Old Bright Angel Trail Photoset • BiFrost • 2021-05-31 • HikeArizona.COM

Old Bright Angel Trail, AZ

	2021-05-31
	20 by BiFrost

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Old Bright Angel Trail

Northwest, AZ

Old Bright Angel Trail

Northwest, AZ

Hiking	15.00 Miles	4,500 AEG

Hiking	15.00 Miles	8 Hrs 36 Mns	2.08 mph
	4,500 ft AEG	1 Hour 23 Mns Break

Linked

linked

Ken Patrick Trail

North Kaibab Trail

Partners

partners

John9L

This was the second day hike of the weekend and Old Bright Angel trail was the objective. I hiked it several years ago with Kathy and definitely gave me reason to hike it again. The old trail is mostly followable and there are usually very visible trail construction especially on the top half. Everything above the redwall was built to last with some nice switchbacks even though it's overgrown. Below the redwall it's tougher to follow the trail which has some loose and sketchy sections to negotiate. Eventually we dropped down to Bright Angel Creek which has some great pools and very scenic part of the trail. However, that scenery comes at a price in tough route finding and rough terrain. This was the only section where the old trail is difficult to find and follow. After following the creek right for about 3/4 of a mile the trail crosses and follows creek left. It continues on the left side down canyon until it reaches the North Kaibab Trail and the bridge at the Manzanita rest area. Of course we did not see anyone on Old BA which we pretty much expected.

At Manzanita rest area we took an good long break to rehydrate and sit by the creek for awhile. After that it was the long uphill but being on trail was refreshing. I was also expecting more North Kaibab hikers but really wasn't too many out this weekend. There was trail reconstruction going on in the redwall section with 5 park service guys working very hard to redo the trail. Thanked them for their hard work and continued up the trail. At the top it was nice to be done and happy to see Old Bright Angel trail again!

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