Plan your visit · One route, several choices
Queen’s Garden–Navajo Loop
The complete loop connects two trailheads, a descent, a climb and a rim walk. Decide which Navajo side you mean before comparing distances or following a saved map.
The planning answer
NPS describes the combination as approximately 2.9 miles (4.6 km), 625 feet (191 m) of ascent, and 2–3 hours, rated moderate. Its recommended direction descends Queen’s Garden from Sunrise Point, climbs a Navajo branch to Sunset Point and completes the connection on the Rim Trail. Those are published planning figures, not a promise of your pace or today’s access. NPS combination-loop details.
Before choosing a branch, read current NPS conditions. Our conditions page carries dated copies and links to official sources.
Four parts make the loop
- Begin at Sunrise Point and descend Queen’s Garden.
- Distinguish the Queen Victoria spur from the continuing loop connection. The BCC mapped study includes that out-and-back spur.
- Climb a permitted Navajo branch to Sunset Point; the BCC profile below uses Two Bridges.
- Complete the rim connection to your starting point. If you start at Sunset and follow this direction, do that rim segment first.
Two Bridges and Wall Street are alternatives
| Choice | What it means here | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Two Bridges combination | Queen’s Garden plus the Two Bridges ascent and the rim connection; includes the Queen Victoria spur in our mapped study. | The current branch and connection restrictions. An absence of the regular Wall Street winter closure does not establish all-clear conditions. |
| Wall Street combination | The Wall Street side substitutes for Two Bridges. It is not an extra leg added to the Two Bridges profile. | Wall Street’s seasonal closure and any other notices. The profile below is not this variant. |
| Navajo Loop alone | A different loop using both Navajo sides and its Sunset stem; it does not include Queen’s Garden. | Use its own distance and branch status. Do not reuse the combination-loop total. |
| Queen’s Garden out-and-back | Return up Queen’s Garden to Sunrise rather than continuing to Navajo. | Use the separate NPS trail description. |
NPS describes a regular winter closure on Wall Street. See its Navajo page and combination-route explanation; follow posted closures.
The easy-looking start leaves a climb to finish
Descending first can make the early part feel easier than the full day will be. Judge the route by the return climb as well as the distance. Leave time and energy for the ascent and the final rim connection; the low point is not the finish.
The BCC line and profile below use retained trail mapping and a 10 m USGS ground grid. They describe one fixed Two Bridges itinerary. Grid heights can differ sharply from actual tread beside cliffs or tunnels, and cumulative ascent depends on sampling and smoothing. Use NPS’s published figures alongside these derived shapes, without treating either as a prediction of personal effort.
Explore this exact variant in the trail tool · Read or print the complete route note · Download the offline field guide
For an outing that stays on the rim, start with the walking choices on Visit. NPS provides the route’s surface and grade details; a “moderate” rating is not an individual access assessment.
What the numbers describe
The dedicated NPS combination-loop page supplies the current published figures quoted above. Some older NPS trailhead descriptions use a different elevation figure; this guide identifies its source instead of averaging conflicting totals. The mapped profile’s length and ascent remain independently derived. See the measurement method and UGRC, NPS and USGS credits.
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