Closure in force
The entirety of Phantom Ranch, including Bright Angel Campground, the Phantom Ranch Canteen, and Phantom Ranch cabins.
Grand Canyon National Park · checked 2026-09-29
Free. We check the agency every day and email you on the day it lifts.
Source: nps.gov
As of September 2026, Bright Angel in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona requires a permit issued via lottery. Bright Angel is one of the most competitive permits in the United States, rating 9/10 on PermitSnag's demand index. The Bright Angel lottery opens The 16th of the month, five months before your start month and closes 5 pm MST on the 1st of the following month, with results announced Lottery runs late on the 2nd; the top 750 applicants get booking timeslots. The permit season for Bright Angel runs year-round. The Bright Angel route covers 9.5 miles with 4,380 feet of elevation gain, rated strenuous.
Sign up at National Park Service if you don't have an account. Verify your email and add payment info ahead of time.
Submit your application between The 16th of the month, five months before your start month and 5 pm MST on the 1st of the following month. Apply for multiple dates to increase your odds.
Results are announced Lottery runs late on the 2nd; the top 750 applicants get booking timeslots. Check your email and your National Park Service account.
More on Bright Angel: Live availability activityWhen Bright Angel permits open upBright Angel Campground permit itineraryBright Angel Campground lottery datesDo I need a Bright Angel Campground permit?Estimate your lottery oddsBoost your odds with a pool
Bright Angel permit fee: $10 permit/lottery application + $15 per person per night.
4,380 ft of descent · 11.2% average grade
South Kaibab Trailhead
Shuttle-access only. No private vehicles, no water on the trail.
1.5 mi to Cedar Ridge
Shuttle-access only. No private vehicles, no water on the trail.
Toilets and the first big view down the ridgeline.
First sight of the Colorado River from the South Kaibab.
Tonto Trail junction and emergency phone, where the trail drops into the inner gorge.
Ranger station, emergency phone, toilets and a waterline-fed tap. 7 miles by South Kaibab, 9.5 by Bright Angel, 14 from the North Rim.
Canteen and lodge next door. Lodge stays are a separate booking and need no backcountry permit.
On the Bright Angel Trail. Ranger station, toilets and a waterline-fed tap. It is the standard extra night if you want to break the climb out.
The park's own words: Bright Angel Campground is by far the most requested below-rim backpacking destination in Grand Canyon National Park.
Bright Angel Campground is the campground at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, half a mile north of the Colorado River along Bright Angel Creek and next door to Phantom Ranch. NPS lists it as 9.5 miles from the South Rim and 14 miles from the North Rim, with a ranger station, emergency phone, toilets and piped water. That tap is fed by the Transcanyon Waterline, and the park's Key Hiking Messages page publishes a live per-location status because, in its own words, these statuses are current but can change suddenly due to breaks in the waterline. It read water OFF due to pipeline break at this campground on August 9, 2026. It is also, in the park's own description, by far the most requested below-rim backpacking destination in the park.
The draw is an early access lottery: applications close at 5 pm MST on the 1st, four months before your start month, and the draw late on the 2nd hands the top 750 applicants a timeslot to build an itinerary. You can hold a maximum of two nights per campground per hike, or four from November 15 to February 28.
Most trips come down the South Kaibab (7 miles, no water, no shade) and climb out the Bright Angel (9.5 miles, and the only corridor trail with taps, all of them waterline-dependent). Adding a night at Havasupai Gardens on the way out is the standard way to make the climb humane. Havasupai Gardens is usually easier to get than Bright Angel.
Two ways down from the South Rim. The South Kaibab is 7 miles from a 7,260-foot trailhead: a ridgeline route with big views, no water, and no shade, past Cedar Ridge at 1.5 miles, Skeleton Point at 3, and the Tip Off at 4.4. The Bright Angel is 9.5 miles from 6,860 feet, tucked into a side canyon along a fault, past Mile-and-a-Half and Three-Mile Resthouses and Havasupai Gardens at 4.5 miles. These are the only taps on any corridor trail, and all three run off the Transcanyon Waterline.
Most people go down the South Kaibab and climb out the Bright Angel, which is the shortest descent paired with the only climb that has taps on it. From the North Rim, the North Kaibab reaches the campground in 14 miles.
This is the campground at the bottom. It sits half a mile north of the Colorado River along Bright Angel Creek, next to Phantom Ranch, at the point where the North Kaibab, South Kaibab and Bright Angel trails all converge on the only two footbridges across the river in the entire Grand Canyon backcountry. Every rim-to-rim, every rim-to-river, and every corridor itinerary wants a night here, which is why it is the hardest single reservation in the park to get.
Cottonwoods, running water, and walls so high the sky is a strip. You come down through rock that gets older with every hour of walking and end up at a creek you can put your feet in. There is a ranger station, there are toilets, and there is a tap that works whenever the Transcanyon Waterline does. None of that makes the 4,380 feet back up feel any shorter the next morning.
Best for: Fit hikers ready for their first Grand Canyon backcountry trip. The park describes the corridor as exactly that. The trails are wide and well maintained. The work is the 4,380-foot climb out.
Recommended experience: A previous overnight with a loaded pack and 3,000 feet of gain. Training downhill matters as much as uphill here.
Not recommended for: Anyone who has not carried a pack uphill for four hours straight, and anyone attempting it in July or August without a plan to be moving before dawn.
Trailhead information
7,260 ft elevation
Shortest way down at 7 miles from 7,260 feet. Ridgeline the whole way, so the views are constant and the exposure is total.
No private vehicle access. Kaibab Rim (Orange) Route shuttle from the Visitor Center.
