursion up PhantomCanyon. You can cross Kaibab Creek rightabove where Phantom Creek joins it on an easy rock crossing. The trail up Phantom Canyon is very narrow,but easy, with small waterfalls coming into view in about 5-10 minutes. You can easily climb up above the waterfallsto the left.

Phantom Creek can be seen draining into Kaibab Creek in this picture.

These waterfalls are not visible from the North Kaibab Trail and require a small side trip.

Day 3—Phantom Ranch to Indian Gardens Campground via RiverTrail and Bright Angel Trail (5.1 miles)

From Phantom Ranch you proceed back toward the ColoradoRiver and then tak e a trail west that crosses a second bridge and then proceedalong the River Trail. The distancebetween Bright Angel Campground and the River Resthouse (where there are toiletfacilities but no running water) is 1.5 miles. This path, as it will be traveled midday, can be hot. It has nice views of the Colorado River. Portions of the path are through sandy areas,but the trail is well maintained. Justabove the River Resthouse you will find pools of water from a stream where youcan soak your shirt and hat, which you will want to do before heading upthrough Devil’s Corkscrew which is a winding switchback trail that soundsmuch worse than it is, but which is now being taken in midday when it ishot. Above Devil’s Corkscrew youwill come into a short area that is now flat and then, as you turn left, yousuddenly pass into a green area with water running literally alongside the trail,a real desert oasis. This is a good spotto again wet your shirt and hat. Fromhere, the trail travels up through a canyon area, so the views are limited,past a small waterfall, and then you will approach an enormous and beautifulCottonwood tree. From this tree, you areprobably about a mile from your campsite at Indian Gardens. There are some very beautiful views of theSouth Rim along this route, as you are now getting back into an area withvegetation.

Indian Gardens Campground and Plateau Point

There are a lot of people at this campground, some of whichhave just come down from the South Rim. It can be noisy, and the ground is hard as cement in the campsites, soit is best not to have to use stakes to pitch a tent. Almost all of the campsites are protected bytrees, which makes nighttime stargazing more difficult. It is easy to see lights from the South Rimfrom Indian Gardens. This is not awilderness campground. By the time you set up your campsite and rest a bit, the thing to remember is that you want toget to Plateau Point for sunset, and almost everybody at Indian GardensCampground will be there right with you.

Plateau Point is 1.5 miles, one way, from Indian GardensCampground. It is an easy trail. Just take a little water, your camera, maybeyour dinner, and be prepared to watch the sun go down with a couple dozen other
people once you reach Plateau Point. Theviews are great. On the first trip wesaw condors flying about; on the second trip we met a professional guide whowas there with some clients and watched him making a great pasta dinner, forwhich I got the recipe. The point is toenjoy the view, as this is your last night and there is not much else to do,although there is a library at Indian Gardens Campground with books you cancheck out if you are inclined to reading.

Indian Gardens Campground has toilet facilities and fairlyreliable running water.

Day 4—Indian Gardens Campground to South Rim (4.8 miles)

The first stretch of this final segment has little elevationgain and then starts to gain on your way to Three-Mile Resthouse which hastoilet facilities and water. The nextstretch goes up to Mile-and-a-Half Resthouse which also has toilet facilitiesand water. Then one more stretch to the SouthRim. Given that this is all you have tohike on this segment, you have eaten most of your food, and water requirementsare slim if the water is on, this is a fairly easy finish to the trip. We did not start until 7 am on both trips,and were at the South Rim mid morning, with plenty of time to take the shuttleto our car, change, and be plenty early for lunch, and then a drive home. No need to rush and an easy finish to thetrip.

This picture was taken at 11:02 am on May 22, 2013.

Final Thoughts and Observations

On my first trip I was not entirely sure what to expect orwhat I would see, so the second trip was much more relaxed and enjoyable. Also, on my second trip, I really minimizedwhat I took, and my backpack with 3.25 liters of water, a 19 oz. container oftea/lemonade (i.e., mostly sugar), a 5 oz. pillow (since I had no jacket orextra clothes for a pillow), a tent and sleeping bag liner, weighed in justunder 26 pounds. (I also did not take arain cover for my tent since the weather forecast for rain was 0%).

This is a very nice and enjoyable backpacking trip. It is not a wilderness trip, and you will notbe alone. But you will enjoy greatvistas and be able to soak in a variety of things that millions of people misson a visit to the Grand Canyon. And itis not difficult, as long as you are prepared, have some decent equipment,somebody with some experience, and have a reasonable degree of physicalfitness. For somebody with mountainhiking experience, especially with backpacking trips, you might call this ClubMed backpacking, given all of the toilet facilities and daily access to colddrinks and food. But, remember, I didthis before the summer heat, and that could make things much different. That is why planning is essential, and youmust get a permit via the lottery.