The BRIGHT ANGEL TRAIL , followed on foot or mule by thousands of visitors each year, starts from the wooden shack in the village which was once the Kolb photographic studio. The trail switchbacks for 9.6 miles down to Phantom Ranch beside the river, but park rangers have a simple message for all would-be hikers: don't try to hike down and back in a single day. It might not look far on the map, but it's harder than running a marathon. Instead, the longest feasible day-hike is to go as far as Plateau Point on the edge of the arid Tonto Plateau, an overlook above the Inner Gorge from which it is not possible to descend any further - a twelve-mile round-trip that will probably take you at least eight hours. In summer, water can be obtained along the way.

The first section of the trail was laid out by miners a century ago, along an old Havasupai route, and has two short tunnels in its first mile. After another mile, the wildlife starts to increase (deer, rodents and the ubiquitous ravens), and there are a few pictographs which have been all but obscured by graffiti.

At the lush Indian Gardens almost five miles down, where you'll find a ranger station and campground with water, the trails split to Plateau Point or down to the river via the Devil's Corkscrew . The latter route leads through sand dunes scattered with cactuses and down beside Garden Creek to the Colorado, which you then follow for more than a mile to get to Phantom Ranch.

Bright Angel Trail

• Bright Angel Trail

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