Attractions
In a national park with dozens of attractions and points of interest, you may have trouble deciding where to spend your time. Here are the highlights for this destination, as chosen by AAA editors. GEMs are “Great Experiences for Members.”
Most attractions and facilities are located in the
Grand Canyon National Park - South Rim, including the Grand Canyon Greenway,
Lipan Point and
Rim Trail. (For more information, see Recreation.) Brochures and knowledgeable employees are available at two visitor information outlets. Near Mather Point by the entrance station,
Canyon View Information Plaza is accessed via free Grand Canyon Village shuttles year-round. Indoor and outdoor exhibits provide insight into the canyon, observed at an altitude of 6,950 feet.
The staff at
National Geographic Visitor Center Grand Canyon recommends time-saving tips using promotional literature and personal experience. Just a half mile north of Grand Canyon Airport, the center features an accurate model of the Grand Canyon, children's activities and historic exhibits. Its popular, 34-minute IMAX movie bares the sprawling gorge's untapped treasures, also tracing more than 10,000 years of human exploration in the region.
Jutting off the Grand Canyon's ridge, the Kolb Studio structure is just as remarkable as the artwork displayed inside. Built before the territory's national park designation, it served as home and workplace to the first men to film a Colorado River expedition. Evolving from simple photography darkroom to five-story cultural center, the studio accommodates a bookstore, an interpretive center and art gallery, with continuing restoration projects enhancing its historic appeal.
The Hopi's ancestors inhabited the village found at
Tusayan Ruin and Museum, often facing such setbacks as poor soil, scarce rainfall and drinking water shortages. Though described as Anasazi (more recently named Ancestral Puebloans), these early Pueblo farmers never referred to themselves by the Navajo term meaning “ancient enemy.” Models, pottery and modern tribe exhibits introduce visitors to Native American culture at the AAA GEM attraction, while a paved trail leads to a U-shaped pueblo.
Weathered stones and salvaged logs make up the
Watchtower, built around a steel frame in 1932 to mimic prehistoric towers. From the highest South Rim viewpoint of 7,522 feet, visitors glimpse powerful vistas of surrounding piñon and juniper woodlands as well as the winding Colorado River. A snake altar greets visitors on the first floor, while murals and replicated pictographs appear throughout the four-story edifice.
European contact with the Havasupai people came in 1776, when a Spanish priest arrived in
Havasu Canyon. Today, visitors to
Supai still encounter some of the tribe's approximately 650 members at the village café, general store and lodge. Hikes through the AAA GEM attraction's red valley reveal such flora as cattails, willows and box elders. At limestone-swathed Havasu Creek, an underground river emerges at a rate of about 28,000 gallons per minute.
With virtually no shade, the 7-mile
South Kaibab Trail is a steep, taxing journey lasting about 4-6 hours one-way. However, the well-maintained scenic path descends more than 4,500 feet, offering peeks at multiple sedimentary rock layers, including Kaibab limestone, Coconino sandstone and Hermit shale. Interpretive signs, fossil exhibits, campgrounds and facilities are found along the way.
Grand Canyon Railway once supplied all water to the Grand Canyon, also transporting tourists lured by President Theodore Roosevelt's adulation of the yawning formation. The national treasure is still accessible via a 130-mile trip aboard restored steam engines and vintage diesel trains, with gun-slinging lawmen and masked desperadoes resurrecting the Wild West during scheduled shows. In 1989, 88 years after the first passenger train departed
Williams, the AAA GEM attraction resumed service following more than 2 decades of closure.
Passing through cottonwood trees and such landforms as Tonto Platform,
Bright Angel Trail starts just west of Bright Angel Lodge, descending 3,770 feet to Plateau Point and 4,460 feet to the Colorado River. Overnight stays in the vicinity are available at Indian Garden and Bright Angel campgrounds. Diverse wildlife populates the steep, well-defined trail traversed by both the Havasupai and 19th-century prospectors. (For more information, see Recreation.)
The 9-mile trail also leads to one of architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter's many regional works,
Phantom Ranch. Separate dormitories for men and women, rustic cabins and a canteen are reached only by foot, mule or raft. Completed in 1922, the ranch remains highly popular, with several months advance reservations necessary.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton designated
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, more than 1 million primitive acres north of Grand Canyon National Park. Spanning four ecological regions, the monument contains Dellenbaugh and Hurricane faults; Whitmore Canyon and Shivwits Plateau; and exposed purple, pink and white shale at Hells Hole. Kaibab squirrels, desert tortoises and wild turkeys roam the volcanically shaped land that humans have inhabited for more than 11,000 years.
Less developed than its southern counterpart, the
Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim is on average 1,000 feet higher than the south, making temperatures about 5-10 degrees cooler. Winter snow closes entrance roads, but cross-country skiers can still access its secluded pine forests and dramatic plateau perches (for more information, see Recreation). Soaring 8,803 feet into cloud-streaked skies, the park's highest viewpoint, Point Imperial, presents views of the
Painted Desert and the Navajo Indian Reservation upland.
With portions of its 1,556,432 acres bordering both the North and South rims,
Kaibab National Forest is part of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the United States. Black bear, Abert squirrels and porcupines meander through Engelmann and blue spruce woodlands. Birdwatchers benefit from the forest's natural landscapes, with nuthatches, bluebirds and Steller's jays commonplace.
The remote
Tuweep Area (also known as Toroweap) rewards visitors who undertake the challenging journey to marvel at its impressive geologic attributes. Sitting on the flat Esplanade shelf at an elevation of 4,600 feet, about halfway between the canyon bottom and the coniferous North Rim forests, Tuweep boasts dramatic views of the inner gorge and the volcanic aftereffects of the Toroweap Fault. Widespread lava flows define this undeveloped region, as do such life forms as black cryptobiotic soil and slickrock water organisms.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area contains a well-preserved Pueblo abode and numerous petroglyphs; Hole-in-the-Rock trail, the perilous path Mormon pioneers undertook in 1879; and the Lees Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch Historic District. Recreational activities abound, with canoes and larger vessels negotiating Lake Powell. The area also is a popular starting point for raft trips down the Colorado River. At the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center, visitors 467 feet above the waterway cross a 616-foot-long pedestrian bridge for views of North Rim's
Marble Canyon. (For more information, see Recreation.)
See all the AAA recommended
attractions for this destination.
= Requires AAA Membership for access.