The Tanner Trail is one of the South Rim's great wild routes, a steep, unmaintained rim-to-river descent that drops about 4,700 feet over roughly 9 rugged miles from Lipan Point (around 7,350 feet) to Tanner Rapids and Tanner Beach on the Colorado River (near 2,700 feet). The Park Service rates it among the most demanding trails on the South Rim, recommended only for experienced, self-reliant desert backpackers.

The trail is relentlessly steep, rocky, shadeless and completely waterless until the river, and while the tread is generally easy to follow it crosses unstable footing and boulder fields where care is essential. What it offers in return is solitude and some of the most expansive views in the eastern canyon, out over the Palisades of the Desert and the broad, colorful gorge, with ancient Ancestral Puebloan sites along the way and a superb beach camp beside the green Colorado at the bottom.

Tanner is usually done as a three-or-more-day backpack, and it anchors two celebrated longer routes: linked with the Beamer Trail upriver toward the Little Colorado confluence, or with the Escalante Route downriver toward Hance Rapids and the Grandview Trail for a rugged loop back to the rim. There is no reliable shade or water on the descent, summer temperatures in the inner canyon are dangerous, and overnight travel requires a backcountry permit. For strong hikers ready for a serious, unmaintained trail, Tanner is one of the canyon's finest.