North Rim Campground (Closed for Remainder of 2025)— Grand Canyon National Park

North Rim Grand Canyon: Lodge area is spectacular. Greatest views from there. Drive the scenic drive! (71 yr olds in 17’ trailer.)

Overall Rating: 4 Price 2024: $ 9 w interagency pass Security: Patrolled Usage during visit: Almost full every day.
Site Privacy: Sites on outside of loop much better Site Spacing: Pretty good - see below Pad surface: Blacktop Reservations: Yes Campground Noise: Quiet Outside Road Noise: None Through Traffic in campground: No reason for there to be.
Electric Hookup: No Sewer Hookup: No Dump Station: Yes Potable Water Available: Yes Generators: Allowed during very restricted hours.
Bathroom: Flush toilets and kept clean. Showers: Yes, pay showers. Cell Service (AT&T): Not at the campground. Setting: Forest.
Solar: In our site and with the long days, we were able to stay charged w 440w panels.
Insects: None during our stay Host: Yes. Rig Size: 30’ RVs were I the campground . Sites: Fitered View of Canyon: 11,14,15,16 Other favs:18, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32

Campsite Review:

The North Rim Campground is the only campground located on the North Rim, and although massive, you HAVE to reserve your campsite 6 months in advance or it is likely you will not get one. We had planned our road trip way in advance for this reason. There are some “prime view” sites but they go very quickly. We ended up with a tent-only site which was on its own loop off to the side, but you only had to walk a few yards to look out over the rim. The whole park is beautiful, so don’t stress on getting a particular view.

The tent-only sites had their own designated parking spot not far from the site itself. The sites were close together but staggered so that you were not right up next to your neighbor. They each came with a fire pit, picnic table, and a leveled tent space. There are many bathroom locations around the sites, I did however look at the map online beforehand to get a site close to one. We were next to not only the “original” vault toilets but also “real” toilets that had sinks and a small mirror, plus a dish washing station.

There were a few potable water stations throughout, but keep in mind, if the weather is below freezing it is likely going to freeze and not work. It was snowing while we were there (which is unusual for spring) and the water did not work, thankfully we had brought our own. There is also a camp store with all sorts of groceries and resupplying needs (food, plastic utensils, fuel, candy, beer…..you know the necessities.) They have coin showers and laundry located near the ranger hut as well.

From the campsite, there is a short 2 mile hike over to The Lodge, which has a couple restaurants, coffee hut and bar, and gift shop. This is also where you will find the paths out to a few viewing areas of the Grand Canyon. Be aware it is very crowded, but worth the hike or drive over.

Since we only had one full day to hike, we decided we would take that day to hike the North Kaibab which goes down into the canyon. On the drive in we noticed the trailhead parking lot was completely full and overflowing so we woke up around 5 AM, made breakfast and got to the trailhead around 5:45 AM so we could get a parking spot. We went a total of 12 miles, 6 down (easy peasy) and 6 up (not so easy peasy), but the views were unlike anything I have ever seen! Keep in mind when going down that Yes, you do have to go back up and that last 2 miles from the top is nothing but switchbacks and they WILL murder you.

We did not see much wildlife while we were there, but it was snowing most of the time. They warned against leaving food out because of the ravens, so we made sure to keep our food up in the car. Take some time to visit the North Rim, we only had 3 days and I wished we had much much more!

Product Review:

As a Ranger for the Dyrt, I get to test products from time to time. At North Rim Campground, I tested the Primus Primetech 2.3 Liter Stove Set.

Now for the past few years I have been using my MSR Pocket Rocket for all my backpacking needs, but this trip was with my husband and was more like car camping than anything, so we opted to choose a little bigger stove. Primus has many variety of stoves, but we very much liked the sound of the new Primetech stove that has a nonstick pan and wind guard. It comes in a 1.3 Liter as well, but we eat a lot…

Never having used anything by Primus, I did not quite know what to expect. I ordered directly from the Primus website and received the product within the week. The stove and parts came all packed together in a nice carrying pouch that makes it very easy handle. It is bigger than the stove I am used to and probably not the best for backpacking with, but it is great if you have some extra room to spare and a few bodies to cook for!

