A vast gorge cut by the Colorado River through some two billion years of exposed rock, the Grand Canyon lays bare more of the planet’s geological history in one place than almost anywhere else on Earth. Its scale, colour and the river still working at its base make it a place people return to.
At a glance
The Grand Canyon lies within Grand Canyon National Park in Coconino County, Arizona. It runs roughly 446 kilometres from east to west, reaches widths of up to 29 kilometres, and drops as much as 1,600 metres from rim to river. The Colorado River is thought to have carved the canyon over some 5 to 6 million years, though geologists disagree on the exact timescale.
Key facts
- Location: Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino County, Arizona, United States.
- Dimensions: about 446 km long, up to 29 km wide, up to 1,600 m deep.
- Geology: around 40 distinct rock layers spanning roughly 2 billion years, from the Vishnu Basement Rocks near the river to the Kaibab Limestone at the rim.
- Formation: cut by the Colorado River over an estimated 5 to 6 million years, a timescale still debated among geologists.
- Indigenous presence: continuous human habitation for at least 4,000 years, including Ancestral Puebloan dwellings and the Havasupai community, who still live in the side canyon of Havasu.
- Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1979.
History
The first European recorded to have seen the canyon was the Spanish conquistador García López de Cárdenas, who reached the South Rim in 1540 guided by Hopi people but did not descend to the river.
The geologist John Wesley Powell led the first complete river traverse of the canyon by boat in 1869, a journey in which he lost three men. In 1882 the United States Geological Survey published Clarence Dutton’s monograph on the canyon, in which he named several of its buttes, including the Temple of Osiris, Brahma Temple and Vishnu Temple, after Hindu and Egyptian deities.
Theodore Roosevelt declared the area a National Park in 1908. The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
What you see
From Mather Point on the South Rim, at an elevation of about 2,194 metres, visitors look north into the inner canyon. The Colorado River, some 1,600 metres below, appears as a thin ribbon in the shadow of the Inner Gorge, the deepest and most remote part of the canyon.
The canyon walls show a sequence of coloured bands, each a different geological period. The pale Kaibab Limestone sits at the rim, above the buff Coconino Sandstone and the steep red cliff of the Redwall Limestone, which forms the main obstacle on descent trails. At river level lie the dark Vishnu Basement Rocks, among the oldest exposed rock anywhere in a US national park.
Isolated buttes rise from the canyon floor, several of them named by Clarence Dutton after Hindu and Egyptian temples because of their imposing, temple-like form. On the river itself, rafters pass through more than a hundred rapids, including Lava Falls, one of the most demanding stretches of commercial whitewater in the country.
Practical information
- South Rim: open year-round.
- North Rim: higher, quieter, and open only from May to October.
- Phantom Ranch: the only lodging at river level, reached on foot, by mule or by raft.
- Desert View Drive: a 26-mile scenic road along the South Rim.
- Havasu Canyon: visiting requires a permit from the Havasupai tribal council; check current access requirements through the park’s own channels before travelling.
Getting there
The Grand Canyon sits within Grand Canyon National Park in Coconino County, Arizona. The South Rim is accessible year-round, while the North Rim closes outside its May-to-October season. Access, opening seasons and road conditions change through the year and are best confirmed with the National Park Service before setting out.
Nearby
- Havasu Canyon — a side canyon reached by a long hike or helicopter from Supai village, home to Havasu, Mooney and Beaver Falls.
- Bright Angel Trail — the most used route into the canyon, passing Ancestral Puebloan ruins roughly 1.5 miles down.
- Phantom Ranch — on the canyon floor, the only lodging at river level.
- North Rim — higher and quieter than the South Rim, open only in season.
Sources
- United States Geological Survey
- Clarence Dutton, 1882 USGS Monograph
- Parker (2012)
- Flowers et al. (2008)
- Wikimedia Commons
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