Canyon sights in Grand Canyon National Park
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South Rim
About 90% of Grand Canyon national-park visitors head for the South Rim. Just north of Tusayan, Arizona is the park’s south entrance station. A short drive further ahead next to ever-crowded Mather Point is Canyon View Information Plaza to help you get oriented. After stretching your legs, continue north to Grand Canyon Village. Duck inside the 100-year-old Hopi House, one of the park’s many Native American–inspired designs by famed Western architect Mary Colter, and the equally historic El Tovar Hotel and cliffside Kolb Studio. At the northeastern end of the village, panoramic views of the canyon unfold at Yavapai Observation Station, which has an intriguing geolog…
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Havasu Canyon
One of the Grand Canyon's true treasures, this is a hidden valley with four stunning, spring-fed waterfalls and inviting azure swimming holes in the heart of the Havasupai Reservation. Because the falls lie 16km (10mi) below the rim, most trips are combined with a stay at either Havasu Lodge in Supai (the only village within the Grand Canyon) or at the nearby campground. For a spot at Havasu Campground you need to book six months to a year ahead.
Parts of the canyon floor, as well as the rock underneath the waterfalls and pools, are made up of limestone deposited by flowing water. These limestone deposits are known as travertine, which gives the famous blue-green water it…
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North Rim
On the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, more than 8000ft above sea level, solitude reigns supreme. Rugged and remote, it boasts meadows thick with wildflowers and dense clusters of willowy aspen and spruce trees. The air is often crisp, the skies vast and blue. If crowds make you cringe, this is where to head for wild isolation. There is only one road in, after all. It’s colder and wetter here, too, and the North Rim is only open for business from mid-May to mid-October. However, the views are spectacular and the lack of huge crowds makes visiting the North Rim a more peaceful, if more spartan, experience of the canyon’s majesty.
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Lipan Point
One of the most spectacular viewpoints on the South Rim gives a panoramic eyeful of the canyon and makes a magnificent spot to watch the sunset. From here, you'll get an unobstructed view of Unkar Rapid just to the west. To the northeast, the sheer cliffs called the Palisades of the Desert define the southeastern wall of the Grand Canyon, beyond which the Echo and Vermilion Cliffs lie in the distance.
You can also catch glimpses of both 75-Mile Creek and Unkar Creek, which feed into either side of the Colorado; on the north bank, look for the gentle slopes of Unkar Delta at the sinuous kink in the river.
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