Multilingual exclamations of surprise and wonder spring from the lips of millions of visitors who annually arrive from all over the world to stand awestruck at the Grand Canyon’s rim. A mile deep, and more than eight miles at its widest, the Grand Canyon reveals layers of exposed limestone, shale, and sandstone walls that extend from Lees Ferry below the Glen Canyon Dam to Pearce Ferry on upper Lake Mead.
Beheld from one of its rim viewpoints, the Grand Canyon is indeed stupendous, fantastic, and awe-inspiring. Even if there were enough adjectives in English to drop one for each of the 277 miles of Colorado River plunging through the canyon’s gorge, such a string of superlatives could not capture the majesty of what it’s like to gaze into the Grand Canyon for the first time. Yet, below the rim, accessible by miles of hiking trails, there’s another canyon that very few of the five million annual visitors to Grand Canyon National Park ever see. It’s a place of high-elevation Boreal forests and low-elevation desertscapes, a landscape of rushing streams and abundant wildlife. This trail guide covers an area with over 300 miles of trails.
TRAIL GUIDE
| Activity Type: |
Hiking |
| Nearby City: |
Flagstaff, AZ |
| Length: |
300 total miles |
| Trail Type: |
Many Options |
| Skill Level: |
Easy to Strenuous |
| Trailhead Elev: |
1600 feet |
| Top Elev: |
9089 feet |
| Local Contacts: |
National Park Service |
| Local Maps: |
Grand Canyon National Park Trails Topo Map
USGS Bright Angel, Grand Canyon, Phantom Ranch, Cape Royal, Grandview Point, Bright Angel Point, Vulcans Throne, Vulcans Throne SE, Whitmore Rapids, Mount Trumbull SE |
Source; Trails.com