Hades Lake

Hades Lake sits deep in one of the most remote corners of the Grand Canyon's North Rim, in the Tuckup/Hades Canyon drainage west of the developed park area. This is Esplanade country — the broad sandstone bench that runs roughly 2,000 feet below the rim and 2,000 feet above the Colorado River — where surface water isn't a permanent feature so much as a seasonal one. Despite the name, "lake" here means a natural rock pool or pothole that collects rainfall and snowmelt in sandstone depressions, holding water for a stretch after wet weather and going dry the rest of the year.

What to know

• Reached only via cross-country backcountry travel off the Tuckup Trail corridor, not a maintained trail
• Water presence is seasonal and unreliable — never count on it as a source
• Terrain and route-finding here are serious: exposed sandstone benches, no signage, no cell service
• This is experienced-backcountry-only ground, well outside the rim-walk and day-hike areas most visitors see