Hello,
We are planning a 12 day camping and hiking trip in Grand Canyon from the South Rim to the North and back in the second half of March. We are starting at the South Kaibob trail. I know there is seasonal water at rest stops and at Phantom Ranch, but what about other, natural sources aside from the Colorado River? There is that pretty long and continuous stream on the map of the hiking trails that the visitor center has online. We are hoping that we can dip into that and drink it (bringing purifier and iodine tablets).The visitor center page says stream water sources are seasonal. So I wanted to know if anyone has done this trip in the early spring and can tell me about their experience with obtaining water from streams and other sources. Is there a decent water supply a hiker can count on during that time of year? How much water should we stock up on at the rest stations to be safe in case those streams (if there ARE any - I realize I could be reading the map wrong) are dried up at that time?
If anyone has experiences and insight to share, it would be much appreciated!

First off u see this is your first post so welcome. Secondly what is your backpacking experience level? And not being familiar with this area what is the total mileage and miles you plan to travel each day. These will help others answer you better who are familiar with the region.

Myself I always carry a good deal of water when I don't know how much I can find on the way. I have the average 20oz bottle easily accessible a camelback I think is 2 liters and have my emergency gallon of water in my bag. On trails I am familiar with or know have plenty of water ( which most of my hikes do) I go without the gallon.

When I am on the move I use my camelback and use the water bottle while resting or getting a breather. When i find water I fill my camelback with the water bottle and then drink all remaining water in bottle if there is any... Then i uses the bottle to filter my new found water.

I realize I did not answer your question but each individuals water needs may vary based on fitness level and other factors including the temperature. So even if someone says there is plenty of water in like to drink a lot on the trail so I may wish for more water than what's available. I hope this helps at least a little

If you are going down the South Kaibab trail, you won't find much in the way of reliable water until you get to Indian Gardens. If you are coming down the Bright Angel trail, there are two rest houses with water spaced along the trail. Personally, I would cary two liters if coming down the Kaibab and one down the BA trail. Also, I always cary a one liter bottle in reserve. There is no water that I recall between Indian Gardens and Phantom Ranch. There are two reliable water sources on the trail between Phantom and the North Rim: Cottonwood and Roaring Springs. There are also a few sources off the trail, eg. Ribbon Falls. The hike to the North Rim from Phantom is long and hardest near the Rim. I would personally plan on a night at Cottonwood and then walk to the Rim from there. I would cary a minimum of two liters from each of the North Kaibab water stops and would cary an extra liter as an emergency reserve. Please note, my recommendations are not for hiking in the summer months which I consider to be from mid-May through September. March-April and October-November are my favorite times in the Canyon.

Be sure to get a permit. If you don't already have one, you may be too late. You can start applying 4 months ahead of your start date and the competition is stiff. People will start applying for May permits on New Years day.

I went the beginning of last April. Down S. Kaibab, which is mostly ridge top and waterless all the way to the river. Bright Angel has the rest stops, which may not have water due to winter shut-off and Indian Garden which has water year round. We didn't use much water at all going down the S. Kaibab. I used less than a quart, it was a cool day, actually snowed a bit up top. N. Kaibab follows Bright Angel Creek and has other water sources and is more likely to have snow at the top. The North Rim will be closed. For such a long stay, you may also consider doing part of the Tonto trail. As Pika stated, if you don't get on the permit process, you'll probably not get what you want. Indian Garden and Phantom Ranch campgrounds fill up very quickly. In mid-March, take heed of the micro-spike suggestions from the Park Service, you may see some ice and snow near the tops.

