Grand Canyon Backcountry Gear Checklist
The Grand Canyon backcountry permit covers everything below the rim except the three corridor campgrounds, and the gear changes the moment you leave the corridor. Outside it you bring your own critter-proof food container, you plan every drink of water, and you read the route as you walk it. People who wrote about the Hermit, West Tonto, Thunder River and Escalante routes carried far more water capacity than they expected to use, treated silty river water, fought mice and ravens with real containers rather than a hang, and slept under a tarp or the sky more often than in a tent.
What shapes your gear on Grand Canyon
- Four kinds of country
- The park sorts the backcountry into Corridor, Threshold, Primitive and Wild zones. Threshold has non-maintained trails and scarce water, and the Primitive and Wild zones are not recommended in summer because of extreme heat and unreliable water.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Backcountry Trails and Use Areas
- How you book
- Overnight reservations run through Recreation.gov with an early access lottery. Designated sites allow two nights per hike and a trip is limited to seven nights per use area. Groups of 1 to 6 have more permits available than groups of 7 to 11.
- The permit on the pack
- The park wants the printed permit on you in the backcountry. After you set up camp, clip it to a pack or tent in plain view so a ranger can check it.
- A long Tonto day
- One solo hiker in September 2003 went from Hermit Creek to Indian Gardens on the Tonto in 14.8 miles with 2,700 feet of climbing. He carried a gallon and ran short.
- River-level nights
- A Backpacking Light poster quoted March lows at the river near 48 degrees F. The same thread reports 34 degrees as the coldest night near 4,500 feet in mid-April and lows in the upper 40s at the river in late March.
From Backpacking Light forums: 5-day Grand Canyon - decisions
- Roads to the trailheads
- In March 2003 a pair reached the South Bass trailhead after 30 miles on washed-out dirt road, a trip of two and a half hours that needed a high-clearance SUV.
What the agency requires on Grand Canyon
A critter-proof food container outside the corridor
Everywhere below the rim except the three corridor campgrounds, you supply your own container. The park accepts bear canisters, metal cookie tins and cooking pots with lockable lids, and warns that a hung bag can still be reached by ringtails, mice and ravens.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Backcountry Food Storage
A water treatment method
Water from the Colorado River, creeks and potholes must be treated before you drink it. The park lists boiling, iodine tablets and filters and says to let silt settle overnight when the river runs high.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
No campfires
Fires are prohibited throughout the backcountry, so food is cooked on a stove or eaten cold.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
A bag for used toilet paper and a way to dig a hole
Where no toilet exists you carry out used toilet paper and bury waste in a hole about 6 inches deep, at least 200 feet from trails, campsites and water.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
What hikers carry on Grand Canyon
More water capacity than the plan needs
A West Tonto pair started with room for 6 liters each and filled less at first because they did not know how scarce water would be. The park says about a gallon per person per day in warm months, and a solo hiker found a gallon too little for 14.8 miles of Tonto.
From Berkeley OCF personal pages, University of Delaware personal pages and Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
A filter that survives silt
A Thanksgiving group used a plunger on their filter after a controlled flood on the Colorado had loaded the river with silt. The West Tonto pair also filled their jugs from the silty river at Bass Rapids because they did not know if the next day would offer water.
A canister, tin or lockable pot for food
Backpackers at the Thunder River sites reported very aggressive mice, and one partner's candy bar was tunneled through from end to end. A Thanksgiving group found droppings on the outside of a rat sack they had hung. A raven ate a solo hiker's cookies in the three minutes he spent fetching water.
From Backpacking Light forums: Thunder River Deer creek GCNP advice, Gossamer Gear blog and University of Delaware personal pages
A tarp or ground sheet before a tent
A veteran of the Tanner and Escalante routes said he puts up a tarp about one night in eight and rarely needs any shelter. He added that stakes cannot be used about half the time, so carry extra line for rocks. The park suggests a rain fly or bivy as a lighter option.
From Backpacking Light forums: 5-day Grand Canyon - decisions and Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
A sleeping bag matched to the elevation
One poster on that thread had never taken a bag warmer than 30 degrees and often took a 45, and another got through a week in March on the Tonto with a 45-degree bag. A solo hiker in September slept on a pad under a light sheet and never unrolled his bag at the river.
From Backpacking Light forums: 5-day Grand Canyon - decisions and University of Delaware personal pages
Trekking poles
The Thanksgiving group called poles useful for constant elevation changes. A solo hiker snapped one in a fall the morning after camping at Hermit Rapid.