At first, I will tell you, I got very frustrated. I could not for the life of me figure it out. I read the instructions over and over again, doing EXACTLY what they said to do. Well…that was the problem.

The set up was nice and easy, but lighting it was the issue. The instructions say to turn the valve 2 whole turns, then use the Piezo Lighter to light. Well I can tell you, after much trial and error, it needed much more than 2 turns. I originally thought it was the lighter itself, so we tried a different lighter and failed again. Long story short, I found that that you need to turn the valve until you hear a light stream of gas then use the Piezo Lighter (could be upwards of 5 whole turns.)

Once I figured out how to light the thing, I fell in LOVE!  The Primetech stove is Awesome!

Things I LOVE!! :

1. The whole thing packs up into itself and comes in a nice carrying case!

2. The gas valve makes it feel like you are cooking over your gas stove at home. You can decrease and increase the flame to you cooking needs without any effort at all!

3. The lid for the pot has an integrated strainer and the wind guard on the bottom works wonders!

4. The set comes with 2 pot, one of which has a non-stick coating that actually works! I have spent too many nights scrubbing the burned noodles out of a pot in freezing cold water as my fingers go numb….not anymore!! You can literally get a paper towel and wipe the excess food out of the pot.

This is one AMAZING stove set. We brought our old stove set on the trip just in case this one didn’t hold up to our liking, we didn’t even unpack the thing. I will be using the Primetech Primus stove for many years to come!

-Quick tip: Make sure to use a Primus fuel canister if you have one available. We originally attached a leftover MSR fuel canister we had and for some reason when connecting it the fuel leaked out a got all over my hand (it didn’t feel so good), when I attached the Primus canister later I didn’t have an issue!

My wife and I took a week long road trip through Arizona, we made no plans and no reservations. Little did we know after reaching the North Rim Campground, we would find that the camp sights are books 6+ months ahead of time. The park ranger told us about the dispersed camping many mile away, as we were getting ready to leave line, a couple walks up and explained they had reserved a corner spot which contained 2 spots, because it was the only one available that weekend. they offered the unused sight to us!!!!!

We took the offer and were Blown away by the beauty that surrounded our site, we were far from others even quite far from our helpful hosts, the hiking is stunning and the lodge there makes some great food as well as a great place to buy some souvenirs.

Facilities:

Fire-ring, BBQ, Water nearby, AMAZING SPACE, plenty of tree coverage from the sun, close to hiking, and within a short drive to the best sunsets Arizona has to offer

We HIGHLY recommend catching the sunset at Angel Peak!!!! but watch out for the altitude change, its quite high at 8297 feet. Our hometown is at 2800 and the hiking got the best of me…

If you want to explore the North Rim, this is the best...and only...campground in the park. Otherwise, there is Demotte or dispersed camping outside the park. You can roll out of bed and be looking at the Canyon or on the trail to the lodge in a few minutes from this campground. Or a quick walk on the Transept Trail gets you to the North Kaibab Trail in 15 minutes. There is a trailhead for the Ken Patrick Trail (with a cutoff to the Uncle Jim Trail) over that way. You'll have to drive to the Widforss Trail but it's worth it.

We camped on 4 sites in 5 nights. Why? This place gets booked solid way ahead of time, and we don't do that kind of planning. When we decided we wanted to get to the North Rim on opening day (5/15), I started stalking recreation.gov. That was early May. I quickly got sites for 5/15 and then 5/18 for 2 nights. People cancel! By the time we got to the park, I had secured a site for 5/17. Then we got 5/16 on a walkup. We would have gone out to Demotte or dispersed camping if we hadn't gotten the 16th. Only frustrating part is that there are empty sites EVERY night. Not everyone cancels when their plans change!

Anyway....great campground! Showers and laundry are up at the entrance. Showers got dirty fast but they clean a couple times each day. There are bathrooms and water throughout the park. The store has ice and beer with good prices for craft beer. Those are essentials but there are other things at the store.

Wifi is kinda iffy. It's best up by the store. And it's better in the early morning.

Campground is so quiet because everyone is exhausted from an active day!