Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail is a 7.8-mile one-way descent from the South Rim to River Resthouse, dropping about 4,400 feet through the canyon's rock layers. The trail is maintained and easy to follow, but this is a serious point-to-point hike, not a loop. Allow about four to five hours downhill. For a day hike, consider an earlier turnaround: the first resthouse makes a 3-mile round trip, Three-Mile Resthouse makes it 6 miles, and Havasupai Gardens makes it 9 miles. Each is a shorter out-and-back; the map continues to the river.

Do not plan to hike from the rim to the river and back in one day. That would mean roughly 15.6 miles and both descending and climbing about 4,400 feet. If you're hiking only partway, remember that every mile down becomes a mile back up, and the climb out takes much longer than the descent.

The trailhead is just west of Bright Angel Lodge. The dirt path starts among pale Kaibab Limestone, passes through two short tunnels cut into the rim, then steepens into long switchbacks. Most of the trail's elevation loss is in the upper four miles. The rim falls behind as canyon bands and the inner gorge come into view. Near the first tunnel, turn back toward the rim and include a little tread in the frame; the cliff bands look much larger with the path for scale.

Mule trains also use this corridor. When one approaches, stop on the uphill side well away from the edge, stay quiet, and let the whole group pass before moving on. In winter and early spring, ice can make the upper trail slick.

Mile-and-a-Half and Three-Mile Resthouses break up the steep upper descent; both have toilets. The trail then drops through the Redwall and Muav rock layers, including the switchbacks known as Jacob's Ladder, before easing onto the broad Tonto Platform. Havasupai Gardens sits about 4.5 miles below the rim, among cottonwoods watered by Garden Creek. It was long known as Indian Garden and is part of Havasupai history; it is a welcome shaded pause in a route that gets hotter and drier below.

Below Havasupai Gardens, the trail enters the bowl of Pipe Creek and drops through the tight turns of Devil's Corkscrew before reaching River Resthouse. This lower stretch is steep and exposed, and summer heat makes the climb back especially punishing. There is no potable water between Havasupai Gardens and the river. The stored route ends at River Resthouse on the south side; Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch lie beyond the Colorado River and require continuing on the separate River Trail and crossing a footbridge.

Parking close to the trailhead is limited, and restrooms and potable water are available there. The Backcountry Information Center's Lot D is the recommended alternative; cross the tracks and follow the paved walk past Maswik Lodge, about seven minutes to the trailhead. You can also park at the Visitor Center and use the Village Loop shuttle. The upper resthouses normally have seasonal treated water and Havasupai Gardens normally has water year-round, but pipeline breaks can interrupt any supply, so carry what you need and a treatment backup. Individual day hikes do not require a permit; camping below the rim does. Pets are prohibited below the rim.

The route follows the Bright Angel Fault, a natural break through the canyon layers used long before the modern trail. Havasupai people farmed and lived at the watered garden. In the late 1800s, miners improved the path as a toll road; the county transferred it to the National Park Service in 1928, ending the toll. Later reconstruction involved park crews, Civilian Conservation Corps workers and Havasupai workers. Look near the first tunnel and Two Mile Corner for reported pictographs, and near Three-Mile Resthouse for remnants of an old cable car that hauled supplies toward the garden. Bighorn sheep and California condors are sometimes seen, but sightings are never assured.