Winding its way down over 4,300 feet along the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Bright Angel Trail is one of the most widely used within Grand Canyon National Park.

Originally utilized by local Native Americans to access water from Garden Creek, the trail was extended to the mining camps located on the canyon floor in the late nineteenth century. In the 1890s, Pioneer Ralph Cameron took advantage of the growing tourist business at the Grand Canyon by purchasing the trail and beginning to charge hikers a one dollar toll.

Competition from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, along with the newly formed National Park Service, reduced Cameron's lucrative business and he eventually ceded control of the trail to the Park Service in 1928.

Today, the eight mile Bright Angel Trail is one of the most popular areas of the Grand Canyon and is widely used by both hiker and mule riders to access the Phantom Ranch and the Bright Angel Campground located on the Canyon floor.

Podcast Written and Narrated by Jennifer Oelschlager, Public History Student at the University of West Florida.