Hiking the Grand Canyon via the North Kaibab Trail

I did the down-up hike from the South Rim (South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch for the night, and then back up via Bright Angel). In my experience it took about 4 hours to get from the south rim to Phantom Ranch, and about 6 gruelling terrible hours to get back up. We left at 5am and by 8am the heat was almost unbearable, and by 9:30 it was life-threatening requiring extensive rests every 5 or 10 minutes at most. This was in early July. Rangers said many people start the hike out at 2am in the summer and I can see the wisdom of this. The early hours climbing out of the inner canyon are not that bad because you are in the shade; it's once you're on the exposed slope and the sun crests over the main canyon that you're on a death march. If it is really 14 miles, it's close to double the length of Bright Angel. Far too long to really be done in any semblance of comfort; this would be VERY gruelling. Maybe 8 or 10 hours, most of it in the heat? 90-100 is the temperature at the top. It was something like 108 at the bottom. Option 3 sounds like the best idea because it splits your final ascent. Evening is a nice time to hike down, too. Don't forget you need backcountry permits to camp below the rim. It won't be crowded in June though, if my experience is like yours. Too hot. If we bring tons of water, take breaks, and leave early in the morning to avoid the hot temps in the inner canyon Just to point out: these are the minimum things you can do to not pass out and die of heat exhaustion. The hiking literature and guides already assumes you are fit, running marathons, and will be doing things like drinking water, resting, and hiking in the shade. The people who get into trouble and need rescue, or die, are typically young fit people who ignore warnings and assume the guidelines are written for un-fit tourists; they're not. I don't want to discourage you as the experience of doing this hike was a life highlight, but it will be tough; have no illusions.

miyabo, If we do Option 3, we are staying the night before at Zion Lodge 3 hours away. Is it fine to start that hike in the afternoon and reach the campground before it gets too dark? Sunset is technically at about 7:50 but I imagine it gets darker earlier in the canyon.

Well, we're back. As mentioned in February, we couldn't camp below the rim, so we did the day hike to Roaring Springs. This may have been a blessing since when we arrived at the North Rim, there was a note from the Ranger Station stating that http://www.oldwestnewwest.com/20120608654/national-state-parks/grand-canyon/grand-canyons-water-pipeline-repaired-campfire-restrictions-now-in-place.html washing out 40 feet of the trail, that all water between Supai Tunnel and Phantom Ranch was turned off, and that Cottonwood Campground was actually closed. However, as we found on the trail, there were definitely campers who had stayed at Cottonwood coming up who had bypassed the washed out trail. Later that day, the rangers did indeed allow hikers/campers to use a bypass, but none of this was really apparent when we first showed up. Anyway, the hike to Roaring Springs was fun and just strenuous enough in the late morning heat. We left at 5:30 AM and it took 2:20 to get there. After a 20 minute break and a sandwich, we headed back up and it took another 2:45 to go up, finishing right before 11:00. When we got to the top, the Rangers meanwhile had updated the note saying that while water may be on at Supai going down, to be aware it may be off when coming up as they fixed the pipe. Yikes! Luckily that didn't happen, because we had counted on refilling there on the way up.

Well, it turned out to be moot point. We faxed the backcountry application in first thing in the morning on Feb 1 and didn't get Cottonwood Campground for any of our options. We'll do the North Kaibab Trail as a day hike to Roaring Springs and back instead. On the plus side, this means we'll be car camping our entire road trip so we wont have to buy/pack the extra gear to do 1-2 nights in the backcountry. Thanks again everyone.

Come back in June and let us know how it turned out!

Thanks everyone. We're planning to go with Option 3. We'll keep our reservation for the North Rim just in case we get there and it's too late to head down or weather conditions aren't worth it.

Whatever you do: each of you should take walking sticks. Second this. Didn't have em, survived like I said that ascent was very difficult, and joints and muscles were sore for weeks, and you're doing 3X the distance I did. Seconding "hardest thing I ever did". And also second the headlamps -- this should be common sense emergency checklist stuff though, and if you didn't already know you would need them, please start reading up on backcountry safety. Do bear in mind that one twisted ankle and you're stranded in a pretty inhospitable place and help will likely have to come on foot, which could take a while. When I descended South Kaibab I started at 2:00pm and got to Phantom Ranch in time for dinner. There was still plenty of light at 7, I seem to recall. I think your Option 3 plan would be fine as long as you get started in early afternoon rather than late. I don't know what the hike to Cottonwood is like, but if it's 7 miles it should be comparable to South Kaibab. Phantom Ranch is a cool spot to chill in, by the way. Nice and shady with grass and streams. They serve breakfast and dinner - don't think they do lunch which is a shame, you'll miss the hot meal (you have to order these in advance by the way) - and they have a little store where you can buy limited supplies (gatorade powder, for example). And postcards you can mail which go out by mule and are postmarked 'sent by mule from the bottom of the Grand Canyon'. It's cute.

I can tell you that my friend and I arrived at our North Rim campsite a few years ago with the idea of doing exactly this. After spending an afternoon there evaluating the conditions, checking out the summer heat and light and humidity levels, talking to people, and reading the abundant literature and warnings, we decided not to. This was more than 10 years ago when I was younger and fitter than I am now, and I still think it was a good decision - we were simply underprepared and overoptimistic, and I didn't want our trip to end in physical problems and heat exhaustion. Instead, we had a really great 12-mile roundtrip hike along the rim through the tall pines, with amazing views of the canyon all along the way. It was cool and comfortable and beautiful. If you only have a day, I can highly recommend this. I still want to go to Phantom Ranch but am waiting until I can allow a proper amount of time.

I think you should be fine starting in the afternoon, as long as you're aware that you'll likely have to set up camp and cook dinner after dark. On a different trip to the GC, that's what we had to do and it was totally fine. At least until our one flashlight ran out of batteries. Bring extras!