North rim of the Grand Canyon. BLAKE MCCORD
Visits to the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park offer stunning vistas among sweet-smelling ponderosa pine forests. Unfortunately, many of the buildings, roads, and plumbing at the North Rim are out-of-date. Soon the park will conduct a variety of construction projects to revitalize the aging infrastructure. But before the park breaks ground, Trust volunteers will collect native plant seeds in the area. Once construction is complete, future volunteers will re-plant those seeds back into the newly renovated spaces, ensuring the success of native plant life and providing erosion control as well.
On this trip we will also plant native vegetation at the North Rim pollinator garden, a habitat for native bees, monarch butterflies, and other important insects. This work beautifies the space and provides more opportunities for park visitors to learn about native plants and animals.
Many of our trips are family friendly! Please see our FAQs for more information or email us with questions about particular trips.
Membership is optional, but we ask that participants who are comfortable financially become members of the Grand Canyon Trust with a $25 donation. Members receive a subscription to our biannual print magazine, The Advocate. Please contact us if you have any questions. You’ll also need to submit your volunteer application form to secure your spot on the trip.
NOTE: This trip is currently full. Sign up for a spot on the waiting list.
We’ll fuel up with coffee and breakfast in the mornings and then spend the day collecting native seeds and planting in the garden. We’ll return to camp in the evenings for free time, appetizers, dinner, and stargazing. We’ll hear from a Grand Canyon National Park partner and Trust staff about conservation work and ways to stay involved after the trip. On the last day, we’ll break camp, pack up, and head home.
We will be car and tent camping at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We will have access to composting vault toilets, showers, and water. The Trust provides a camp kitchen. Park entrance fees will be waived. More information will follow in our pre-trip emails.
The Trust provides: All meals, snacks, field equipment, and tools.
Participants provide: Personal transportation to Grand Canyon National Park, individual camping gear, coffee mug, lunch container, work clothes, work gloves, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, rain gear, and clothes for warm days and cold nights. Please come prepared.
Our gear packing list will help you prepare. We can loan some items on a first-come, first-served basis — contact us for details.
Curious about logistics, the food you'll eat during the trip, or the difficulty of the field work? Check out the frequently asked questions ›
When you volunteer for the Trust, we make it worth your while. From eating good food, to learning new skills, find out the perks of volunteering.
Our top priority is the safety and comfort of our trip participants. Precautionary measures that will be followed on trips to avoid the spread of communicable diseases will be communicated in pre-trip emails. If we feel that a trip cannot be safely conducted due to public health conditions, or for any other reason, we will cancel the trip with as much notice as possible. Contact volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org with any questions.
The Grand Canyon Trust is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of our work. The conservation field and the Colorado Plateau have their own histories of racial injustice and exclusion and as a largely white organization, we know we have work to do. We are actively working to make the conservation field and the Colorado Plateau more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Read the Grand Canyon Trust’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion statement ›