Sight · Grand Canyon National Park
A good first canyon hike, with wide views of O’Neill Butte.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Grand Canyon Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Grand Canyon National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Grand Canyon audio tourRecorded for this place
Yaki Point and South Kaibab Access“The access road for Yaki Point and South Kaibab Trailhead is coming up. Private cars can't use the spur; park at the Visitor Center and take the free Orange Route shuttle.”
Plays as you drive up to Cedar Ridge in the Parkwolf Grand Canyon Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Cedar Ridge is a broad rest area on the South Kaibab Trail, 1.5 miles one way from the trailhead. It’s a smart turnaround if you want a real canyon hike without going on to Skeleton Point: the round trip is three miles, and the ridge gives you an open view into the canyon.
The trail drops about 1,140 feet to the ridge on steep, well-defined dirt switchbacks with very little shade. You retrace the same route uphill, and the climb out takes longer than the descent. Treat Cedar Ridge as a real hike, not a quick add-on to a rim stop.
There’s no public parking at the South Kaibab trailhead, so take the Kaibab (Orange Route) shuttle from the Visitor Center. Cedar Ridge has restrooms but no drinking water; carry what you’ll need from the rim.
The rest area opens to broad canyon views, with O’Neill Butte rising just ahead and the deeper layers beyond it. Scattered junipers give you a few pockets of shade; most of the ridge is open. For a photo, keep O’Neill Butte off-center and include the canyon layers around it to show the scale of the drop.
The switchbacks from Ooh-Aah Point cut across Coconino Sandstone, where the cross-bedded lines show in the cliffs. Cedar Ridge is one stop on a route through the canyon’s deep stack of rock layers, which record nearly two billion years of geologic history.
Wildlife
718 sightingsCalifornia CondorMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
533 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
169 sightingsAmerican BisonMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,891 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
59 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
27 sightingsGray FoxMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Grand Canyon. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingSouth Kaibab Trail6.3 mi · 5 hr · 0.8 mi awayA steep ridge descent with a first river view at Skeleton Point.
ModerateRim Trail12.8 mi · 7 hr · 0.8 mi awayThe full 12.8-mile rim walk, easiest to sample by shuttle.
ChallengingRim-to-Rim: South Kaibab to North Kaibab21 mi · 16 hr · 0.8 mi awayA one-way canyon crossing from the South Rim to the North Rim.ChallengingSouth Kaibab–Bright Angel Loop15.8 mi · 14 hr · 0.8 mi awayA 15.8-mile canyon traverse from South Kaibab to the Bright Angel rim.
EasyThe Trail of Time3.3 mi · 2 hr · 1.6 mi awayA paved timeline where every meter spans a million years.
EasyShoshone Point Trail2 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.3 mi awayPines open to a rugged rim point with a North Rim view.
ModerateRiver Trail1.7 mi · 1 hr · 2.4 mi awayA river-level connector beneath steep inner-canyon walls.
ChallengingPlateau Point Trail12 mi · 10.5 hr · 3.1 mi awayA long descent earns a wide view of the Colorado River.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayOoh Aah PointFirst canyon panorama below the rim, with a steep climb back.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayYaki PointTake the Orange shuttle to a quieter, east-facing canyon view.
Sight · 1 mi awayMather PointTwo rim platforms make an easy first look into the canyon.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayPipe Creek VistaA canyon view framed by Mather and Yaki points.
Visitor center · 1.2 mi awayGrand Canyon Visitor CenterGet your bearings, then take the short walk to Mather Point.
1.2 mi awayCanyon Adventures Bike Tours & CaféThe park's only bike rental opens up more of the South Rim.
Sight · 1.2 mi awaySkeleton PointThe river view is earned on a 6-mile out-and-back.
Picnic area · 1.3 mi awayYaki Point Road Picnic AreaShaded picnic tables near South Kaibab; the lot is very limited.Parkwolf’s Grand Canyon ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
