If you left your bike at home, you can rent one from Bright Angel Bicycles (928/814-8704, www.bikegrandcanyon.com, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily May-Sept., shorter hours Mar.-Apr. and Oct.-Nov.), located at the South Rim’s Grand Canyon Visitors Center. Also available are child-size bikes, pull-behind trailers, and adult-size tricycles.

The staff here can help you choose a route, and they offer guided tours twice daily, weather permitting. Bright Angel Bicycles also operates a shuttle service, allowing bicyclists who want to travel Hermit Road to bypass the traffic-congested village area.

Traffic throughout the park is heaviest on summer weekends. Play it safe—wear a helmet and bright colors, use hand signals, and ride single-file in the same direction as traffic. In Arizona, bikes are subject to the same traffic rules as automobiles.

Biking is allowed on all paved and dirt roads on the South Rim. However, all hiking trails on the South Rim are off-limits to bicycles. The only exception is the multiuse Greenway Trail.

Hermit Road

Scenic Hermit Road is closed to passenger vehicles March-November. Shuttle buses travel Hermit Road during those months, and bicyclists need to use caution, allowing the large vehicles to pass. At the Monument Creek overlook, bikers can leave Hermit Road for the Greenway Trail, a paved, nonmotorized, multiuse route following the rim for 2.8 miles before rejoining Hermit Road the rest of the way to Hermits Rest. Much of this section of the Greenway follows the 1912 alignment of Hermit Road, when stagecoaches toured the rim.

The Greenway

The Greenway is a nonmotorized bicycle and pedestrian pathway projected to be 45 miles long when complete. Currently, only two short segments have been completed, the 2.8-mile trail along the West Rim, beginning at Monument Creek Vista, and a paved trail connecting the historic village area with Grand Canyon Visitors Center. Eventually, the Greenway will also link to other South Rim locations and the town of Tusayan, outside the park.

Kaibab National Forest

Adjoining Kaibab National Forest (www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab) has miles of dirt roads and trails open to cyclists who want longer rides. Most are lightly traveled, so you’ll have a good chance of seeing deer and elk while enjoying natural quiet, shady ponderosa forests, historic sights, and glimpses of the canyon.

One possible side trip is to take Forest Road 307 to Hull Cabin. You can start your adventure by climbing the 80-foot-tall Grandview Lookout Tower, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The tower was used by forest rangers to spot smoke plumes or other signs of wildfire. Today, it marks the start of the Arizona Trail.

Built in 1888, Hull Cabin is the oldest standing cabin in the Grand Canyon area, the home of sheepherders Philip and William Hull, who partnered with John Hance to bring the first tourists to Grand Canyon. The cabin is on the National Register of Historic Places. (Neighboring cabins house seasonal forest rangers and work crews. Please respect their privacy.)

Depending on winter snow depths, unpaved forest roads can be muddy through April. For current conditions, maps, or additional information about these rides, contact the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest (928/638-2443) or stop by the ranger station, located one mile north of Tusayan on the west side of Highway 64.

Arizona Trail

The Arizona Trail offers several options for mountain bikers. This scenic nonmotorized trail, when complete, will cross the state from the Utah border to the Mexican border, 800 miles in all. To get to the Arizona Trail from inside the park, take Desert View Drive (Hwy. 64) east about nine miles, passing the Grandview Point overlook and continuing two more miles to the Arizona Trail sign, then turning right. The trail begins at the Grandview Lookout Tower, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

If you’re starting from Highway 64 in Tusayan, turn east on Forest Road 302 and follow the signs to Grandview Lookout (16 miles). You’ll be traveling over old logging roads that meander through ponderosa pine forest. (With the aid of a good map, you can loop back on different roads for the return trip.)

The 12-mile Coconino Rim segment of the Arizona Trail, which is open to mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians, begins south of Grandview Point. The trail follows the edge of a 500-foot-high escarpment that curves to the southeast, offering unusual perspectives on Grand Canyon and distant views of the Painted Desert. At eight miles, a bypass route for bikes avoids a steep series of switchbacks. Just pass 10 miles, the trail crosses Forest Road 310. If you like, you can loop back to the park on Forest Road 310, another seven miles.

For a longer ride, you can continue onto the Russell Wash segment of the trail, which begins just south of Russell Tank and parallels a historic stagecoach route. In about three miles, the trail crosses Forest Road 313 and nears the historic Moqui Stage Station, a remnant of the route from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon, in operation from 1892 to 1901. This station was a stop on the 20-hour, $20 ride to the Grandview Point area, the center of tourist accommodations at the time. The Arizona Trail continues all the way to Flagstaff, but you’ll probably want to head back to the Grandview area and the national park boundary.

For an especially picturesque side trip, you can add the Vishnu Trail, a 1.1-mile scenic loop that starts just north of the fire tower. The trail leads to an overlook on the Coconino Rim offering distant Grand Canyon views, then loops back to the Grandview area via the Arizona Trail.