From Gossamer Gear blog and University of Delaware personal pages
Spare jugs to cache water
A Thunder River planner asked how to cache water on the Esplanade. A reply said to split a critical cache among several smaller containers, hide them in more than one place, and keep food smell off the containers because rodents will chew a lid that smells of food.
From Backpacking Light forums: Thunder River Deer creek GCNP advice
A topographic map and the route description
The Hermit-to-Tonto day had a trail that was hard to follow in places, and the hiker went the wrong way once. The West Tonto pair got lost once and recovered with the description the rangers had given them. The park says corridor maps are enough only on the corridor, and topographic maps are needed anywhere else.
From University of Delaware personal pages, Berkeley OCF personal pages and Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
Ice cleats for a snowy rim start
A Thanksgiving group started down from a snowy South Rim into 50-degree canyon weather and carried light ice cleats for the top of the trail.
From Gossamer Gear blog
11 people can go on one permit. Split this list between them so nobody carries two stoves.
Plan a trip hereWhat hikers regret or leave behind on Grand Canyon
One gallon for the Tonto
The solo hiker called it the lesson of the trip: he reached Indian Gardens dehydrated and said he must oversupply with water. Fresh water was plentiful once he got there.
Trusting a hang to keep mice off
A Thanksgiving group hung a rat sack on 2 mm cord and still found droppings on it. A Backpacking Light reply advises thin slick cord, but another poster expected the mice to work it out anyway.
From Gossamer Gear blog and Backpacking Light forums: Thunder River Deer creek GCNP advice
A double-wall tent
A planner choosing between two tents for Tanner and Escalante was told a double-wall tent is unnecessary and that stakes often will not hold. The advice was to check the NOAA inner-canyon forecast a few days out and bring a tent only if major rain is forecast.
From Backpacking Light forums: 5-day Grand Canyon - decisions
Food left outside the pack, even for minutes
The solo hiker lost a bag of cookies to a raven while he fetched water. The park says never to leave food unattended, even in your pack.
From University of Delaware personal pages and Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Backcountry Food Storage
Gear questions for Grand Canyon
Do you need a bear canister in the Grand Canyon backcountry?
You need a critter-proof container, not because of bears but because of mice, ringtails and ravens. Outside the corridor campgrounds you bring your own. The park accepts a bear canister, a metal cookie tin or a cooking pot with a lockable lid, and says a hung bag can still be raided.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Backcountry Food Storage
How much water should you carry in the Grand Canyon backcountry?
The park says about a gallon, or 4 liters, per person per day in warm months. A solo hiker found one gallon too little for a 14.8-mile Tonto day, and a West Tonto pair set out with capacity for 6 liters each.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions, University of Delaware personal pages and Berkeley OCF personal pages
Do you need a tent in the Grand Canyon backcountry?
Not always. The park says rain is most likely in July, August and winter and that a tent gives protection, with a rain fly or bivy as lighter choices. Experienced backpackers on a forum thread said they use a tarp about one night in eight.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions and Backpacking Light forums: 5-day Grand Canyon - decisions
Can you have a campfire in the Grand Canyon backcountry?
No. Fires are prohibited throughout the backcountry, so bring a stove or plan cold meals.
From Grand Canyon National Park (NPS): Hiking Frequently Asked Questions
Can you camp anywhere in the Grand Canyon backcountry?
Only inside the park's rules. Designated sites are limited to two nights per hike, and outside the named use areas the park allows at-large camping. Either way you need a permit and must keep it on your pack or tent where a ranger can see it.
Sources
- Backcountry Trails and Use Areas · Grand Canyon National Park (NPS) · Agency
- Backcountry Food Storage · Grand Canyon National Park (NPS) · Agency
- Hiking Frequently Asked Questions · Grand Canyon National Park (NPS) · Agency
- Backcountry Permit · Grand Canyon National Park (NPS) · Agency
- On the Hermit's Trail - A Grand Canyon Adventure (September 13-15, 2003) · University of Delaware personal pages · Trip report
- Grand Canyon West Tonto backpacking trip (March 2003) · Berkeley OCF personal pages · Trip report
- Thunder River Deer creek GCNP advice · Backpacking Light forums · Forum thread
- 5-day Grand Canyon - decisions · Backpacking Light forums · Forum thread
- Grand Canyon's Escalante Route · Gossamer Gear blog · Blog