Grand Canyon closes North Kaibab Trailhead parking for hazard-tree work
North Kaibab Trailhead parking closed June 22-26 for hazard-tree work, but hikers still reached the trail by using Highway 67 shoulders, overflow lots and the Bridle Path.
Grand Canyon National Park shut the North Kaibab Trailhead parking lot from 1 a.m. June 22 through 5 p.m. June 26, 2026, to let crews complete hazard-tree mitigation in one of the park’s most important North Rim access points. The North Kaibab Trail itself stayed open, and the pit toilets at the trailhead parking area remained available even while vehicle access was restricted.
For hikers, the immediate issue was not the trail closure but the parking squeeze. North Kaibab Trailhead parking is limited, and the lot is capped for vehicles under 22 feet in length. During the closure, visitors were directed to park on the shoulder of Highway 67 between Admin Loop and Point Sublime Road or in the former lodge parking lot, then use the Bridle Path between the former Grand Canyon Lodge and the North Kaibab Trail instead of walking along the highway. Commercial transportation operators were allowed to continue picking up and dropping off passengers near the General Store in the Backcountry Information Center parking lot.
That routing matters most for North Rim day hikers and rim-to-rim travelers, where a few extra minutes can change a shuttle plan or a pre-dawn start. Overflow parking is available near the former Grand Canyon Lodge, but vehicles longer than 22 feet are not allowed on Cape Royal Road or at North Kaibab Trailhead, so larger rigs need to plan around those limits before they arrive.
The June parking closure also sat inside a longer season of disruption on the North Kaibab corridor. Grand Canyon reopened the North Rim for the 2026 season on May 15 after the 2025 Dragon Bravo Fire, reopened the North Rim Campground on June 1, and overnight lodging is not available on the North Rim during the 2026 season. Cottonwood Campground reopened May 15, giving backcountry users one overnight option on the route, and trail maintenance and rehabilitation continue along the North Kaibab Trail throughout 2026.
Beginning at 11:59 p.m. Oct. 15, 2026, the North Kaibab Trail between Redwall Bridge and the north end of Cottonwood Campground is scheduled to close for Transcanyon Waterline rehabilitation through approximately February 2027, with no alternate route or detour through that section.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
