Chiang Mai Grand Canyon Backcountry Trail

Distance: 15.1 kilometers

Elevation: 370m

Difficulty: Easy

What to expect on this trail?

This backcountry route near Chiang Mai Grand Canyon is a fun and easy loop with a lot of variation. There are a couple of road sections, but most of it is on nice single tracks through forest and farmlands. Another great option for a fun exploration, not too far from the city.

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Chiang Mai Grand Canyon Trail in detail

The route starts at the parking of Chiang Mai Grand Canyon Water Park. It is a convenient location with plenty of parking space, however, there are no toilets available at the parking. If you start later when the park is open you could use the toilets inside though.

The first section is a short road section until you reach the farmlands located behind the Grand Canyon. From there you will head onto fun dirt roads and single tracks taking you across beautiful sceneries with some very nice views along the way. You will be on trails for quite a while, until you arrive at another asphalt road. You won’t be running on it for long though, as you soon turn on more single track trails as you slowly start looping back in the direction of where you started.

The last climb, towards the end of the route, is the only part where you may have some difficulties navigating. You will need to make your way up a hill where the trail is completely overgrown. However, if you keep following the general direction you will end up at the ridge where you can easily join the ridge trail that will take you out of the forest.

From there it is a short road section as you complete the loop approaching the Grand Canyon from the opposite direction from where you started.

Forest Single TRack on Grand Canyon Backcountry loop

Tips for this trail

Chiang Mai Grand Canyon Water Park opens at 10.00am. It is a fun place to spend a half day or so, and it can be a nice post-run activity to cool down.
The route is accessible to all levels of runners, but shoes with good grip are recommended. There are a couple of relatively steep descents with loose gravel and rocks. Good shoes can help a lot on those!
This route is located fairly close to the Nam Phrae Backcountry Trail Loop and the Baan Pong Basic Trail Loop. You could combine them as you need if you want to put in some more kilometers. For the Hang Dong Trail Marathon route we basically combined these two route with the Grand Canyon Backcountry Loop.
Grand Canyon has Cafe & Restaurant on site, so even if you don’t want to swim you can still have a post-run coffee or snack there. Otherwise there are plenty of coffeeshops along the Canal Road. If you go for an early run, Mug Coffee is a nice option as they open at 8am. They are closed on Mondays though.

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