North Kaibab Trailhead — Attraction in Tuba City

On October 19, 2023 our oldest daughter, her husband, and I completed the 24-mile “Grand Canyon Rim to Rim” hike in one day from the North Rim’s North Kaibab Trailhead to the South Rim’s Bright Angel Trailhead. It was visually breathtaking and the unforgettable experience you would expect from a “bucket list” trip. The views from the rim pale in comparison to being in the Grand Canyon.

The National Park Service’s description is an accurate summary of the physical strain of this hike, “… challenging your personal limits as you descend 14.3 miles and 6,000 feet to the bottom of the canyon before connecting with the Bright Angel Trail and climbing 4,500 feet and 9.6 miles back out again to the South Rim. To put it into perspective, many people compare the Grand Canyon’s rim-to-rim hike with climbing Mt. Whitney in California, the Lower 48’s highest peak, which is a 21.6-mile, 6,000-foot undertaking.”

At nearly 72 years old and fully recovered from a 2021 injury that shattered my pelvis, this hike is the most difficult physical thing I’ve done in my lifetime. I barely made it, and it took me 16-hours and 25-minutes. Why? Because in my 6-days a week training since March, I failed to completely follow my coach’s instructions. I focused on the distance instead of the distance AND hiking up and down mountain trails. That critical judgment error nearly cost me a medical helicopter extraction from the trail. The downhill thrashed the quad muscles in my legs after just 5-miles, and I became hyperaware of why walking poles are so essential to hiking … they relieve some of the strain on your legs and help with balance.

Here's when you know you’re physically ready for Rim to Rim … when you can descend 6,000 feet in 12-miles, and then turn right around and hike back to where you started without having painful thrashed quads and rubbery legs … then and only then...

This is a great and beautiful hike, we did Rim to Rim starting at North Kaibab and finishing at Bright Angel, the views are gorgeous, we did carriet 3 liters of water and 2 liters of electrolit just to go down, we did not know that going down north kaibab was water to refill, there are two points were you can refill water before phantom ranch, once you pass panthom ranch there are four stations were you can refill you water so you don't have to carrier to much weight on the way up, how ever this hike is not for biginners I won’t recoment it for people who hikes once a week cause you are going to suffer I hike 3 to 5 times a week, on the way up on the last mile and a half we saw many people on the trail sittig and they didn't look good we even ask a few people if they need help, like snaks or pain killers, all of them refuse the help, belive me they did not look good, and when we finally finished a pregnante women ask us if we saw a guy that was trhowing up and was feeling bad, we told her that we saw many people like that and some elses ask us if we knew were the ranger station was because the group were he was was separeted and he was not sure if they will able to make it. Please if you want to do this trail train so you can enjoy your hike and your views. We started at 7:40am and finished at 9:10pm, phamton ranch doesn't sale beer only...

The North Kaibab Trailhead is one of the best kept “secrets” of the Grand Canyon. As someone who frequently hikes the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (about once every three months), I came to the North Rim expecting more of the same. Sweet Moses, was I wrong! North Kaibab Trail is—in my opinion—the best hiking trail at the Grand Canyon! I love it because it offers you such variety: you get the Aspen trees and ponderosa pines at the top, but as you descend, you see more of the prickly pears and sagebrush that grow in abundance on the South Rim. There’s bridges and waterfalls and unparalleled views. PLUS! (And this is a biggie for me) It’s not crowded. Of the 5 MILLION visitors who visit the Grand Canyon per year, only 10% of those visitors go to the North Rim. North Kaibab is beautiful, majestic, and peaceful. It’s everything you’d want out of a visit to the Grand Canyon. If given the choice to visit either the North Rim of the Grand Canyon OR become a King in Narnia, I’d choose to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon—it’s essentially the same...