Planning Your Trip

- Orientation
- When to Go
- Statistics
- Getting There
- How to Visit
- Activities
- Park Information
- Lodging
- Related Links

Grand Canyon and South

This Drive Comes From...

National Geographic Driving Guide: Southwest

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This drive begins at Flagstaff, which retains the feel of early-century lumbering prosperity. Above probes the universe, while the Museum of Northern Arizona below examines Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni culture. But nothing in canyon country, not even Arizona’s highest peaks, rivals the magnificence of the Grand Canyon—so large, deep, and intricate that poets fall silent and painters put away their brushes. Here and at Wupatki National Monument archaeologists study ruins left by prehistoric people who farmed and hunted this arid region. Indians still sell their crafts at the venerable Cameron Trading Post, drawing on traditions older even than 900-year-old Sunset Crater Volcano’s starkly beautiful cinder cone. CONTINUED

- Flagstaff
- Williams
- Grand Canyon South Rim Visitor Center
- Desert View
- Cameron
- Wupatki National Monument
- Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

(Continued From Top)

Flagstaff
A prosperous timber industry helped build Flagstaff (Visitor Center +1 520 774 9541 or 800 842 7293), including much of the elegant interiors of the downtown historic district. Local timber barons Michael and Timothy Riordan built their 40-room log-and-stone American craftsman-style mansion here in 1904, now part of Riordan State Historic Park (1300 Riordan Ranch St. +1 520 779 4395. Fee for tour). Guided tours explore the interior, a mix of volcanic stone arches, stained-glass windows, stripped logs, and handcrafted furnishings.
In 1930 stargazing at century-old Lowell Observatory (1400 W. Mars Hill Rd. +1 520 774 2096. Tours; Adm. fee) led to Pluto’s discovery. Today astronomers use the nine-telescope complex to study comets, asteroids, and planets.
From downtown, take US 180 north to the Arizona Historical Society’s Pioneer Museum (2340 N. Fort Valley Rd. +1 520 774 6272. Mon.-Sat.; Donations). Located inside the 1908 volcanic stone building that was once the county’s hospital for the poor, the museum’s lighthearted displays of antique toys and cowboy gear contrast with the dreary old-time hospital room preserved here. Nearby is the Coconino Center for the Arts (2300 N. Fort Valley Rd. +1 520 779 6921. Apr.-Sept. Tues.-Sun., Oct.-March Tues.-Sat.), the area’s premier showcase for Native American artists. Cowboy-style decorative arts take center stage from early May through mid-June at the Trappings of the American West show.
Continue a mile [1.6 kilometers] northwest to the Museum of Northern Arizona (3101 N. Fort Valley Rd. +1 520 774 5211. Adm. fee), dedicated to the Colorado Plateau’s natural and human history. Exhibits in the rough stone building detail regional anthropology, biology, geology, and art. Outside, a half-mile [0.8-kilometer] trail drops into a canyon where wildflowers grow.

Williams

Miner statue, Williams

Photograph © Danny Lehman

Instead of taking I-40 west, consider driving Old Route 66 for a while. Decrepit roadside businesses and old signs along this section of the legendary highway are poignant relics of a younger, much different America. In 1984, I-40 bypassed the town of Williams (Visitor Center +1 520 635 4061), replacing the last working stretch of Route 66.
From 1901 to 1968 a spur railroad carried visitors from Williams to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon Railway (+1 520 773 1976 or 800 THE TRAIN. Fare), fired up again in 1989, offers refurbished 1923 Harriman Coaches for the five-hour round-trip. Trains leave from the 1908 Williams Depot (233 N. Grand Canyon Blvd. +1 520 635 4235), which houses a small museum filled with railroad memorabilia.

Grand Canyon South Rim Visitor Center
Nothing prepares you for the Grand Canyon (+1 520 638 7888. Adm. fee. Write ahead for the Park Service’s Trip Planner, c/o Grand Canyon National Park, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, Ariz. 86023), considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The 277-mile-long [446-kilometer-long] gorge yawns 18 miles [29 kilometers] wide in places and plunges a mile [1.6 kilometers] to the silt-laden Colorado, where rock walls exposed by six million years of erosion are 1.7 billion years old. The Grand Canyon South Rim Visitor Center (Village Loop Dr. +1 520 638 7888) in Grand Canyon Village features interpretive exhibits on the gorge’s history and geology.
About five million people visit Grand Canyon National Park every year. From April through September, when traffic is heaviest, the National Park Service closes 8-mile-long [12.9-kilometer-long] West Rim Drive to private vehicles and ferries sightseers on free shuttle buses, with stops throughout the village. If you visit when West Rim Drive is open, expect to spend up to half a day enjoying its vistas. You can access viewpoints from either direction, so if one is congested, try again on your return trip.
Start at Yavapai Point, about a mile [1.6 kilometers] east of the Visitor Center. The panorama of slope-shouldered buttes and spires is the epitome of a Grand Canyon postcard view. Exhibits at the Yavapai Observation Station reveal how the canyon came to be and identify landmarks visible from the big-windowed observation room.
El Tovar Hotel (Reservations +1 303 297 2757), prince of Grand Canyon lodges, perches 50 feet [15.2 meters] from the South Rim precipice. Built of Oregon pine and native stone in the style of a European hunting lodge, it features varnished log interiors and striking Southwestern decorations. Hospitality baron Fred Harvey opened the masterpiece in 1905 as part of his travel-promotin g association with the Santa Fe Railroad. Hopi House, at the canyon’s edge, is another Harvey creation, built in 1905 as a Southwest tribal handicraft outlet. The gift store, one of the best hereabouts, emulates Hopi pueblo architecture.
One mile [1.6 kilometers] east, the view from Trailview Overlook provides a measure of the canyon’s astounding dimensions. The popular but arduous 7.8-mile [12.6-kilometer] Bright Angel Trail winds away below, dropping over 4,000 feet [1,220 meters] to the Colorado. A half-mile [0.8-kilometer] east, the Powell Memorial commemorates the first white man to shoot the canyon’s rapids. Civil War hero John Wesley Powell is remembered for his wonder-filled diaries recounting the 1869 expedition down the Colorado in stout wooden boats.

