Grand Canyon National Park Primitive Hikes

Backcountry

These hikes are for highly experienced Grand Canyon hikers with good route finding ability. The routes are non-maintained with scarce water sources and no toilets.

The following ranger recommendations are founded in a concern for hiker safety and a desire that you enjoy your backpacking trip. Over 250 people are rescued from the canyon each year; the majority involve people on their first hike in the canyon. Remember, there are no easy trails into or out of the Grand Canyon. Primitive Zone hikes are not recommended for use during summer months due to extreme high temperatures that can reach 118F in the shade and the lack of reliable water sources.

Q: Where can I go to find the more remote trails?

A: It is fair to say that most of our backpackers would like to visit the canyon without seeing other people on the trails and in the campsites, and most of the canyon offers visitors the chance to have a very remote wilderness experience. We have a responsibility to gather information about a groups experience and conditioning so that we can help them find the trip that best suits them. The corridor has been very popular for over a century because it offers the most dramatic views of the most familiar monuments, where a hiker can enter the deepest exposed rock layers of the Inner Gorge and cross the Colorado River to the North side. It is popular because of its great views of the canyon and it has drinking water on the trail.