Grand Canyon National Park
(North Rim)

Those visiting the remote Grand Canyon North Rim (a 5-hour drive from South Rim) will be rewarded with a chance to see the canyon without the crowds.

 

The services and roads of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim are closed in winter. Full services are available at the North Rim between May 15 and October 15. While the roads to the North Rim are closed from December 1 – May 14, hikers and snowshoers can access the North Rim in the winter season but need a backcountry permit.

 

Offering fantastic views with less congestion, the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park offers those willing to drive five hours and 212 miles from the South Rim  a chance to see the canyon without the crowds.

 

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is an experience wholly separate from the South Rim. A more remote, rugged and individual opportunity to see what John Wesley Powell described as, “ledges and cliffs where the soaring eagle is lost to view before it reaches a summit.”

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Of the 5 million people who arrive annually to view the 1.8 billion years of geology the Grand Canyon represents, only about 12% ever make a trip to the North Rim. From most points on the South Rim, unlike the North Rim, you can’t see all the way down the mile-long slit in the earth to where the Colorado River runs. At a 1,000 foot greater elevation, the North Rim offers what are considered the best three comprehensive views of the Canyon; Toroweap, Point Sublime, and Cape Royal.