Just a little winter hike down the famous Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon.
The Bright Angel Trail is the most popular trail at Grand Canyon National Park, for good reason too. It is well maintained; rest houses and water are located down the trail and no scrambling is involved. In fact, it isn’t steep for the experienced hiker and just flat enough to allow the not-so-experienced a chance at going into the canyon. The Bright Angel is one of the oldest maintained trails in the park. It once was owned and run as a toll trail early in the century.
It was an icy morning I decided to try my luck on my first into the canyon hike. (Crampons are required for snowy, icy trails due to the steep nature of trails here.) Since it was my first hike into the canyon and that I haven’t done a decent hike since October in Acadia, I decided to take it easy and only go to the 1.5-mile rest house. Even though the trail was only 1.5 miles long, it was a steep 1,000 ft plus drop. The Bright Angel trail is a perfect way to test out your hiking ability in the park since it is the easiest trail here.
The start of the Bright Angel Trail, near the Bright Angel Lodge. Just looking at it from up here tells you that it’s going to be a icy trail.
Got my crampons on. Safety first!
Beautiful views already. The Bright Angel Trail is located in a side canyon.
I didn’t see much wildlife along the trail, but I did see a squirrel which is important because I like squirrels.
Snowy, icy trails in the shadow of the canyon.
The Bright Angel Trail has a lot of switchbacks.
The snow finally started to clear up at about 1,000 ft down.
The 1.5 Mile Rest house.
The view at about 1,000 ft down.
I also saw this very photogenic Scrub-Jay.
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