Arizona Trail Backpacking: Passage 39, Grand Canyon National Park North Rim
AZT Day 14
Trans Arizona/Utah Day 21
In the land of Arizona
Through desert heat or snow
Winds a trail for folks to follow
From Utah to Old Mexico
It’s the Arizona Trail
A pathway through the great Southwest
A diverse track through wood and stone
Your spirit it will test
Oh, sure you’ll sweat and blister
You’ll feel the miles every day
You’ll shiver at the loneliness
Your feet and seat will pay
But you’ll see moonlight on the borderlands
You’ll see stars on the Mogollon
You’ll feel the warmth of winter sun
And be thrilled straight through to bone
The aches and pains will fade away
You’ll feel renewed and whole
You’ll never be the same again
With Arizona in your soul
Along the Arizona Trail
A reverence and peace you’ll know
Through deserts, canyons, and mountains
From Utah to Old Mexico
-“The Arizona Trail,” Dale R. Shewalter
Welcome back to Aspen’s Tracks, thruhiking the Arizona Trail SOBO from Utah to Mexico, with an extended start trip through Vermilion Cliffs from Lee’s Ferry. Today covers the stretch from Lindbergh Hill to the North Rim of Grand Canyon.
Lindbergh Hill to Widforss Trailhead
Hiking across Lindbergh Hill, the Arizona Trail rolls southward through the aspens to AZ-67, then crosses and joins a road following an old power corridor south toward the North Rim through a mix of aspens and pines to reach the Widforss Trailhead.
AZT Passage 39, Grand Canyon North Rim
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
The Arizona Trail almost directly parallels AZ-67, rolling through the hills beside. It crosses the road and follows an old utility corridor down the west side past Thompson Canyon to the Widforss Trailhead past more magnificent aspen foliage. At Widforss, a strange situation arises.
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona Trail south of AZ-67 crossing, Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
When I reach the trailhead, I notice that the Widforss Trail is blocked off, which is strange since we had been informed that area was still open and accessible despite the Ikes Fire to the west. An LE ranger approaches me and asks if I’m a thruhiker, and I say yes, that I came from just outside the park. He asks if I saw anything unusual on the trail, and signs of a fire or anything. Apparently someone on the Widforss trail somehow managed to set their tent on fire. How that happened, I can only imagine, but apparently they managed to do it. I mention that I worked on the South Rim and we talk for a while
Arizona Trail: Widforss Trailhead to North Rim
Eventually, I press on to the campground, where I encounter Eric and the two thruhikers whom I met at the North Rim Country Store yesterday, Roger and his friend. We talk for a while and then head to the lodge to get something to eat. I’m interested in eating at the restaurant, but it’s going to be a bit of a wait, so I grab some pizza and a beer with them and sit out on the fantastic patio area the lodge has overlooking the canyon.
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
AZT Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Grand Canyon National Park
North Rim
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
I should say, the North Rim Lodge (or Grand Canyon Lodge, as it is officially known), is my favorite lodge so far in the park system. It blends seamlessly with the natural beauty around it, having been constructed of native stone. It has some of the best food I’ve had at any lodge – superior to that on the South Rim for sure. And it is perched directly on the rim of the canyon, so you can just sit on the patio, grab a drink and soak in the view – which stretches farther than the South Rim vista due to the higher elevation of the Kaibab and the North Rim.
Sitting out there with a couple other thruhikers, talking about our plans for the next day, how we are going to get across the canyon, permits and logistics, and plans for the days beyond, as the sun set over the canyon, is just incredible.
Ultimately, I do get a spot at the restaurant as well. The hostess recognizes my name. Apparently she has been told about me through a mutual friend on the South Rim. She’s also a seasonal ranger; her season just ended at Glen Canyon. She gives me her boyfriend as my waiter, and we talk about hiking, the Arizona Trail, and other long distance trails (I’m already considering the Long Trail) throughout dinner. Shortly thereafter, I experience my second bit of “trail magic” – he shows up at the end of the meal and tells me not to worry about the bill, “I took care of it.”
