Having seen photographs online of folks camping along the rim of the Grand Canyon, we sought to find the location of these sites in order to have the experience ourselves. Using Google Maps and Gaia, we narrowed the search to a couple possibilities. One of those was Toroweap Overlook in the Tuweep Area of the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.
The Tuweep Area is a small section of the Grand Canyon National Park, west of the north rim headquarters. It’s an area that doesn’t get the large amount of traffic that the main section of the north rim. But it is worth the 61-mile drive on dirt roads if you want to see some beautiful views of the Colorado River below from the Toroweap Overlook.
This area is the ancestral home of the Southern Paiute people, and the unique landscape is comprised of volcanic cinder cones and lava flows. Toroweap is a Paiute term meaning “dry or barren valley”, and the name Tuweep, in Paiute, refers to “the earth”.
Tuweep Campground is a small rustic campground on-site and offers pit toilets but no other services. Fires and charcoal grills are prohibited, and all trash is to be packed out when leaving the area. In order to reserve one of these campsites, a permit is required in advance through the National Park website. A permit is only required for camping not for visiting for the day. Be advised that the gate near the ranger station closes 30 minutes after sunset and doesn’t reopen until sunrise. You will need a high clearance vehicle to access the last 4 miles of road to the Toroweap Overlook and campground since the last few miles of dirt road is not maintained and can have some good-sized ruts and rocks.
We stayed in campsite no. 2 and enjoyed the solitude and quiet. There were only a couple of other campers staying on the other side of the campground, which surprised us as this is such a beautiful location and at $10.00 per permit, an opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up. Click on the link above for the video of our time at the Tuweep Area and the Toroweap Overlook. If you have any questions related to our trip, please feel free to email us.
