Bright Angel Campground

The greatest place to camp. Very cold in May beware of changing weather! Easy and free bus system to access the park. Sites were spread enough but wasn’t at full capacity. This is a must!

I loved this campground. It was hot, but the creek was so enjoyable. We stayed in site 9. The canyon valley is really hot during this time of year, so please be prepared to combat the heat if the heat bothers you. It does not cool down at night. (but none of this is the campground's fault, just the time of year!) We will be back (but not in June!)!!!

Great location. The stars were amazing. I have never seen that many stars before. Camp fires are not allowed. But the stars made up for it. Camp sites are small, but it's expected given the location. Be sure to lock your food and scented item up. Squirrels will eat your stuff through your backpack. There is running water. I will definitely be returning.

Amazing campgrounds right at the Grand Canyon. Clean and nice big spot to set up

This is a Robinson-style accommodation where you can't expect luxury, but despite that, the campsite is excellently equipped and located in a perfect spot next to Bright Angel Creek, where you can refresh yourself after hiking. The entire location is very picturesque, and the camp is mostly occupied by hikers who observe quiet hours, so it's truly peaceful and pleasant. Each plot has its own food box and a usable table, which is very useful during summer when shade moves. The toilets are centrally located in the camp, along with drinking water. It's a perfect place.

FANTASTIC CAMPGROUND! Perfect set up for R2R hikers or for people looking to overnight in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The campground sits off the North Kaibab Trail giving some privacy away from the rest of the traffic on trail. Has about 31 spots ranging in number of tents able to be set up. All spots have a picnic table and post to hang your pack from as well as a food box to keep your gear and the local wildlife safe. We did encounter some deer strolling through camp on the day we left so be watchful when your food is out. 10/10 would recommend this stay to anyone staying at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Really cool place and experience! Takes time to get to. Make sure you have your permit!!! They’re hard to come by but they’re worth getting to camp down here. Would recommend going for fall or spring, during the summer the nights start around 85-90 degrees F but cool down to maybe 70.

Great place to stay for the north rim hike and general canyon exploring.

One of the prettiest camp grounds you'll ever see, you'll fall asleep listening to the Bright Angel Creek running practically next to you and the stars shooting overhead. In the morning, the views from your sleeping bag are of the canyon walls ablaze with the morning sun. This week, the canyon was bursting with color from all the flowers and vegetation blooming after the heavy winter snow. The campground is simple, but has plenty of drinking water spigots throughout camp, and even restrooms with flushing toilets and sinks. A half mile from the black bridge crossing the Colorado River and another short walk to Phantom Ranch Village, which had a few services and amenities, this is ideally located for a loop hike down N. Kaibab and up Bright Angel trails. Rangers who checked our permits had a sense of humor and seemed stoked to work in such a stunning place.

Bright Angel Campground I must confess, I have never camped overnight in my life. I should be specific. I have slept at campgrounds, but never in tent. My closest experience to camping was either sleeping in an RV or a parked car at a campground. My wife told me that I was glamping. That being said, I'm fortunate my first experience camping was here at Bright Angel Campground. The campground is located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon about 10 miles from the South Rim. The campground has water spigots for drinking, restrooms with running water, an emergency payphone, and a ranger station. And if you're lucky, a few friendly deer roaming around. We camped on the side closest to the Bright Angel Creek. Chillin' in the creek was the highlight of my stay. Each campground has metal picnic tables, a food storage box, and a pack/gear pole. Permits are required if you plan to stay the night here. Good luck if you don't have one. The rangers do check. I was very comfortable staying the night at Bright Angel Campground. I slept like a baby.

A thought came to me recently as I've been thinking about trips to national parks, and thinking about crowds, getting out of them, and seeing parts of the park that are quiet, thoughtful, and less-traveled. That thought was pretty simple. I want to come back here. There are so many parks and so many places in each park that I don't always want to re-visit old stops. But lately that's changed and I want to go back to a lot of them. Sometimes it's just because the first trip was special. Sometimes it's because enough time has passed that you now wonder how you would be changed by a place, now that you're a new person and that place remains unchanged. And sometimes you just want to take someone new and see it through their eyes. I've been in this campground a couple of times, but I've only stayed there once. It sits on the north side of the river, adjacent to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. My stay was in the winter and it was lesser-traveled, though I'm sure it's booked up and busy most of the year as this park is the most popular in the whole parks system. The campground itself is pretty simple, there are a couple dozen sites and each one has a picnic table, a hanger for your gear, and an ammo can where you need to store all of your food to keep it away from pests. The animals here are alarmingly accustomed to humans, and I've had run-ins with deer who are more like entitled hikers as they hog the trail and just roll their eyes at you. The campground is clean (no one drives up in their car and unloads a bunch of trash) but do make sure you show the utmost respect to this area. The whole canyon is special and a sacred place. The campground has water and toilets. Getting here is no small task. As they say, "Going down is optional, coming up is not." You descend several thousand feet from either rim, as this is accessible by the Bright Angel Trail (via the short River Trail that connects to the bridge), South Kaibab, and North Kaibab Trails. Downhill is brutal on knees and ankles, and you have to be in shape. Going up is brutal on everything. If you're staying at Bright Angel Campground, you're probably backpacking and you need to pack light, and know your limits. Give yourself time. You can break up the trip and also stop and Indian Garden and the campground there if you don't want to do it all in one day. There's plenty to do here. It's so odd that you have Phantom Ranch right here, and you can go over and get a drink or snack. If you book ahead of time, you can buy your meals here and have a nice meal. It's spendy, but for crying out loud, they have to pack it in by mule every time! I've taken the hike north to Ribbon Falls which is a nice day activity if you're spending a few nights here. Or you can just lounge at the campground and let your body recover. Shade is a premium in the scorching summer, and winter is bone chilling cold. The shoulder season is nice but crowded, so you really just pick your poison. As I sit here right now in my house in the city, I close my eyes tightly and I can hear the roar of the Colorado River in my mind. I'm back at the campground at the bottom of the canyon. We've left the madness of the village and wandered down through the magic canyon, crossed the bridge, and we're in the tent living our very best life. The moon is glowing and I can *just* imagine it. It's a special place. I'm feeling it -- I do want to go back.

