South Kaibab Trail to Cedar Ridge

The South Kaibab Trail begins south of Yaki Point on Yaki Point Road. Day hike to the mule hitching post at Cedar Ridge is 3 miles (round trip). Best views for a relatively short hike. Steep trail, no water, little shade. Water available seasonally at the trailhead. Upper portion of the trail may be extremely icy in winter or early spring and in summer months watch out for thunderstorms. This is the only trail at Grand Canyon National Park that holds true to a ridgeline descent. This trail is also the quickest way to the bottom. The trail begins with a series of tight switchbacks. After these initial switchbacks, the trail traverses below Yaki Point to Ooh Ah Point (the first panoramic view of the canyon). From Ooh Ah Point on, the trail follows the top of a ridgeline and is consequently without shade. Several broad and steeply plunging switchbacks later, hikers reach Cedar Ridge. The South Kaibab Trail was constructed to bypass Ralph Cameron's Bright Angel Trail. Cameron, who owned the Bright Angel Trail and charged a toll to those using it, fought dozens of legal battles over several decades to maintain his personal business rights. These legal battles inspired the Santa Fe Railroad to build its own alternative trail, the Hermit Trail, beginning in 1911 before the National Park Service went on to build the South Kaibab Trail beginning in 1924. In this way, Cameron inadvertently contributed to the greater network of trails currently available for use by canyon visitors.