Capes of the Canyon – South Rim

The Capes of the Canyon on the South Rim provides a backcountry ride through the southern landscape of Grand Canyon National Park and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument. From pinyon-juniper grasslands blanketing the base of Red Butte to towering ponderosa stands along the Coconino Rim that spill to limestone at Canyon edge, this route provides bikepackers an opportunity to see the Grand Canyon region. The goal of the route is to hit every bike-legal track that takes a rider to views of the Grand Canyon along the South Rim. The bonus is a backcountry ride though the arid evergreen woodlands and exposed highland geology of the Colorado Plateau along the way. Capes include the Little Colorado River Gorge, Desert View, Navajo, Lipan, Moran, Grandview, Duck on a Rock, Shoshone, Yaki, Pipecreek Vista, Mather, Yavapai, Trailview Overlook, Maricopa, Powell, Hopi, Mohave, The Abyss, Monument Creek Vista, Pima, Hermit’s Rest, South Bass, and Havasupai.

Riders start in the conifers of Tusayan, AZ before descending to grasslands for a perimeter ride around sage-swathed Red Butte.  Heading east, cyclists ride through ponderosa forests and across the vast pinyon-juniper savannas of Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument before climbing to the high point of the route at 7,500 feet near Grandview and its namesake fire tower.  Here, bikepackers can catch glimpses of the red-washed Canyon heart through the dark evergreens of the forest.  Riders descend and trace the base of the Coconino Rim before getting a view of the Little Colorado River Gorge.  After entering Grand Canyon National Park, bikepackers get their first expansive view of the Canyon at Desert View.  Catch glimpses of the Colorado River pulsing with sediment down its spine.  Cyclists continue along a spread of twenty-two South Rim capes, ride out through plains of sage to remote South Bass, and then plunge back into the forest before returning to Tusayan.  For bikepackers camped at the more remote areas on the route, stare up at the stars each night for exceptional Dark Skies and clear views of the Milky Way.

The recommended tire size is 2.5”-2.8” with a minimum tire size of 2.3”.  The South Rim Capes is intended to be ridden in a counterclockwise direction.  The route mostly sticks to forest service dirt roads.  These roads can be smoother, broad, and are frequently better-maintained near highways and pavement.  The roads found deeper in the heart of the Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument quickly become less-maintained doubletrack that feature sections of washboard, ruts, and limestone rock.  There are sections of more primitive rutted-roads out by South Bass Trailhead and Havasupai Point; the National Park Service rarely upkeep these roads.  Some portions of the more remote dirt roads on the route can have tree blowdowns over the winter: be prepared to go around these obstacles.  Most of the capes on this route are reached via the large stretches of pavement built along the South Rim.  The pavement is in good condition, but there is very little shoulder.  Be defensive, wear bright colors, and use flashing lights.  When possible, the route takes paved bike paths throughout the South Rim Village.

If any rain/snow is forecast, most of the unpaved route will become peanut butter/death mud and impassable in places.  Leave No Trace and avoid riding at these times until the route dries out.  In addition, flash flooding from precipitation is a possibility in washes or low areas – stay safe and stay out of those locations during monsoon rain dumps.

The technical difficulty of the route is due to the abundance of 4×4 roads that the South Rim Capes utilizes.  The route travels a mix of wide, maintained 2WD USFS dirt roads, limestone chunky 4×4 doubletrack, and frequent pavement along the Rim.  A lot of the roads are serviced yearly by the National Forest Service, but some rarely have work done and can become rutted/eroded in wet conditions.  More on notable eroded sections can be found under “Surface Conditions” below.

The physical difficulty is mostly due to the climbing.  Most of the route is found on the regularly rolling terrain of the Coconino Plateau that stretches between Flagstaff and the South Rim.  The elevation profile of the route puts the low point at 6000 feet near Anita Station in the southwest corner and the high point at 7500 feet at Grandview Tower and again at Desert View along the northeast portions.  In-between, riders can expect to climb and descend regularly across hills and drainages.  And most salient, almost every cape has to be reached by ascending one-way up a road to the Rim.  You will think about this each time you head to a cape.  But take succor in knowing that those views of the Grand Canyon are well worth it.

