About an hour down the South Kaibab Trail hikers come to a staging post. This is a flat open area, where donkeys are often found resting. This panorama shows the staging post late in the afternoon. There are still a few people here, most heading back up to the South Rim. Plodding back up the path it is easy to feel a bit like a donkey.

Staging Post on South Kaibab Trail - Grand Canyon visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Staging Post on South Kaibab Trail' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Arizona.

A couple of miles into the Grand Canyon along the South Kaibab Trail, hikers come to the first rest point that has toilets. This is also a staging post for the trail donkeys that carry equipment and hikers up and down the trail on excursions. This staging post is at the beginning of the Cedar Ridge.

Most people exploring the Grand Canyon down the South Kaibab Trail do not descend further than this first staging post. Set at the beginning of Cedar Ridge, it gives people to go a short way down into the Grand Canyon and experience another aspect of the enormity of it, in addition driving to the numerous viewpoints along the South Rim. The views across the Grand Canyon from here are spectacular, with Cedar Ridge and O'Neill Butte dominating the foreground.

The South Kaibab Trail is accessed from the trail head on the southern rim. Either take a free shuttle bus from the Grand Canyon Village, or park at the end of the trailhead road and walk in (about half a mile)