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Points of Interest

Hermit Trailhead

A rugged, less-crowded wilderness trail with some of the South Rim's best views.

(66)
Grand Canyon Village, AZ

About

Hermit Trailhead is where the South Rim stops being a paved overlook and starts being backcountry. Reviewers rate it 4.8 stars across 66 reviews, and the trail itself lives up to that: wide-open canyon views from the first steps, with none of the crowds that pile onto Bright Angel or South Kaibab a few miles east.

What to expect

This is a genuine wilderness trail, not a maintained corridor route — the surface is loose and unpaved, and reviewers who've hiked both note it's noticeably harder going than the park's two main corridor trails. One visitor's rule of thumb: budget roughly twice as long to climb back out as it took to descend. The trail connects toward Santa Maria Spring, Dripping Spring, and the Boucher Trail loop, with the Tonto Platform and Hermit Camp reachable for those going deeper — a full Boucher Trail loop and back can run 10 hours for an experienced hiker.

Good to know

  • Access: the trailhead itself is open 24 hours; a short walk from the trailhead leads to Hermit's Nest, a rustic log-cabin-style gift shop
  • Difficulty: unpaved, loose surface — better suited to hikers with wilderness trail experience
  • Location: Grand Canyon Village, South Rim

Good intro to the park's wilderness trail system if you've already done the main two and want something with fewer people and rougher footing.

Reviews (66)

See all on Google
4.8

66 reviews

Write a review
Ksusha Vladimirovna

You can’t miss this short trail, stunning views and lots of hidden spots where to be a bad girl

peter “Diz” disbury

Awesome hike if you do the Boucher Trail Loop and back up same day. I managed this in 2018 and it took me 10 hours to complete, I was not racing at all and actually had not done this hike intentionally since I was only planning a shorty down to Dripping Spring and back up. I ended up at the Boucher Trail Intersection and decided to check it out. Before I knew it I was scaling down a semi vertical drop holding onto some old mining pipes and then headed down to the Tonto Platform an hour later. From there I headed east to the Hermit Campground and the spring for some foot soaking and refill with my filter. After a short 1 hour break with some snacks, sodium, nuun tab, 5hr energy shot, shoulder and knee rotations I headed off back up the trail. I made it back to the top around 8pm and left around 10am. It was quite an adventure especially since I had not planned for it. The scenery is just bar none on the Boucher Trail at Columbus Point looking north east.

J C
J C

5 months ago

Super place for a bucket list.

Harprit Singh Pannu

The trail leads to Hermit's Nest, a souvenir shop with a rustic log cabin feel. Nice trail with exceptional view of the Grand Canyon.

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