It had been a while since we had ridden up on that Kaibab Plateau (north of the Grand Canyon), so we were wanting to do the AES bikepack route last summer (2025). Then the fires came. White Sage and , more impactful, Dragon Bravo made the Kaibab National forest pretty much off limits. Additionally Dragon Bravo ripped through the area of the North rim that most folks visit - destroying the lodge, in addition to much of the infrastructure. The north rim of the Grand Canyon was closed to visitors through the winter due to this. Much work was done during that time and the north rim area was reopened on May 15, 2026 - but in a very limited capacity. No running water, campground is closed, and no lodging. However, the general store escaped being damaged by the fire and was open.
All this to say that the AES Kaibab bikepack event was ON for 2026. Nancy and we were in. Original plan was to do the whole 230 route in 4 days. However, due to my knee issues and just how tough the first 160 were, we opted to do the 160 route instead - over 3 days. Not sad about that.
DAY 1
Morning started off chilly, as it usually is up on the plateau (elevation on this ride ranged from 8000-9000 feet).
my setup
Nancy's rig. Of course with matching bags.
The pattern is a painting she did which Rogue Panda printed out and sewed into custom bags.
The crew
All 5 who started - and finished.
You are not going to see a lot of pictures of Gerrit, Lynda or Robert since they are on another level of fast from us. Nancy might be able to keep up with them for a bit, but I fell off the back pretty quickly.
The first two days of this were mostly dirt roads - which ranged from very nice to very bad.
Work center? Sounds ominous.
Almost looks like we are the top of a hill. But we were not.
Nice, fast road section
We head way down there soon
Down we go
Somewhere on the descent is a short detour you can take to see some petroglyphs. Unfortunately, I totally missed it. But we've done this route before and seen them, so no big deal.
This descent seemed to go on forever
This big descent started only 7 miles into the ride and we dropped about 1300 feet in elevation. It was very fun, but of course we'd have to make that back up with lots of climbing.
This is my usual view of Nancy on a climb.
Somebody is happy to be on her bike.
A bit of flat riding, but the gravel was annoying.
A rare source of potable water at Big Spring. Only about 18 miles into the route, but the last source of water until that night's camp - about 50 miles away. So, better top off.
Getting back some of the elevation we lost earlier.
Staring to see aspens.
Crazy Jug Point is where we started our Deer Creek/Thunder River hike.
This section was downhill on less travelled dirt. Very fun.
What the???
Back to riding
About 42 miles in, we reached the Rainbow Rim trail. It is about 18 miles of trail that starts at the east rim of one of the major side canyons of the Grand Canyon and goes in the woods for a bit, then back out to the rim. There are five points where the trail goes out to the rim, so you get lots of opportunities to look out at the canyon.
Singletrack time!
But first, a snack.
In we go!
First view of the canyon. Yes, you could say it is grand.
This kind of view from a bike is a big part of the popularity of this trail.
And there is much forest riding as well.
Loving this!
Another view of the canyon.
Short break to admire the view.
This is far from the desert riding we usually do.
About half way through...
There is a lot of descending down into a drainage then back up the other side.
Finally finished Rainbow Rim, plus the extension that few people ride.
Then there was this garbage climb - very near the end of the day. Ugh.
Home for the night. Primarily due to this being a reliable source of water.
The gang is all here.
The view across the dirt road.
Water from the spring is in this enclosure. Yeah, you do need to filter.
That night, as I lay in our tent I heard some crunching in the woods - like branches breaking. Sounded like someone walking around in the woods stepping on small branches. I figured, we are in the woods - there are critters out there, hopefully they'll just go away. But then it happened again in a different place, and louder. I shined my light out of the tent but could see nothing. Then more noise of branches cracking - this time up the hill from us. Nancy got out her bright headlamp and saw something moving in the through the woods that had gleaming red eyes. The noise got even more frequent and loud. Gerrit and Robert also got up and started shining lights and hollering at "it". At this point we were pretty much assuming Bigfoot was out there - stumbling around in the woods like a drunken frat boy. Robert also had a really bright light and eventually identified the actual noise maker. Disappointingly, just a cow. Big Footed Cow.
The really funny part of this was the next morning when we started talking about it, Lynda was like, "what?" Apparently she slept through the whole thing!
DAY 2
Breakfast time.
Our home at Quaking Aspen Spring.
Back at it.
Another beautiful day in the woods.
There is a Kaibab Squirrel in the picture. He is running up that tree in the middle. Really. No, really.
We are now inside the park.
One hell of a view!
Nice to have a table to help organize stuff.
Snack with a view.
From the last time we did this route, I recall the road between Point Sublime and the Grand Canyon North Rim area (general store, lodge, cabins, etc) to be really tough. Lots of climb and descend. When we got to that road it had a "Road Closed" sign. We figured the closure had to do with the Dragon Bravo Fire and was likely indicative of the route being even worse than our previous ride across this stretch. It was. My knee had started bothering me about halfway into day 1 and this section did not help.
