Ten of us were supposed to walk the Grand Canyon rim to rim in the first week of September – down the North Kaibab from the North Rim, two nights at Phantom Ranch, then out to the South Rim. The cabin was booked, the Trans-Canyon shuttle was booked, and we’d spent the the last few months training with regular walks at Umstead and single day ascent / descent of Mount Mitchell.
Then, on the afternoon of Saturday 30th August – five days before we flew – nearly an inch of rain fell in thirty minutes onto the Dragon Bravo burn scar above Bright Angel Canyon. The Dragon Bravo fire stripped the Kaibab Plateau back in July 2025 and a Forest Service assessment had already flagged that watershed as high risk for post-fire flooding and debris flows. It did precisely what the assessment said it would. Around 50 people were airlifted out of Phantom Ranch, 2 people killed, and one still missing. Nearly all the footbridges over Bright Angel Creek were destroyed.
Closed until further notice : Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, all fourteen miles of the North Kaibab, and the Colorado to boating.
Then the second punch. The flood took out the trans-canyon waterline – which is what supplies the South Rim – so every in-park lodge closed to overnight guests from the 31st with no reopening date. We lost the hike and our accomodation in the same week.
So : Plan B. Cancel everything, keep the flights, and rebuild the week out of the trails that were still open. What we ended up with was five days of day hikes off the South Rim and out of Sedona – not the trip we planned, but an epic trip in its own right.
Day 1 – getting there
RDU to Vegas, then the four hour drive to the South Rim. Just enough daylight left for a walk along the rim at sunset – which is still the best possible introduction to the place, however many photographs of it you’ve seen.
Days 2 to 6
Three days in the canyon, then two in Sedona, stats in the table and full routes in the Strava links in the posts:
| Link | Distance (miles) | Elevation (feet) | Ave Pace (min/mile) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 2 – South Kaibab to Skeleton Poin | 7.5 | 2,212 | 27:48 |
| Day 3 – Bright Angel to Havasupai Gardens | 11 | 3,156 | 29:40 |
| Day 4 – Santa Maria Springs via Hermit | 5.5 | 1,820 | 31:36 |
| Day 5 – Devils Arch, Sedona | 6.5 | 847 | 23:48 |
| Day 6 – Wilson Mountain | 12.7 | 2,947 | 26:51 |
| 43.2 | 10,982 |
Day 7 – getting back
Vegas to Salt Lake to RDU. The long way round.
What I’d take away
- The canyon doesn’t owe you the itinerary you booked. We had eight days’ notice and the closures were absolute. Everyone rolled with it without a single moan, which is the real reason the week worked.
- Day hiking off the South Rim is underrated. Same geology, same light, and you sleep in a bed at night. A different trip to the rim to rim, but not a lesser one.
- South Kaibab down, Bright Angel down, Hermit down – three trails, three completely different experiences of the same hole in the ground. Doing them on consecutive days makes the contrast obvious in a way one big traverse never would.
- We probably hiked double what we expected to hike doing the R2R.
- Book refundable where you can. Cancelling a cabin, two shuttles and a lodge in one afternoon is not how you want to spend a Sunday.
The rim to rim is still on the list. Phantom Ranch, the North Kaibab and those footbridges are going to take a while – maybe next year.
Finally – a huge thanks to Bryan and Iain for organizing, then re-organizing the trip and the whole gang for making the trip memorable.
