Parking
Use the Arizona Creek trailhead off North Park Road. A parking area is reported, but its capacity and facilities were not documented.
Overview
About Arizona Creek Trail
Why go
- A forested creek corridor opens onto a backcountry plateau.
Heads up
- Long return distance with only average wayfinding.
Arizona Creek Trail is a 15.8-mile out-and-back from the North Park Road trailhead to the Rodent Creek Trail junction and back. It follows a forested canyon beside Arizona Creek, then climbs steeply out of the valley and levels onto a plateau. Plan a full day: allow 6.5 to 9 hours and expect about 2,333 feet of total ascent. The challenge is the distance and sustained climbing rather than technical scrambling.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Grand Teton map
Full mapElevation6,834–8,337 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Grand Teton alerts
- ClosureConstruction closures and delaysConstruction is causing current road and area closures and delays across Grand Teton; use the signed Taggart Trail detour. - Moose-Wilson Road is closed between Moose and Laurance S.Official details
- ClosureJackson Lake boat ramps closed; Signal launch riskColter Bay and Leeks boat ramps are closed; Signal Mountain Boat Ramp is open, but water is below the ramp edge and loose cobbles make launching risky.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Grand Teton Tour Guide
Your drive to Arizona Creek Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Grand Teton 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 Teton audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Arizona Creek: A Full Day in the Forest0:00 / 0:23
“You're nearing Arizona Creek Trailhead, for a long hike through a forested creek canyon. The route climbs steeply out of the valley before leveling onto a plateau.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Grand Teton Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Lakeview Picnic Area: Lunch above the Lake
- Jackson Lake Overlook: A Landscape Shaped by Fire
- A Squirrel’s Winter Store
- The Bird That Plants Pines
- 118 audio storiesacross Grand Teton’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Brown Bear, Gray Wolf, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 70 trails, 121 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“…We have been driving around with the audio tour and it has been informational and spot on. The whole family has been impressed. We used it for Yellowstone and Grand Teton.”
Trail guide
Hiking Arizona Creek Trail
From creek to plateauThe route heads north from the parking area through mixed forest alongside the creek.
The route heads north from the parking area through mixed forest alongside the creek. The climb is gradual at first, then steepens as it leaves the valley; the grade eases on the plateau before the Rodent Creek junction. Turn around there for the 15.8-mile trip. A longer point-to-point itinerary continues north to the Colter Creek and Wolverine Creek trail junction, but it is a different route and should not be folded into this return hike.
Wayfinding and accessRoute signage is described as average, and two connected mapped segments are classified as…
Route signage is described as average, and two connected mapped segments are classified as informal, so this is less straightforward than a signed park classic. The trailhead is off North Park Road. The mapped route begins on a National Park Service segment and continues onto US Forest Service Trail 6026; no current agency status page for this exact outing was found, so confirm access before committing to the long day.
Rules and facilitiesGrand Teton prohibits pets on park trails and in the backcountry, so pets cannot accompany you…
Grand Teton prohibits pets on park trails and in the backcountry, so pets cannot accompany you on the park section. A parking area is reported at the trailhead, but its capacity, toilets and drinking water were not documented.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Grand Teton
172 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
195 sightingsBrown BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
32 sightingsGray WolfMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,816 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
614 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
738 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Grand Teton. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
