Kibbey Butte

Best Time to Attempt Kibbey Butte

Only feasible when the North Rim is open, generally mid-May through October.

Trail Tips

• Roughly 2.2 miles round trip with about 1,200 feet of elevation gain, typically taking around 3 hours.
• Named for Joseph Kibbey, an early 1900s Arizona territorial governor.
• Given the fire-damaged terrain nearby, confirm the Greenland Lake pulloff area is accessible before planning around it — this route starts near a section closed for fire damage.

Getting to Kibbey Butte

The route starts at the small Greenland Lake pulloff off Cape Royal Road, follows a ravine to the rim, then drops through a brushy, loose gully in the Coconino Sandstone before climbing a sandy Supai ramp to a summit block so narrow there's barely room to stand.

What to Expect Climbing Kibbey Butte

Kibbey Butte is a narrow summit on the North Rim, rising to 7,801 feet about two miles south of Point Imperial, where it stands more than 3,000 feet above Nankoweap Canyon. There's no maintained trail to the top — this is a cross-country scramble for experienced off-trail hikers, not a rim-walk viewpoint. Class 3 scrambling with dense, thorny brush on the descent into the gully means expect scratches and slow going.