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Bright Angel trail? Great photo by the way.

I saw the sign for this near where I took the picture but had no idea it went that far down into the canyon. Thank you for providing some information! Absolutely adding that hike to my bucket list. Instagram for anyone who would like to see more: https://www.instagram.com/mcooper086/

Plateau Point & Indian Garden, I believe. Accessed via Bright Angel trail. I hiked Rim to Rim years ago, coming up the south rim through Indian Garden.

I have yet to hike down into the canyon but it's definitely something I'd love to do in the future. I wasnt sure what exactly I was seeing and didnt want to mislabel anything so I appreciate the information.

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Coming up into the lush greenery of Indian Garden feels amazing after those brutal miles along the Tonto.

That trail leads to Plateau Point. One of the most spectacular sunset spots I’ve ever experienced!

The view from Plateau Point (where you can see the trail end, right in the middle of the image) is spectacular. Maybe the best view in the park. You're in the middle of the canyon, with the huge walls above you, and still another thousand foot drop down to the river below.

Holy crap, seriously? I had thought I overhyped this spot in my mind (I took like 50 variations of this picture I posted) but it sounds like it's just as amazing as I thought it would be. This is really validating because as soon as I saw this spot I was thinking "thats gotta be one of the coolest views in the park"

Great shot and all but literally no image can capture the vastness of the GC. It’s truly an aw inspiring amazing place

Bright Angel goes all the way down to the river. Kicking myself for not hiking it when I was living out there for work.

Had planned on doing it this early spring, but ended up not getting that project so it’s on hold.

I knew it was massive when I went there the first time. But I had no idea how to “process” how huge it really is, and how beautiful it is.

Yeah, it's a neat spot. https://imgur.com/a/VQfCkF3 overlooking the river, and then big walls all around. We had a storm starting to build over the rim while we were down there, and it was a really sweet place to watch it.

At the end of last year, the NPS (at the request of the Havasupai people) renamed it to Havasupai Gardens.

I want everyone looking at this photo to realize that it does not do its subject justice. NO PHOTO DOES. You may have seen pictures and photos of the Grand Canyon before but no picture can compare to or prepare you for the AWESOME MAJESTY of this place. You owe it to yourself to experience it.

A little over two years ago I ran rim to rim to rim. We started and ended on the south rim, and it was dark when we started, and dark when we got back. So despite having been there before, I never got to enjoy this view.

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I'm headed there in 2 weeks and I'm so excited!

Can’t second this enough. Was not expecting how incredible it was in person.

Then they need to update they’re maps bc it’s still called Indian gardens on the nps website.

I’m happy to hear this though thanks for the heads up

They're working on it: https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/indian-garden-officially-renamed-to-havasupai-gardens.htm

> Efforts are already underway to update signage, website and other materials with the new name.

Yup. Bright Angel follows down to the right through the valley and down to the river. The area with the trees and other growth is actually called Havasupai Gardens now to reflect the native people who used to live there (and now mostly live in an area further along in the canyon): https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/indian-garden-officially-renamed-to-havasupai-gardens.htm

Plateau Point is the very visible one up the middle and heads out to a great view of the lower canyon and river.

If you look closely you can see Tonto Trail to the right of the gardens kinda curving around the rise.

I was fortunate enough to be able to hike around there a few years ago. Went down South Kaibab to the tipoff, across Tonto Trail to Havasupai Gardens, out to and back from Plateau Point, then up Bright Angel.

Awesome picture. Pictures can’t do it justice though. I loved this hike.

Yep. Maybe next, rename Tonto Trail.

Yeah, don't know why they didn't do that at the same time.

Wife and I went about a year ago. We drove from Vegas and approached from the south, and had booked a helicopter tour. We got to the town about an hour before the tour, and the airport is south of the canyon as well -- all that is to say, the first time we ever saw the canyon was actually when we flew over it in a helicopter. The ground just falls out below the copter and was one of the craziest experiences of my life seeing that for the first time from above. Bucket list moment for sure

Crazy how the canyons can't be explored by anyone...

I was there 5 years ago, stood at pretty much the same spot, and my first thought was something like: "Huh, these postcards actually aren't edited."

How long of a hike is that Plateau Point from the rim? I know my knees can’t do the whole way down, but maybe this would still be possible. Sounds amazing.

If you are going on foot, be prepared. We rode the donkeys down and up the trail which was scary but fun. There were so many "refugees" scattered along the trail when we were going back up we were giving them our water and snacks; they were woefully unprepared for what they were trying to tackle. It was June and hotter than hell deep down in the canyon.

