Lonely Planet Grand Canyon National Park , livre ebook

Grand Canyon National Park

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon’s Top 20
Need to Know
If You Like...
Month by Month
Itineraries
Activities
Travel with Children
Travel with Pets

On The Road

SOUTH RIM
Day Hikes
Above the Rim
Below the Rim
Overnight Hikes
Below the Rim
Bicycling
Other Activities
Tours
Sights
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking
Entertainment
Shopping
AROUND SOUTH RIM
Kaibab National Forest (South Rim)
Tusayan
Williams
Flagstaff
Havasupai Reservation
Sedona
Cameron
Lake Mead & Hoover Dam
Las Vegas
NORTH RIM
Day Hikes
Overnight Hikes
Other Activities
Sights
Sleeping
Eating & Drinking
Shopping
AROUND NORTH RIM
Kaibab National Forest (North Rim)
Kanab
Southern Utah, Marble Canyon & Vermillion Cliffs
COLORADO RIVER
Planning
Rafting
Rafting Routes
Upper Section: Lees Ferry to Phantom Ranch
Middle Section: Phantom Ranch to Whitmore Wash
Lower Section: Whitmore Wash to South Cove

Understand

Grand Canyon Today
History
Grand Geology
Geologic Wonders
Wildlife of the Grand Canyon
Mammals of the Grand Canyon
Environmental Issues & Conservation
Native Americans of the Grand Canyon

Survival Guide

Clothing & Equipment
Clothing
Navigation
Equipment
Buying & Renting Locally
Directory A–Z
Accessible Travel
Accommodations
Discount Cards
Electricity
Etiquette
Food
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
Maps
Money
Opening Hours
Photography
Post
Public Holidays
Showers & Laundry
Toilets
Tourist Information
Volunteering
Work
Transportation
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Health & Safety
Before You Go
Health Insurance
Medical Checklist
Further Reading
In the Park
Availability & Cost of Health Care
Medical Services
Common Ailments
Environmental Hazards
Safe Hiking
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon embodies the scale and splendor of the American West, captured in dramatic vistas, dusty trails, and stories of exploration, exploitation and preservation.

Sublime Vistas
We’ve all seen images of the canyon in print and on-screen, but there is nothing like arriving at the edge and taking it all in – the immensity, the depth, the light. Descend into the canyon depths, amble along the rim or simply relax at an outcrop – you’ll find your own favorite Grand Canyon vista. Though views from both rims are equally stunning, the South Rim boasts many more official and dramatic overlooks. One of the most beautiful in its simplicity, however, is the view that whispers from the Grand Canyon Lodge’s patio on the canyon’s quieter north side.

Native American & Pioneer History
Ancestral Puebloans lived in and near the Grand Canyon for centuries, and its pioneer history is full of wild and eccentric characters who wrangled this intimidating expanse for profit and adventure. Their stories echo in the weathered trails they built; the iconic mule-train traditions that lured 19th-century tourists; and the stone and timber buildings constructed by the railroads. Ranger talks and South Rim museums explore the park’s native history, showcase indigenous dwellings and crafts, and tell inspiring tales of intrepid adventurers.

Hiking an Inverted Mountain
You don’t have to be a hard-core hiking enthusiast to taste the park’s inner-canyon splendor. Even a short dip below the rim gives a stunning appreciation for its magnificent scale and awesome silence; descend deeper for a closer look at a mind-boggling record of geologic time. The park’s raw desert climate and challenging terrain demand a slower, quieter pace, and that’s just perfect, because it’s exactly that pace that is best for experiencing the Grand Canyon in all its multisensory glory.

Two Billion Years of Rocks
One look at the reds, rusts and oranges of the canyon walls and the park’s spires and buttes, and you can’t help but wonder about the hows and whys of the canyon’s formation. Luckily for laypeople with rock-related questions, the South Rim has answers, primarily at Yavapai Point and Geology Museum and the Trail of Time installation, and both rims offer geology talks and walks given by the park’s knowledgeable rangers. For a more DIY experience, hike into the canyon with a careful eye for fossilized marine creatures, animal tracks and ferns.

