You then climb up a bit and begin a long traverse in the Redwall. This is my favorite part of the trail. If you have a fear of heights, you may be spooked along here, although the trail is very wide (and the mules only come down as far as the Supai Tunnel). Except for a few hours in the morning, this will be in shade all day and affords a great place to rest.

At the end of this traverse you come to a notch at the base of a Redwall tower. As you pass through this notch, the lower part of Roaring Springs Canyon opens up, and you can hear the springs themselves.

Now the trail starts to be more exposed to the sun, and the vegetation gets to be rather sparse. From here it is a bit over one mile to the junction with the Roaring Springs rest area spur trail, which is less than a half mile away. At about five miles from the rim, this is a popular destination for day hikers.

Despite the fact that the only paved road open on the North Rim was the one to the lodge, constraining options for visitor activities, I saw fewer than 10 other hikers over the course of the morning as I passed by the Roaring Springs junction. I was headed another mile down the trail to the Manzanita rest area, which sits alongside Bright Angel Creek. It is another mile and a half to the first campground on this trail at Cottonwood.