West Tonto Trail

The West Tonto Trail is the far-flung, lightly traveled stretch of the 95-mile Tonto Trail that runs between the South Bass Trail and the Hermit/Boucher/Bright Angel corridor, tracing the broad bench of the Tonto Platform roughly 1,200 feet above the Colorado River. Unlike a rim-to-river descent, this trail behaves more like a contour line, dipping in and out of one drainage after another — Horn Creek, Salt Creek, Cedar Spring, Monument Creek, Hermit Creek, Boucher Creek — while holding a fairly consistent elevation along the way.

What to know before you go

• Reached only by first descending another corridor trail (commonly South Bass, Hermit, or Boucher) to connect with the Tonto — it is not a standalone rim trailhead.
• Water is scarce and unreliable on the western sections; treat anything you find, and avoid Horn Creek entirely, as its water carries radioactive contamination from an old uranium mine.
• There is almost no shade anywhere along the route, and the trail can be faint or overgrown in less-traveled stretches, so route-finding matters.
• Overnight camping along the Tonto requires a backcountry permit from the park's Backcountry Information Center.

This is a serious below-the-rim undertaking best suited to experienced desert backpackers in cooler months, not a casual day outing.