This great trail leads from a trailhead a couple of miles out of the village of Christopher Creek. The trailhead is popular with campers, but once I got a few minutes down the trail, I hardly saw anyone. And this was one of the first cool weekends of the season, a beautiful mid-October day of blue skies.
The trail's relatively flat at first, and goes through what looks like former fire damage. Take the fork to See Spring. The trail follows the creek, making it relatively lush, and very relaxing for a nice creek-side picnic. Though not as impressive of Horton Spring, the source of the creek is still very cool, just flowing out of the hill. You can walk around on the rocks above the spring and hear the water beneath you, but you can't see it anywhere. Very cool.
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| On the fork to See Spring |
Return to the fork and continue straight at the cliffy hills above you. It soon gets steep as it climbs up the to the top of the Rim, but the trail is good and it's never
very steep. There aren't great views off the Rim, like the views you get from the Rim Trail or such, but it's still very nice.
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| Look for rock cairns like these if you lose the trail. |
I had it easy. My Dad did the shuttle run, dropping me off at the bottom and then driving the longer-than-expected drive up to the top, so I only did the trip one way (about 4 miles). If you do it round trip, and want to dawdle like I did, plan plenty of time.
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| A new friend on the trail |
I personally wouldn't recommend it in full summer, but if you love sun and don't mind heat and have plenty of water, you might like it. I fully recommend going in autumn when the leaves are turning.
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| Mid October |
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