Cliff Spring Trail
Trip Ideas
Explore Further
- Distance: 2 miles round-trip
- Duration: 1 hour
- Elevation change: 150 feet
- Effort: Easy
- Trailhead: Across the road from Angel’s Window Overlook, a paved pullout 19 miles up Cape Royal Road
Though short, this trail offers lots of variety. From the paved overlook half a mile north of the Cape Royal parking area, cross the road to find the trail marker. The well-defined dirt trail descends through ponderosa-pine forest to an Ancestral Puebloan granary tucked beneath a large chunk of Kaibab limestone.
The trail curves around this boulder, then continues to descend through mixed forest into a rugged wash. Here the trail hugs the limestone cliffs, sheltered by a stony overhang high above. Water seeps from the base of the Kaibab limestone walls, converging at Cliff Spring’s shallow pools at the half-mile point.
You can linger here for awhile, enjoying the sound of dripping water and watching quietly as birds visit the spring. This is the end of the maintained section of trail, but you can continue half a mile further along the cliff to a rugged path that descends toward Clear Creek Canyon, offering views of Cape Royal and Vishnu Temple. The trail ends at an expanse of reddish slickrock.
© Kathleen Bryant from Moon Grand Canyon, 4th Edition
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