The campground located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon! Whether you descend via Bright Angel Trail or South Kaibab Trail, you end up at Bright Angel Creek. The North Kaibab Trail starts at the end of the 'Black' bridge and continues along the east side of Bright Angel Creek; where it heads north to Phantom Ranch and the North Rim. The west side of Bright Angel Canyon, between the bridges over the creek, is the Bright Angel Campground. Between 20 and 30 campsites (depending on NPS decision making), with a functioning bathroom, drinking water stations and separated individual campsites divided by a trail (no mule teams allowed on this trail!). Each campsite has a picnic table, most have a re-purposed telephone pole (as visible along the Bright Angel Trail) to use as hooks to hold your pack (so nice after packing down), re-purposed ammo cans to keep food and trash from the mice, skunks, deer,...etc., and a space to set up a tent or two. This is a really well appointed and maintained campsite with a ton of privacy considering the number of sites. The Phantom Ranger station is less than a quarter mile from the campground. If your stove fails you, you run out of gas, aren't feeling well, or experience any kind of emergency the rangers are there to help you out of a jam, even if that means calling in a helicopter. The Phantom Ranch Canteen (and dining room) is less than a third of a mile away. Meals are available there by reservation, and the canteen is open for snacks, game playing, and general camp talk the rest of the day. It is far easier to obtain the back country permit to camp than it is to get reservations to stay at the Phantom Ranch cabins and dorms. The entirety of Grand Canyon National Park is dedicated to the Dark Skies Initiative so campers are asked to use the red light setting on their headlamps, which works as long as you let your eyes adjust, or point their lights at the ground. The view of the stars is spectacular. The entirety of Bright Angel Canyon is absolutely breathtaking and you get to camp right in the midst of it all, the Bright Angel Delta feeds into the Colorado River just a short walk from the campground and an entire universe of trails begin and end in the vicinity. There are few backpacking destinations on the planet more impressive This little campground allows a unique experience at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, much as Indian Garden Campground - located on the Bright Angel Trail about halfway down to the bottom, offers a unique experience.

This review is for both Phantom Ranch (meals specifically) and Bright Angel Campground. My group of 3 did rim to rim overnight and and stayed at one of the campsites at Bright Angel Campground which is right next to the ranch. If you are coming from the South Rim, the campground is just passed the ranch across a little bridge over a creek. Bright Angel Campground is first come first serve. Pick a site for your group and display your permit on your tent. There are tent sites to both sides of the trail. Some sites are between the creek and the trail, the other sites are between the trail and the rock face. All sites are surrounded by lush greenery. The tent sites are obvious -- man made flat dirt ground with picnic table, 2 animal proof food canisters, and a large T shaped pipe planted into the ground where you can hang your packs. There is a running water toilet at this campground with soap and running water at the sink. There is also one outlet by the sinks as well. Separate women and men restrooms. By the restrooms is a water station where you can fill your water bottles. Phantom Ranch is worth the money. Yes it is expensive, but for us, it was worth it not to carry the extra pounds that food and cookware would add to our packs. We ordered a beef stew dinner for the night we arrived, an early breakfast, and a sack lunch to go. The beef stew is ranch food; it's hearty and salty. Not what I would eat everyday, but definitely what you want after you've hiked in the heat. The stew dinner also comes with cornbread, fresh garden salad, ice tea and water -- plenty of seconds to go around. The breakfast consisted of bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, coffee, orange juice, water, and if I remember correctly some type of fruit. The sack lunch to go was the only disappointing thing we have to say about the ranch. We originally imagined something along the lines of a delicious sandwich, but it turns out the sack lunch is a bunch of random items --- plain bagel, cream cheese, dried cranberries, peanuts, fresh apple, mini sausage, 2 electrolyte powder mixes, and some more things I'm forgetting. The powder mixes and the sausage were our favorite / most useful items. The rest of the items we ended up giving to people along the trail as we hiked out the next morning. There are some items for purchase at the ranch gift shop like shirts, hats, postcards that will be packed out by mule, and more. During your stay at Bright Angel or Phantom Ranch be sure to do the river walk/loop across the Colorado River, it is a humbling experience. Also, find your way to the little clayish beach along the river and dip your toes in the freezing cold water. Other information: there is a mess hall bell that the staff rings for every meal. The ice tea is not as great as some people say...or maybe we just didn't get the glory batch. There are at least 2 AED's in the dining hall.