Mark Read
Grand Canyon Region
No matter how much you read about the Grand Canyon or how many photographs you've seen, nothing really prepares you for the sight of it. One of the world's seven natural wonders, it's so startlingly familiar and iconic you can't take your eyes off it. The canyon's immensity, the sheer intensity of light and shadow at sunrise or sunset, even its very age, scream for superlatives.
At about two billion years old – half of earth's total life span – the layer of Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the canyon is some of the oldest exposed rock on the planet. And the means by which it was exposed is, of course, the living, mighty Colorado River, which continues to carve its way 277 miles through the canyon as it has for the past six million years.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Grand Canyon Region.
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Cape Royal
Strategically located on the southernmost tip of the North Rim high above the great westward turn of the Colorado River, Cape Royal takes in almost every major part of the Grand Canyon with thousand-mile views. Imposing Wotan's Throne fills the foreground to the southwest, while solitary Vishnu Temple to the south evokes a sacred shrine from a distant land. Tiny Desert View Watchtower can be seen to the southwest. Another viewpoint back a few hundred feet and to the west provides an exhilarating guardrail-free experience not suitable for those with vertigo.
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Grand Canyon National Park North Rim
Grand Canyon's remote, wild and forgotten North Rim is far less developed, and sees far fewer visitors that its southern counterpart. In part this is due to seasonal closure: at these altitudes (8000ft) the winter snows shut things down between October 15 and May 15. The road from Jacob Lake stays open longer, for day use and car camping – usually until the end of November.
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Kolb Studio
In 1905 Ellsworth and Emery Kolb built a small photography studio on the edge of the rim, which has since been expanded and now holds a bookstore and a museum. An original Kolb brothers 1911 silent film runs continuously, and shows incredible footage of their early explorations of the Colorado River, and the museum displays mementos and photographs from their careers. In January and February, the NPS offers tours of their original Craftsman home, in a lower level of the studio. The brothers arrived at the canyon from Pennsylvania in 1902 and made a living photographing parties descending the Bright Angel Trail. Because there was not enough water on the rim to process the film, they had to run 4.5 miles down the trail to a spring at Indian Garden, develop the film and race back up in order to have the pictures ready when the party returned. By 1924 the Kolbs' dynamic and conflicting personalities challenged their business relationship, and they flipped a coin to decide who got to stay to run the photography business at Grand Canyon. Ellsworth lost and headed to California, and Emery remained until his death in 1976, at the age of 95.
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Desert View Watchtower
The marvelously worn winding staircase of Mary Colter's 70ft stone tower, built in 1932, leads to one of the highest spots on the rim. From here, slats in the tower wall offer unparalleled views of not only the canyon and a long swath of the Colorado River, but also the San Francisco Peaks, the Navajo Reservation and the Painted Desert. Hopi artist Fred Kabotie's murals depicting Hopi origin stories grace the interior walls of the 1st floor. On the way up look for an unmarked door on the left; you can wander outside onto a rooftop patio here – a nice spot to relax with a sandwich. Outside the watchtower, a bronze plaque marks the spot as a National Historic Landmark. Just below the rim is the site of the 1956 TWA plane crash that killed 128 people and marked the beginning of modern regulations in air safety. To find a quiet view away from the crowds, take the furthest left paved path from the parking lot to the tower and wander off among the desert scrub. There's a small market and snack bar next door, as well as toilets and a year-round gas station.
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Grand Canyon Lodge
Enter the front door of the lodge and see...the Grand Canyon, somehow looking even larger framed by the massive windows of the sunroom. Built in 1937 out of Kaibab limestone, the lodge features spacious rimside dining rooms and porches lined with Adirondack chairs. A National Historic Landmark and an architectural delight, the lodge's natural materials blend unobtrusively into the landscape – especially since it was rebuilt further back from the rim after the original burned down in the 1930s. Guests can stay in the cabins that spread across the plateau near the main lodge building.
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Shoshone Point
Walk about 1 mile along the mostly level and shaded dirt road to marvelously uncrowded Shoshone Point, a rocky promontory with some of the canyon’s best views. Just before reaching the canyon rim, there's a grassy area with picnic tables and grills (advanced permit from NPS required). If you come for sunset, bring a flashlight for the walk back to your car. This viewpoint is unmarked; look for the small dirt parking lot about 1.2 miles east of Yaki Point.
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Toroweap Overlook
While not the biggest, or highest, this is perhaps the most dramatic viewpoint in the canyon: you're literally on the edge of a 3000ft drop.
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Trail of Time
This outdoor interpretative display traces the history of the canyon's formation – each meter equals one million years of geologic history, for a total of about 2.1 billion years in just over a mile. Begin with the canyon's oldest rocks and walk forward in time from Verkamp's east to the Yavapai Geology Museum, or do the reverse. Rock samples from within the canyon line the trail, and specially positioned metal cylinders allow you to view these rocks on the far canyon wall.
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Hermits Rest
Commissioned by the Fred Harvey Company and designed by Mary Colter in 1913, this low-flung stone building is the South Rim's westernmost scenic overlook (note that the overlook remains open when the building closes). It houses a small gift shop and a walk-up window, with sandwiches, ice cream and snacks, and there are restrooms. In the back, past the bustle of visitors, you'll find a lovely picnic area in the desert scrub, quiet views and the Hermit Trailhead. Hermits Rest is named after Louis Boucher (aka ‘the Hermit’), who came to the canyon from Canada in 1889 with hopes of finding his fortune as a prospector. Boucher lived at Dripping Springs, several miles below the rim, for 20 years, and offered tourists guided trips to his home and orchards there. He never did strike it rich, and eventually sold the upper portions of his trail to the Santa Fe Railroad and Fred Harvey Company, and moved to Utah. In 1913 the railway also completed the 8.5-mile trail from the rim down to Hermit Camp. A predecessor to Phantom Ranch 10 years later, Hermit Camp, which closed in 1930, offered intrepid travelers tent cabins, restrooms, showers and meals. Colter’s beautiful stone-and-wood shelter offered tourists a place to freshen up before descending by mule into the canyon or after the arduous journey back to the rim.
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