Bright Angel Trail

The most popular below-rim trail in the Grand Canyon, dropping 1,448 metres (4,750 ft) over 14.5 km (9 miles) from the South Rim to the Colorado River. Rest houses at 2.4 km and 4.6 km have water and toilets (water available May–September). Indian Garden (4.6 km) has year-round water, shade, and toilets. Plateau Point (6.1 km, side trail) gives a dramatic view straight down to the river.

Do not attempt the full trail to the river and back in a single day — people die trying to do this, particularly in summer. The park service's rule of thumb: if you hike down for two hours, allow four hours to come back up. The heat at the bottom in summer regularly exceeds 40°C. Morning and evening are the only safe times to hike below the rim from May through September. Bright Angel Trail starts from the South Rim Visitor Center area, near the Bright Angel Lodge.

things to do sight hiking
A story
The Bright Angel Trail follows a route that Native Americans used for at least 4,000 years. The Havasupai people, whose reservation is to the west, used the fault-line corridor to reach the river. When the Santa Fe Railway arrived in 1901, tourist infrastructure followed, and the trail became commercialised — mules began carrying visitors down in 1902. The trail's name was given by Major John Wesley Powell on his 1869 river expedition, who named the creek 'Bright Angel' as a contrast to the 'Dirty Devil' river he had named the day before.