13 miles round trip from the rim. If you can get a permit for an overnight at Havasupai Gardens, Plateau Point is a great place to watch the sunset, or to go in the morning without your full pack before hiking back to the rim.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/plateau-point-trail-via-bright-angel-trail

Thx

Has anyone seen that episode of I Shouldn’t be Alive about the Boy Scouts trekking down a Grand Canyon trail like this? They get trapped in a freak heatwave and run out of water, but have to keep going down to make it to the river. Wild stuff!

Nothing really can prepare you for the heat. I did R2R in May last year and it was well over 100 at phantom ranch. Can’t imagine how brutal June and July are.

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That’s plateau point, it branches off from the bright angel trail. Love it !!

My wife and I got married on the south rim (Lipan Point). It’s a truly gorgeous place.

Mules

Plateau point!

My wife and I traversed it last year and it’s ever crazier down in it.

I recommend doing it in the fall to escape the oppressive heat. The top will be cold and the bottom will be perfect. It's an amazing hike. The garden section in the middle is an oasis like Eden when you just need to rest a bit.

I just hiked the bright Angel trail last week all the way down to the river and back up to the rim in the same day. Hell of a workout but probably the most rewarding hike I’ve ever done. It was also super snowy that day so it was absolutely stunning.

The lush, green area is called Indian Wells. It's like a little shaded oasis on that brutal hike. It's about another 7 miles after Indian Wells to the river. Bright Angel is a beautiful hike though. There are water spiggets like every 3-4 miles.

Last vacation my family took before I left for college. I cannot stress how much more beautiful and awe inspiring the Grand Canyon is in person.

Just make sure to take a big water bottle and keep it full. And if you take a path down into the canyon, it takes twice as long to climb back out.

I used to live in AZ. I've been to the grand canyon several times. I suffer from poor depth perception. What you see in the photo I pretty much see in real life.

I use context clues to gauge distance and I am often better than some when a distance is greater than a couple hundred meters. At the grand canyon I have no such context clues normally.

One time I go and am with people who are seeing it for the first time. I look down and can see the Colorado River as I had a hundred times before. It's late November and near noon. We're on the north side and the shadow of our rim can be seen on the canyon floor almost to the river bank.

Before this day I only had the perception of great distance because our human body shadows were too small to me made out on top of the rim. The double slit experiment would also indicate that a single human shadow would be faint if I had a telescope to see that far more clearly.

On this day, I see a helicopter. I see the top of a helicopter. I see it's shadow at an angle so far away from the top edge of the rim shadow. I can tell the helicopter is far by its smallness and the shadow displacement. I can tell the grandeur of the canyon for the first time. I think I was more in awe than the people I brought.

I’m definitely in the minority here but I’m not a huge fan of Grand Canyon because it is simply TOO GRAND. Much like the photo OP posted, it’s like my eyes don’t know where to look and nothing is in focus (I have pretty terrible eyes so that could play a part). Looks like I’m just looking into an abyss of nothing. It’s crazy when you think about the geological processes and the amount of time it’s taken to be created but as far as views go I’m always left a bit underwhelmed.

That said I’ve never made it all the way down and the further down I went the more impressive it was. I think rafting through the Grand Canyon could possibly make it one of my favorites, who knows! View from the top where most people visit is always a let down for me.

Likely the most significant and powerful experience of my life so far (am 40 yrs old) was rafting the Colorado. Dipped in at Lee's Ferry and 8 days later hiked out via the Bright Angel Trail. Changed my perspective what I enjoyed in life. Such a beautiful part of the natural world.

Edit: spelling

I've lived in AZ for three years now and still haven't gone. I think I'm going to make it a priority after reading this.

My bad. I live where the mules, or a lot of them, are from. I should have remembered that.

Went as a kid and didn’t appreciate it. Went last year and wow it’s awesome

Gotta be hidden gold someplace out there

As well as the typical areas near Flagstaff I'm going to suggest making a trip to the West Rim. It costs money because it belongs to the Hualapai. So that means other park passes don't apply.

I think it's worth the view if for no other reason than the lack of guard rails. Of course I may be more thrilled by that than someone with good depth perception but with no barrier to warn you, it's a more natural view.

The west Rim is worth it at least once.

I would build a house right in the middle

If you work at the Grand Canyon does that mean you have a rim job?

No worries, a lot of my friends are jackasses

If you get there at certain times you can avoid the $20 toll booth...

Plateau Point! This is where I popped the question to the now wifey!

The best part is when you go down and the green specs become shrubs all around you. I actually made it down to exactly where you see the trail end in this picture (it continues below where you can’t see). I couldn’t make it all the way to the bottom