Guess he appreciated me and the conversation I provided. Back to sleep before trying to get a permit for Bright Angel tomorrow to cross the canyon.
| Passage 39 (Grand Canyon North Rim) | |
| Trail Surface | Dirt trail |
| Length (Mi) | 24.3 |
| Season | Spring-fall. No vehicular access to this section December through mid-May. Feet of snow in winter. |
| Potential Water Sources | Crane Lake (mi 46.5 SOBO, 742.2 NOBO) Little Pleasant Valley Tank (mi 48.8 SOBO, 739.9 NOBO) Wildlife Drinker (mi 56.5 SOBO, 732.2 NOBO) Dog Lake (mi 56.6 SOBO, 732.1 NOBO) North Canyon Spring (mi 58.9 SOBO, 729.8 NOBO) Crystal Spring (mi 59.5 SOBO, 729.2 NOBO) Sourdough Well (mi 62.1 SOBO, 726.6 NOBO) Upper North Canyon Creek (mi 63.9 SOBO, 724.9 NOBO) |
| Trailheads | North: Grand Canyon National Park boundary South: Grand Canyon North Rim |
| Trailhead Access | North: Foot access only South: Vehicular access May 15-November 30 (services close October 15) |
| Wilderness | No |
| Possible resupply points | North Rim village, including Grand Canyon Lodge and General Store |
| ATA-Rated Difficulty | Easy |
| Potential campsites (mileages S to N) | Campsites within Grand Canyon National Park require permits. Dispersed backcountry camping is allowed November 1-May 14 and requires a permit & Leave No Trace principles. Camping is otherwise restricted to the North Rim Campground and designated backcountry sites (there are no such sites directly on the trail). When the Campground is open, first come first serve hiker/biker sites are available for $15. Note: As of August 2020 the North Rim Campground is closed and no new backpacking permits are being issued at this time. This includes backcountry sites on both the rim and Inner Canyon sites. |
| Ecosystems Traversed | Great Basin Subalpine Conifer Forest, primarily Possibly also some Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Woodland |
| Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Woodland | Great Basin Subalpine Conifer Forest | |
| Common Trees/Shrubs | * Ponderosa Pine * Southwestern white pine * Subalpine fir * White fir * Rocky Mountain maple * Bigtooth maple * Grey alder * Red birch * Red osier dogwood * Cliffbush * Mallow ninebark * New Mexican locust * huckleberry * bilberries | * Corkbark fir * Gambel oak * Quaking aspen * White fir * Blue spruce * Engelmann spruce * Buckwheats * Currants * Dwarf juniper * Elderberry * Fendler’s ceanothus * Greenleaf Manzanita * New Mexican locust * Perry’s rabbitbrush * Raspberry * smooth sumac * Snowberry |
| Common herbaceous plants | * fringed brome * Geyer’s sedge/elk sedge * Ross’ sedge * Bronze sedge/dry land sedge/hillside sedge/hay sedge/Fernald’s hay sedge * screwleaf muhly * bluebunch wheatgrass * Spruce-fir fleabane * wild strawberry/Virginia strawberry * Small-flowered woodrush * mountain sweet Cicely * bittercress ragwort * western meadow-rue * Fendler’s meadow-rue | * Bracken Fern * Buckwheats * Cinquefoils * Columbines * Fleabane daisies * Geraniums * goldeneye * Goldenrods * Groundsels * Hairy golden aster * Indian paintbrush * Lotus * Lupines * Meadow-rue * Parry’s bellflower * Peavine * Penstemons * Puccoon * Pussytoes * Thistles * Western & white prairie asters * Wild strawberry * Wormwood * Yarrow * Yellow hawkweed |
| Common Succulents | N/A | Prickly pear, occasionally |
| Aquatics | N/A | * Bulrush * Buttercups * Rushes * Sedges * Water plantains |
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