Nice rut in the "road' there.
We saw a lot of downfall that had been cut. Many large trees like this.
Interesting juxtaposition of the beautiful aspen in the foreground and burned trees in background.
Who doesn't love seeing ferns?
An example of how this road has degraded.
Even in meadows, which I usually love, the trail had a bunch of sand.
This is likely why the road was closed.
Tight squeeze.
That is a heck of a rut!
Lined up at the General Store. So glad this was open for resupply.
Hoo, boy. Grand Canyon tax.
For anyone not aware, the Grand Canyon north rim Lodge burned down in the Dragon Bravo fire. This was a hard thing to get past for me and many others who have spent a lot of time there. One particularly memorable time was when our friend Martin and his daughter visited with us. It snowed on the way there and electricity went out. Fortunately we had backpacking gear so spent the night in the cabins more comfortable than others.
You can kind of see the foundation in the distance. It was fenced off so couldn't get a closer look.
The cabins, apparently, were not even touched.
So many pictures have been taken in front of this sign.
While we were at the general store, resupplying Gerrit and I held an executive AES meeting. We decided that we'd head out from there on the road for a bit, then back to the AZT. I think everyone was a bit shelled from that last section. Unfortunately Lynda was off somewhere when this decision was made, so when they got to the point to split off to the road she was not having it. They ended up doing AZT all the way. I, on the other hand was feeling the day pretty strongly and my knee would just not let up, so I decided to hit the road up to the park entrance. From there it is a long climb up to near the fire tower, but the trail after that is really great. Nancy was good with this plan.
More devastation from the fire.
In full suffer mode
Once we hit the park entry station we headed up a long climb. A little off route of the top of the climb is a fire tower. We've visited it before so I was not compelled to bother. Plus, I was beginning to worry about the time. The first part of the day had taken longer than I expected and I wanted to get to camp before dark. So we just headed on to the Arizona Trail - which we'd take the remainder of the trip. This initial part, from the fire tower. was mostly downhill through valleys and meadows. Beautiful and fun. This brought me back from misery.
Dusty here
The fire trashed one area, then missed another.
As we motored down through fun trails we happened upon Robert - riding the wrong way. Apparently he had visited the fire tower, but had left his pack there. So he had to climb all the way back up there. Felt pretty bad for him. But he did still get to camp before dark.
We are camping just beyond the East Rim viewpoint. Those 7ish miles will take longer than I'd expect.
I love these meadows, surrounded by forest.
Some of my favorite parts of the AZT are up here.
Expansive meadow.
Doesn't get better than this
This is one section I always remember. Long ribbon of trail down, with the view of the climb on the other side always in view.
Must have been quite a saw to get that in one cut.
Assume the position
Hate to see so much burned forest
Only 2ish miles to camp.
Crystal Spring is pretty useless right now.
East Rim overlook
Hard to see from the pictures, but in the distance is the Vermillion Cliffs.
We reached camp soon after this, with about an hour of daylight. I was so focused on doing my "stuff" that I didn't take many pics.
Dog Lake apron.
This day was shorter (62 miles), but with more climbing (6100 feet) than day one. It felt tougher to me. Was quite content to only have 30 miles the next day.
Day 3
nice...
Gerrit, Lynda, and Robert set up camp on the Dog Lake apron - next to the water source. Nancy wanted to be out in the meadow. So we hung out with those guys for dinner and such but camped a little further away.
Already packed up the tent. Getting ready to roll.
Let's go!
And there go Lynda, Gerrit and Robert.
Off into the meadow.
Today would start off much like the previous day. Meadows and woods, interspersed. I really liked going from one to the other.
What you can't see are the ferocious winds that were gusting at over 40 MPH. In the woods this made the trees rustle and the aspens "quake". Across the meadows we had to hold on tight to our bikes or be blown over. However...when the wind was at our backs...Woo-hoo! We had wind powered, Wi-Bikes.
Plenty of water here.
Then, the ride changed. We had a big climb up that took us into an area that had burned many years before. I don't remember it not being burned since we've visited. Anyway, it was really cool to see aspen trees coming into their own up here. One day it will be an amazing aspen forest.
Up on top of the world. Vermillion Cliffs in the far distance.
Very different character than what we had been riding.
Mini-aspen forest.
Lots of fun trail in this section, punctuated by some less fun climbs.
Nothing quite like lifting a fully laden bike up over rocks.
Here we go...
Wheeeee!
As always we finished behind Lynda, Robert and Gerrit. Lynda and Robert were still hanging out when we were done, so that was nice. Despite the fact that we didn't really get to ride with the other three we did very much enjoy their company at camp.
This route is tough, no two ways about it. However, if you've never seen some of these areas it is worthy. Personally, I'd like to go back and just ride the AZT from the North Rim to 89a. IMO that is the best riding on the Kaibab Plateau and some of the best stretch of trail on the AZT.
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