Toroweap Point | WWW.FISCHERFOTOGRAFIE.NL/GETTY IMAGES ©

Why I Love the Grand Canyon
By Jennifer Rasin Denniston, Writer
I came to Grand Canyon for the first time with my toddler and newborn in tow. Frazzled and exhausted, and always the skeptical traveler, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. But seconds after walking onto the veranda of the North Rim lodge, I understood. My canyon isn’t about the view alone, which I knew from postcards and books, photographs and oil paintings. Its power lies in the grounding silence and dusty quiet, the smells of ponderosa and desert, the clarity that comes from feeling so very small. We return year after year.
For more, see Our Writers
Grand Canyon’s Top 20

South Rim Overlooks
The canyon doesn’t have a photographic bad side, but it has to be said that the views from the South Rim are stunners. Each has its individual beauty, with some unique angle that sets it apart from the rest – a dizzyingly sheer drop, a view of river rapids or a felicitous arrangement of jagged temples and buttes. Sunrises and sunsets are particularly sublime, with the changing light creating depth and painting the features in unbelievably rich hues of vermilion and purple.

Sunrise over Yavapai Point | MATTEO COLOMBO/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Hiking Rim to Rim
There’s no better way to fully appreciate the grand of Grand Canyon than hiking through it, rim to rim. The classic corridor route descends the North Rim on the North Kaibab , includes a night at Phantom Ranch or Bright Angel Campground at the bottom of the canyon, crosses the Colorado River and ascends to the South Rim on Bright Angel trail. A popular alternative rim-to-rim route is to descend from the South Rim on the South Kaibab trail (pictured below) and ascend via the North Kaibab trail.

PATRICK J. ENDRES/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Havasu Canyon
The people of the blue-green waters, as the Havasupai call themselves, take their name from the otherworldly turquoise-colored waterfalls and creek that run through the canyon. Due to limestone deposits on the creekbed, the water appears sky blue, a gorgeous contrast to the deep red of the canyon walls. The only ways into and out of Havasu Canyon are by foot, horse or helicopter, but those that make the 10-mile trek are richly rewarded by the magic of this place, epitomized by spectacular Havasu Falls.

FRANCESCO RICCARDO IACOMINO/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Grand Canyon Lodge
Perched at 8000ft on the canyon rim, this granddaddy of national-park lodges promises a high-country retreat like nothing else in the Grand Canyon. Completed in 1928, the original structure burned to the ground in 1932. It was rebuilt in 1937, and in the early days staff greeted guests with a welcome song and sang farewell as they left. Today, you’ll find that same sense of intimate camaraderie, and it’s easy to while away the days at a North Rim pace.

CULTURA RM EXCLUSIVE/WHIT RICHARDS/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Widforss Trail
This gentle North Rim hike rises and dips along the plateau, veering toward a side canyon and meandering 5 miles to Widforss Point. It’s a mild, gentle amble, with canyon views whispering rather than screaming from the edges, plenty of shade and room for children to run among wildflowers. A picnic table at the end makes a lovely lunch spot, and at the overlook you can sit on a stone jutting over the Grand Canyon, dangling your feet above the rocky outcrop just below, listening to the silence.

IMAGE SOURCE RF/©WHIT RICHARDSON/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Phantom Ranch
After descending to the canyon bottom, it’s a delight to ramble along a flat trail, past a mule corral and a few scattered cabins to Phantom Ranch , where you can relax with a lemonade and splash in the cool waters of Bright Angel Creek. This lovely stone lodge, designed by Mary Colter and built in 1922, continues to be the only developed facility in the inner canyon. Mule trips from the South Rim include one or two nights here, and hikers can enter the lottery for accommodations 15 months in advance.

EDDIE BRADY/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Hermit Trail
The name seems apropos, even today, as you are unlikely to encounter many hikers and backpackers on the Hermit Trail . Though easily accessible from South Rim shuttles and tourist hub, it feels marvelously remote. Day hikers connect with the Dripping Springs Trail to reach a little oasis where water seeps down from a small overhang festooned with maidenhair fern. Take a moment to imagine the quiet life of Louis ‘The Hermit’ Boucher, the prospector who made this spot his home for many years.

JOHN ELK/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Kolb Studio
Perched on the South Rim at the top of Bright Angel Trail, tiny Kolb Studio was built as a home and photography studio in 1905 by Ellsworth and Emery Kolb. For years the intrepid Kolb Brothers ran a successful photography business at the canyon, originally developing their film using cow pond water and building a primitive darkroom 4.5 miles below the rim at Indian Garden. Ellsworth moved to Los Angeles in 1924, but Emery remained here until his death in 1976. Today, changing exhibits include artifacts, photos and film from the life and work of the brothers, and Grand Canyon–inspired art.

CAROL POLICH PHOTO WORKSHOPS/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Rafting the Colorado River
Considered the trip of a lifetime by many river enthusiasts, rafting the Colorado is a wild ride down a storied river, through