• Paved: 20%
• Smooth Gravel: 0%
• Rough Gravel: 43%
• 4×4 Road: 36.5%
• Singletrack: 0.5%

• Grand Canyon National Park requires a fee for entry.  No cash, credit/debit only.  ($35 for a vehicle; $20 for a bicycle).
• Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument/Kaibab National Forest has no fees.
• A Recreational Land Use Permit is required for any travel or camping on Arizona State Lands.  Apply for and pay for one before you head out on the route.  Carry it with you.

• Hunting Season: Starts in September and goes through December.  Hunters will mostly be seeking deer and elk.  Expect to see more trucks, backcountry campers, ATVs, and individuals on foot.  WEAR ORANGE and make yourself visible as you ride.  Be smart and be seen during hunting season.  Wildlife Tanks may have more hunters scoping them out.
• Dark Skies:   Grand Canyon National Park is an International Dark Sky Park.  This means that you can expect to have anywhere between Bortle Class 1 – 3 night skies overhead (even better night viewing during a new moon).  The Bortle Class Scale is used to rate night skies on their clarity and lack of light pollution.  A Bortle Class 1 is the darkest possible and there are several locations along these routes where, should you camp, you will have this level of darkness.  Here, night skies will be virtually unimpeded by artificial light.
• Fences: There may be “cowboy fences” on this route, which consist of barbed wire wrapped around vertical wooden branches that are strung across roads.  They can be opened by removing a loop of wire on one side.  Most importantly, leave fences as you found them; re-close them if they were closed.  
• Black Bears: There are black bears, which means you need to properly store your food at night using a bear-aware method.
• Hantavirus and Plague: Bubonic plague and hantavirus are frequent enough amongst the rodent population that you should avoid their saliva, feces, urine, and direct bodily contact.  Be careful when entering old cabins and caves where dropping are plentiful and ventilation is limited.  These are prime areas for possible contraction of these diseases.

• Please see the route webpage on Forrest’s website for even more resources and info.
• Information about all of his Capes of the Canyon Routes can be found here.
• Get the route on Ride With GPS.
• Capes of the Canyon is also on Instagram.

Forrest Radarian created and stewards this route. Here is a little about Forrest in his own words:

I live and work at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon as a high school science teacher for the only public preK-12 school located in a National Park.  I am passionate about teaching, working with students in the sciences, and connecting them to the outdoors.  I bike and hike extensively in the area, and I’m committed to riding, refining, and stewarding routes on both Rims.  I plan to continue to bike both routes yearly, work with my connections in the Park and Forest Service, and update route information in a timely fashion.

The Capes of the Canyon are the first set of bikepacking routes I’ve formally created for publication.  When I first moved to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon several years ago, I was elated by the hundreds of miles of bike-legal dirt roads, double track, and Arizona Trail single track winding around both Rims.  What began as a personal goal to bike to every viewpoint and remote vantage of the Grand Canyon became a slowly evolving vision of connecting each Cape overlook by a set of extended bikepacking routes.  Riding the Capes of the Canyon became an exercise in pouring over maps, scouting, exploring side roads, working with local private property owners, building conversations with NPS and USFS personnel, and taking feedback from other cyclists who rode the routes.  

I first got into bike touring back in 2014 when I participated in the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure and furthermore when I toured the Pacific Coast Highway in 2015.  The tour of the PCH got cut short when my wife and I were hit by a car in the southern reaches of the route.  We returned to finish, but the desire to adventure by bike off-pavement became stronger when I stumbled on dirt-specific bikepacking.  I’ve since ridden a number of bikepacking routes around my home in Arizona and the surrounding southwest, in addition to a thru-hike of the Arizona Trail in 2019.  

Be sure to check out Forrest’s full webpage to read more about his bikepacking adventures.

This route traverses the traditional lands of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Las Vegas Band of Paiute Indians, Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, Diné (Navajo Nation), Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah San Juan, Southern Paiute Tribe, The Pueblo of Zuni and the Yavapai-Apache Nation.