Autumn is arguably the best window to hike the Kaibab Plateau stretch of the Arizona Trail, and a recent trail journal from The Trek shows why. The aspens are turning bright yellow, daytime temperatures are comfortable, and water sources along this section are frequent enough that hikers don't need to haul litres of extra weight. It's a slice of the Southwest that looks more like Colorado or New Mexico than the desert most people picture when they think of Arizona.
The day in question covered roughly 28 miles through the forested country north of the Grand Canyon. It started with a detour most travellers will appreciate: Jacob Lake, a small visitor hub sitting right off the trail with a Chevron station, a motel, and a restaurant attached to it. The writer fuelled up on eggs served on fried tortillas with a house pepper sauce, charged devices at the counter, and restocked cold medicine at the small store inside. Anyone driving to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon passes near here, and it's one of the few services for miles, so it's worth a stop for food, fuel or a bed.
Not everything was postcard-perfect. A prescribed burn had closed a stretch of singletrack, pushing hikers onto a quiet dirt road for about six miles, and bugs and a looming head cold made for a rough night. But the afternoon delivered the payoff: shaded forest giving way to open views of rolling hills lit up in gold and orange fall foliage.
There's also a significant piece of practical news for anyone planning a Grand Canyon-section hike. Flash flooding has washed out roughly nine miles of trail south of the North Rim, severing the continuous walking route between the North and South Rims. The damage is expected to take a couple of years to repair. Thru-hikers currently have no option but to hitch around the closure — a drive of around four to five hours by road. With heavy rain in the forecast, timing that hitch early in the day matters. If you were dreaming of a rim-to-rim hike in the near future, build the detour into your plan.
Why should a regular traveller care? This part of the Arizona Trail doubles as an accessible autumn road-trip corridor. The Kaibab Plateau sits between Jacob Lake and the North Rim, offers golden aspen displays in late September and October that most Grand Canyon visitors never see, and has trailheads like Telephone Hill that day hikers and weekend backpackers can use. Just pack for cold mornings, know that water sources may involve fence-climbing and cattle-dodging, and check current closure notices before you go.
The original day-by-day account comes from The Trek.
