Widforss Trail

Distance: 10 miles round-trip
Duration: 5 hours
Elevation change: Moderate ups and downs totaling 1,100 feet
Effort: Easy to moderate
Trailhead: About one mile past the North Kaibab Trail [1] parking lot, turn left onto a dirt road and drive another mile to the trailhead

This rim trail is a good choice on a hot day: It’s shaded much of the way, and you won’t have to climb out of the canyon in midday heat. The first 2.1 miles of trail are a scenic ramble from Harvey Meadow up to the rim of Transept Canyon, with peekaboo views of Bright Angel Point [2] and Zoroaster Temple.

Pick up a brochure near the trailhead for a self-guided tour describing highlights along this section of the trail, which makes a fine day hike. The trail continues around the head of Transept Canyon to its west rim before heading into the forest.

Shaded by fir and aspen, the trail climbs to a ridge west of the Transept. As you traverse the ridge, the forest changes to ponderosa pine and gradually opens. Just beyond a picnic table and campsite (a backcountry permit [3] is required to camp here), the trail drops toward the rim for a splendid view of the South Rim’s [4] Coconino Plateau. See if you can spot Grand Canyon Village [5] by pinpointing El Tovar [5] Lodge.

Below you is Haunted Canyon, and before you are several of the canyon’s monumental peaks, including Buddha and Isis Temples. To the southeast, a limestone spire marks Widforss Point, named for Gunnar Widforss, who painted strikingly detailed watercolors of the canyon in the early 1900s.