Hi everyone, thank you all for your replies. To tell you the truth, the process of filling out that permit application has been very confusing. I have gone to the canyon only once and only to plateau point. This time we want to go to the North Rim. I am aware that the Kaibob Trail has no water, but we plan on bringing 4 liters to last us until Indian Garden. It's the part of the trail after that that worries me. I have no idea where we can get water other than the Colorado River. Someone replied with a couple of suggestions and I'm going to put that on my list. As far as the itinerary and permit-obtaining goes, we have no idea what we are doing. The GC site is so confusing and the visitor center doesn't answer questions clearly. I don't even understand where we can and cannot camp in the canyon. Are people allowed to stay only on campsites like Indian Garden or make camp anywhere they want (assuming they won't be making an open fire)? I know there are issues with the Indian Reservation land over there, but aside from that, I don't understand what other parts of the canyon are off limits.
In any case, thanks again for the suggestions. At least the water questions are clearer in my mind now.

Actually, the permitting process is fairly straightforward. You can start applying for permits four months before your start date but not before. Permit applications may be mailed or FAXED but cannot be made on line. Addresses and FAX numbers are on the GC web site in the backcountry section. There is a downloadable application form on the park web site together with earliest application dates. All of the information you will need to obtain a permit is on the GC web site but you have to poke around a bit to find it.

As far as back country camping is concerned, the Park is divided into a number of zones which can be found on the web site as well. Some of the zones allow "at large" camping and others allow camping only in designated places. Several of the zones comprise " the corridor". If I recall correctly, the corridor extends from around Hermit Creek on the west to somewhere beyond The Kaibab Trail to the east and spans the canyon from north to south. The Kaibab and Bright Angel trails run through the middle of the corridor. It sounds as though all of your proposed trip would be in the corridor so you would be restricted to designated campsites. And, designated campsites are allocated on a strict quota system based on the number of campsites at a given location.

Obtaining a permit requires you to submit an itinerary with specific dates and campsites may only be used on those dates: the fines for non-compliance can be brutal. Getting a permit is highly competitive to say the least. To obtain a March 2015 permit for corridor sites you should have started applying in November 2014. Frankly, I suspect that you will find it nearly impossible to get March permits for corridor sites this late after applications began to be submitted, especially for a trip as long as the one you are proposing.

I think that you will find the GC Wilderness Office to be more knowledgeable about back country issues than is the Visitors Center. They are in different buildings and serve different clients.

Rita, Pika (who lives in that region and has very wide experience in the GC) has given you the best info, especially about talking to the Wilderness Office.

One possibility is to postpone your trip to May and send your fax in at 12:01 am January 1. At least you'll be in line for a permit with everyone else instead of having to wait for a possible cancellation.

There are also less popular, more difficult "non-corridor" trails about which the Wilderness Office can advise you. They'll probably quiz you closely on your level of experience.

Most of the streams that look close on the map would be nearly impossible to access due to the terrain. My son and I did back-to-back rim-to-rim hikes last June. This is one way to avoid the permit problem, as well as to enjoy at least a bit of the canyon without a pack. We car-camped on the North Rim and had a hotel room on the South Rim. We each carried three bottles but never needed more than two.

It was near freezing (well, cold, anyway) when we started in the morning on the North Rim and 108 degrees on the bottom when we go there at noon. There was plenty of tap water the whole way and lots of people around so you won't die of thirst on the major trails. We d id theNorth-to-South trip that first day at a leisurely pace. We stopped and took a lot of pictures and talked to a lot of folks. At first I had hoped for more solitude but we met some interesting plant, bird, etc. experts and had some nice conversations. It's so interesting how the land changes every few miles. On the South Rim we had nice restaurant food, a soft bed and a pleasant rest day doing the tourist stuff. In the morning my son took the bus back to the North Rim and I ran back via the South Kaibab trail. There is no water on the South Kaibab trail but it's only a 2-hour hike/jog to the river in the cool morning air so I barely went through the two bottles I brought on that leg. After that there's plenty of water every few miles the whole way up. There can be outages so it's best to check with people along the way.

I kept a decent pace on the return trip and made it rim-to-rim in 6 1/2 hours, beating my son's bus to the parking area by just a few minutes.

If you're going the round trip I would follow conventional wisdom on the South Rim and go up the Bright Angel (for the water and interesting close-in formations) but down the South Kaibab (where water doesn't matter much and the morning wide-angle views are amazing on that much-more-exposed path.