Anyone have some gravel/mtb routes around the Grand Canyon south rim area?

[Likes2ridefar]

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[mhespenheide]

No specific recommendations, but -- as you point out -- there's a ton of forest service roads east and south from Tusayan starting from FS302.

Just browsing on the map right now, it looks like you could start on FS328 and head west then north to Havasupai point. I think that's the trailhead for the Bass trail that goes down into the canyon, but it should give a great remote viewpoint as well. Heads-up that you might have to pay a $25 fee to cross the Havasupai Reservation.

If you have a bike, it's totally worth riding the road out to Hermit's point, too. It's closed to private cars, open to buses and bikes.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

I got lucky and scored 3 days of camping in the Grand Canyon over Memorial Day weekend so going to take the gravel bike which easily goes MTBing as needed.

I know many will say to hike, but there is no interest in that. Just went down this past weekend on the Bright Angel trail...

I've seen many gravel roads heading into the Grand Canyon south rim entrance, and after entering, off of 64 out but don't see much out there as far as routes go.

Anyone ridden the area? I see some amazing looking routes on the north side of the rim but that is a really long drive from where I'm staying so would prefer to ride out of Grand Canyon village directly or ride back down south out of the park a bit to hit some of the gravel and trails.

If you look at the map, there are some trails/dirt roads that go west and south from the park. Nothing really to the east, that's mostly the Navajo Nation. Most everything is National Park, Forest, or BLM so it's open for riding. Most of the paved roads to the west have a parallel dirt road. I wouldn't go east from the visitor center due to the sea of humanity not looking for cyclists.

[tkbike]

Originally Posted by bigbill

If you look at the map, there are some trails/dirt roads that go west and south from the park. Nothing really to the east, that's mostly the Navajo Nation. Most everything is National Park, Forest, or BLM so it's open for riding. Most of the paved roads to the west have a parallel dirt road. I wouldn't go east from the visitor center due to the sea of humanity not looking for cyclists.

Agree with this post completely, lots of dirt roads as described(I have yet to find a gravel road anywhere in North America except in cycling forum descriptions)! The South rim is a pretty much a no-go to area(kind of like Moab, maybe not as bad) from March through October! The north rim is where you should be if you want to avoid the crowds, I have done the r2r2r several times and it is an incredible experience starting from the north rim…the south rim is a total **** show.

[Likes2ridefar]

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[Likes2ridefar]

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