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Grand Canyon National Park > South Rim > Hiking > Bright Angel Trail
One of only two fully maintained hiking routes into the Grand Canyon from the south rim, the Bright Angel Trail begins near the main visitor complex, at the start of the Hermit's Rest road, and follows the course of Garden Creek, reaching the Colorado after 9.5 miles and a descent of over 4,500 feet. This is the most popular trail in the national park, and the 'easiest' by which to hike to the river, although most hikers turn back a long way before - one common target is the first of two rest stations after 1.5 miles (the other is after 3 miles), which makes for a round trip of 2 hours or so. The NPS issue stern warnings about the dangers of trying to hike all the way to the river and back in one day, though the journey is quite possible for fit hikers, assuming the weather is not too hot - on some days in midsummer the temperatures of the inner canyon can exceed 110°F, making the trip too hazardous.
Start of the Trail: Much of the well used and often very dusty trail is along the Garden Creek side canyon so the views are more restricted than those on the other main rim to river route (the South Kaibab, which follows a ridge downwards) but the scenery is of course still breathtaking. Many people prefer to travel by horse or mule, which requires reservations many months in advance. Livestock have priority on the trails they use so travelers on foot have to stop and let them pass, and since the mules walk in convoys of a dozen or more and can be slow moving as well as quite smelly, they can be rather a nuisance.
Indian Garden: Some of the steepest sections of the Bright Angel Trail are near the start, where the path descends quickly through the Coconino, Hermit and Esplanade strata, via many switchbacks. The second rest station is close to the tree-lined spring at Indian Garden (also the location of a primitive campsite and a ranger cabin) and is more appropriate for an all-day hike; beyond this the path divides - the left branch remains almost level, crossing a flat layer of Tapeats sandstone for two miles to Plateau Point which has great views of the Colorado along the inner canyon gorge.
The River: The main trail continues steeply down Garden Creek, past the junction with another large drainage (Pipe Creek), and on to the Colorado; it then runs alongside for a while, traversing the hillside about 50 feet above the water, before crossing the river on a suspension bridge. The campsite and lodge at Phantom Ranch are then a short walk away up the lower end of Bright Angel Creek, where two other trails branch off: the North Kaibab upstream alongside the creek, and Clear Creek to the east. Another path, Tonto, crosses the Bright Angel near Indian Garden, and follows the canyon along the Tonto Plateau a little above the river both east and west for over 100 miles, mainly westwards; including the access trails, a trip over the full distance takes up to two weeks.
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