Grand Canyon Village, year-round.
No water on this trail at all. Fine as a descent, punishing as a climb out in summer.
Trailhead information
6,860 ft elevation
9.5 miles from 6,860 feet, with the only shade of the three corridor trails and the only taps of the three, all waterline-dependent.
Fed by the Transcanyon Waterline. NPS publishes a live per-location status on its Key Hiking Messages page because, in the park's words, these statuses are current but can change suddenly due to breaks in the waterline. Check it the morning you start, and carry treatment regardless.
Parking Lot D by Maswik Lodge and the Backcountry Information Center is the fallback, about 0.4 miles from the rim. Village (Blue) Route shuttle from the Visitor Center to Hermit Road Interchange.
Grand Canyon Village: lodging, food, Backcountry Information Center.
Every tap on this trail (both resthouses and Havasupai Gardens) runs off the Transcanyon Waterline and NPS shuts them off without notice when it breaks. Read the live status on Key Hiking Messages before you commit to any of them.
Trailhead information
8,241 ft elevation
14 miles from the North Rim at 8,241 feet, via Cottonwood Campground.
North Rim roads and services closed December 1 to May 15.
Closed between Redwall Bridge and the north end of Cottonwood Campground from October 15, 2026 to about February 2027 for waterline work.
March-May and September-November. The river camp is comfortable and the climb out is survivable. Summer at 2,480 feet is the version of this hike that generates rescues. Winter is quiet and the four-night limit applies from November 15 to February 28, but the upper switchbacks ice up and the North Rim approach is closed December 1 to May 15.
Warm at the river, cool at the rim. The best conditions of the year for the climb out.
Crowd level · high
Over 100°F in the shade, hotter at 2,480 feet. NPS tells hikers to avoid 10 am to 4 pm. Monsoon storms build from July.
Crowd level · high
The steadiest weather of the year. Monsoon usually breaks by mid-September and the rim cools without freezing.
Crowd level · high
Pleasant at the river, icy up top. Four nights per campground allowed from November 15 to February 28.
Crowd level · low
Trailhead (5,000 ft)
Backcountry Tips
Today
59°
48°
60%
Wed
65°
50°
Thu
74°
53°
Fri
78°
62°
Sat
79°
64°
Sun
81°
66°
Mon
72°
63°
Sunrise from the Silver Bridge, and the last light hitting the walls above camp about an hour before it goes dark down there.
The canyon bottom loses direct sun early and gets it late, which gives you a longer soft-light window than the rim does.
Camp is busiest between 3 and 6 pm as everyone arrives. Shoot the bridges in the morning before the day-hikers reach the river.
Emergency contacts, ranger station locations, and satellite communicator tips for Bright Angel.
Bear canister requirements, approved container lists, and rental locations for this permit.
Gear Checklist: Required and recommended gear for Bright Angel · Shuttle Services: Trailhead transportation options · Guide Services: Experienced wilderness guides
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It is part of the Grand Canyon backcountry permit, run on Recreation.gov. Leftover space opens to the remaining applicants around the 20th, to everyone on the 1st of the next month, and cancelled corridor space reappears within 24 hours. The first round is the monthly early access lottery, which closes at 5 pm MST on the 1st, four months before your start month, and gives the top 750 applicants a date and time to log back in and reserve.
The park says Bright Angel Campground is by far the most requested below-rim backpacking destination in the park, and that only 750 lottery applicants per month get a booking timeslot at all. Havasupai Gardens and Cottonwood come up far more often.
Two per hike, consecutive or not. From November 15 to February 28 the limit rises to four nights per campground.
There is a piped tap, but do not count on it. The campground's water comes off the Transcanyon Waterline, and NPS's Key Hiking Messages page carries a live per-location status because, in the park's words, these statuses are current but can change suddenly due to breaks in the waterline. On August 9, 2026 that page listed Bright Angel Campground as water OFF due to pipeline break. Check it the morning you leave the rim, and follow the park's standing advice that day and overnight hikers should always carry water treatment options.
9.5 miles by the Bright Angel Trail from 6,860 feet, or 7 miles by the South Kaibab Trail from 7,260 feet. Camp is at 2,480 feet, so the climb out is 4,380 feet on the Bright Angel.
No. Phantom Ranch Lodge is booked through its own separate lottery and NPS explicitly lists it as not requiring a backcountry permit. Camping next door at Bright Angel Campground does require one.
Eleven. The park's Backcountry Management Plan does not allow groups larger than eleven people to camp in the same campground or use area, and your permit is void if another affiliated group is in the same campground that night.
No active conditions reported
Sign in to report trail conditions.
4.5 miles down the Bright Angel Trail at 3,800 feet, with a ranger station, toilets and a waterline-fed tap.
Half the descent, a much shorter climb out, and noticeably easier to reserve. You do not reach the Colorado River, though Plateau Point is a flat 3-mile round trip away.
The full crossing: North Kaibab down, Bright Angel out, with Bright Angel Campground as the second night.
23.5 miles instead of 16.5, and a 215-mile car shuttle between rims. Not possible October 15, 2026 to about February 2027 because of the North Kaibab closure.
The corridor campground on the North Kaibab, 6.8 miles below the North Rim at 4,080 feet.
Quieter than Bright Angel and easier to get. NPS publishes its tap as seasonal, mid-May to mid-October, it is off whenever the waterline breaks, and the North Rim approach closes for winter.
At-large camping in the park's use areas away from the corridor trails.
Real solitude and far better lottery odds. No maintained water, no ranger stations, and the park expects previous Grand Canyon experience.
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