Hike the Grand Canyon Bright Angel Trail South Kaibab trail and Tonto via Indian Gardens<<>> To hike the Grand Canyon trails was something I wanted to do. So after some research I decided on a walk down the South Kaibab trail across the Tonto trail to Indian Gardens. And then back up the Bright Angel trail, it was fabulous! I'm not one for lying in the sun. I am more relaxed and get a better buzz but doing something. So my travel breaks generally involve doing something.
I love adventure travel breaks that maybe more adventurous than some but not as out there as others.
One adventure break I enjoyed was hiking down into the Grand Canyon.
To hike or walk the Grand Canyon is awe-inspiring and can be overwhelming at 277 miles long 18 miles wide and over a mile deep so you have to pick and plan your trek carefully. It is worth doing research to decide which is the right walk for you in the time you have available. When I did the trek in September I was told going down is optional but coming back up is mandatory.
I wanted a just a day’s walk not an overnight stay in the canyon or down at the camp site.
So I decided on going down the South Kaibab Trail early in the morning because there is little shade. Then across the flat Tonto Trail which offered some shady spots by streams where I could take some breaks out of the sun. And then back up the Bright Angel Trail that offered shade by mid afternoon.
The total length of the trek was around thirteen miles. Parking the car near my exit point. I caught the free early bus to the trailhead start. I set off at daybreak with all the right gear, plenty of water and food and a clearly mapped out route. There is no drinking water on the trails until you start coming back out of the canyon. You need plenty of salty snacks and food because it gets hotter and hotter the further you go down and the nearer noon it is. So you need to replace your lost body fluids and salts constantly.
I think it’s better to hike down the Kaibab, as it’s mostly uneven earth steps all the way down, and as I've said there is little shade or water available. Also hiking it in the morning, when it’s cooler, makes sense.
The South Kaibab Trail is a majestic and dramatic ridgeline descent, which gives wonderful panoramic views of the canyon from the start. Stopping and staring is possible on just about every turn so leave yourself plenty of time to do this. One other piece of advice I was give was, if your eyes are raised your feet should stop. This is good advice because it's so easy to stumble. You have to be a bit careful on some points on the ridge because the wind can be very strong and the ridge can be fairly narrow! You don't want to be blown off. Just beyond where the trail joins the Tonto trail there are toilets.
When I did the walk there as only me going down the trail so I was quite surprised that I had to queue to use them. Because a horse riding party, on their way back up from a nights camping at the ranch, had stopped for the toilets a minute before me.
It was handy for getting someone to take photographs of me next to the Tonto trail sign.
The Tonto Trail is a flat walk across a plateau but it is easy to lose the track as flash floods and wind etc can erode the path. And it’s easy to get of course and follows a dry riverbed rather than the track. So be careful and keep checking your map. There are also a couple of places to stop in the shade, by running water, which is very welcome as the heat builds around mid-day.
On the way down I met a few hikers coming back up but on the Tonto trail I met no one. If you get lost you could be in trouble because if you lose the trail it would be very difficult to find it again. Every year over two hundred and fifty people have to be rescued from the canyon andit is a very expensive ride out.
When I joined the Bright Angel Trail at the gardens there was a lot more people enjoying a hike, because this trail is the busiest hiking trail down the canyon. Originally built by the Havasupai Native American tribe for access to a perennial water source it was Ralph H. Cameron, who improved the old Havasupai trail extendeding it all the way to the Colorado River. He named it the Bright Angel Trail and began charging a Dollar toll to use it, plus additional fees for drinking water. Popular for hikers, campers and mule trains on their way to the Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch. The trail officially ends after crossing the Colorado River at the Silver Bridge.
On this trail you have to watch where you're walking not because of an uneven path but because mules tend to leaving their calling card, all to frequently. A well-maintained sloping path, emergency phones, with regular drinking water and covered rest houses all the way up, Bright Angel is said to be the safest trail in the Grand Canyon. Being a main corridor trail it receives regular maintenance and is patroled by the park rangers.
Being able to talk to others on the way back up made it a more pleasant experience and the time to get back up to the rim didn’t seem so long. When you reach the top of the Bright Angel Trail you are right next to the Kolbe Photography Studio. This business was originally founded by the Kolbe brothers in a tent in the early nineteen hundreds. They began taking photographs of visitors taking the mule rides down the trail, and then selling then the pictures. The business was extremely profitable and after a few years the brothers built a permanent studio just below the rim of the canyon. The present-day Kolb Studio is operated by the Grand Canyon Association as a gift shop, art studio, and history center.
Here you can view the trail that you have just walked up. How did I feel the next day after my hike Grand Canyon on the trails … fantastic!
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