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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.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Grand Canyon Region.

  • See

    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.

  • See

    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.

  • See

    Grand Canyon National Park

    Forged by millions of years of erosion by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon captures the history, scale and beauty of the American West. Overlooks peer into deep gorges layered with the colors of time and geology, dusty trails meander through sagebrush and over coyote tracks, and pictographs etched into canyon walls hint at the lives of past cultures. Overlooks at the South Rim and rim-to-rim treks are the obvious highlights, but the backcountry is where the true adventure begins.

  • See

    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.

  • See

    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.

  • See

    Antelope Canyon

    Unearthly in its beauty, Antelope Canyon is possibly the most famous slot canyon in the world. Located on the Navajo Reservation, a few miles east of Page, it is open by tour only. Wind and water have carved sandstone into an astonishingly sensuous temple of nature where light and shadow play hide and seek. It's less than a city block long (about a quarter mile), a symphony of shapes and textures that are a photographer's dream.

  • See

    Historic Lees Ferry & Lonely Dell Ranch

    Lees Ferry was the site of the region's original ferry crossing, and of Charles Spencer’s 1910 effort to extract gold from the surrounding hills. Today it's the launching area for rafting trips down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. Nearby, Lonely Dell Ranch provided for families who worked at the crossing in the 1880s and ’90s. The log cabins and a pioneer cemetery remain, as well as an idyllic orchard where visitors are welcome to pick (and eat) the fruit.

  • See

    Marble Viewpoint

    A favorite of the many Kaibab National Forest overlooks, this viewpoint makes a hauntingly spectacular picnic or camping spot. From the bald 1-acre hilltop – covered with Indian paintbrush and hiding Coconino sandstone fossils – views extend over the eastern edge of the canyon to the paper-flat expanse beyond. This is not a quintessential Grand Canyon overlook that you'll see in postcards; you’re looking down to where the Colorado first cuts into the rocks at Lees Ferry.

  • See

    Pipe Spring National Monument

    A vital source of water for desert flora and fauna, the Ancestral Puebloan people, the Paiute Indians, and for the Mormons who followed them into this stark, stunning country, Pipe Springs is now a monument to pioneer history. Visitors can experience the Old West amid cabins and corrals, an orchard, ponds and a garden. There's a museum with regular guided tours throughout the day and, in summer, rangers and costumed volunteers reenact various pioneer tasks.

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