Isis Temple as seen from Hopi Point along West Rim of Grand Canyon National Park

Photograph © Larry Ulrich

Nearby Hopi Point juts out into a 90-mile [144.8-kilometer] east-west panorama that includes the intricately eroded buttes of Isis Temple and Shiva Temple. This is a popular spot for watching sunsets. Westbound again, you’ll soon come to The Abyss, a 3,000-foot [914.4-meter] drop to the Tonto Platform. There’s a wide perspective on the Tonto benchlands from Pima Point, 2.9 miles [4.7 kilometers] west. The Colorado’s roar through Granite Rapids is audible on quiet days.
West Rim Drive ends at rustic Hermits Rest, where a refreshment stand and rest rooms make this a good spot for a break. Six-mile-long [9.7-kilometer-long] Hermit Trail leaves from here for Dripping Springs. Walk a short way down the path to experience the canyon’s extraordinary solitude.
When you’re ready to leave the park, backtrack to the junction of Arizona 64 and US 180. En route, stop at Mather Point for a dramatic perspective on the canyon’s Inner Gorge. Turn left onto Arizona 64, the start of East Rim Drive, where the drop-off into gray Granite Gorge at Yaki Point can induce vertigo. Stop the spinning by focusing on Vishnu Temple, a massive pyramidal butte rising 7,829 feet [2,386.3 meters] on the eastern horizon.
The view of the main canyon from Grandview Point 7 miles [11.2 kilometers] east is a postcard regular. Five miles [8 kilometers] farther, one of the Colorado’s most fearsome rapids thunders far below Moran Point. White-water guides rate the 30-foot [9-meter] drop through Hance Rapids as difficult—meaning dangerous. Stop by the Tusayan Museum (+1 520 638 2305) down the road for a look at the 800-year-old Tusayan Ruin. About 30 people, perhaps Anasazi, spent two decades farming and hunting here at the end of the 12th century. A self-guiding trail loops through the site.
Lipan Point affords t he best view of the canyon’s eastern reach. The Grand Canyon is at its deepest here, about a mile [1.6 kilometers], and all of its different rock strata are visible. The Colorado snakes around to its confluence with Unkar Creek at Unkar Delta, once farmed by prehistoric canyon dwellers and now home to 56 archaeological sites.

Desert View
In 1932 the Santa Fe Railroad and Fred Harvey built a 70-foot-high [21.3-meter-high] stone watchtower at Desert View (Fee to climb tower) emulating Indian towers found in the Southwest. On clear days the view from its glass-enclosed top reaches east to the Painted Desert and north to the Vermilion Cliffs near the Utah state line. Inside, noted Hopi artist Fred Kabotie painted murals depicting Hopi legends.

Cameron
Continue east on Arizona 64 toward Cameron and Little Colorado River Gorge Navajo Tribal Park (+1 520 679 2303), where the river has cut an unusually narrow gorge through Paleozoic rock at least 250 million years old. Side roads lead to the edge, but the drop-offs are abrupt and dangerous. Watch for signs to safer overlooks and the Visitor Center. At the junction with US 89, detour north to Cameron and the Cameron Trading Post (+1 520 679 2231 or 800 338 7385), which rang up its first sale in 1916. One of the last of the early-century trading posts, it is still one of the best places in Arizona to shop for Navajo rugs and Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni pottery, jewelry, and baskets.

Wupatki National Monument
Keep driving south on US 89, watching for signs to Wupatki National Monument (+1 520 679 2365. Adm. fee), several miles east on the Wupatki-Sunset Loop Road. Over 2,600 separate archaeological sites here date from A.D. 1100 to 1300, suggesting that Wupatki (Hopi for “tall house”) was a significant Anasazi and Sinagua community. Most sites are reserved for archaeological study. Wupatki’s centerpiece is a thick-walled pueblo that once rose three stories and enclosed about 100 rooms.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Photograph © Danny Lehman

From Wupatki you can either backtrack to US 89 and go south for 15 miles [24.1 kilometers], picking up the other end of the Wupatki-Sunset Loop Road, or simply stay on it for about 20 miles [32.2 kilometers]. Both ways lead to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument (Wupatki-Sunset Loop Rd. 2 miles [3.2 kilometers] E of US 89. +1 520 526 0502. Adm. fee). Tree-ring dating indicates the volcano forming the 1,000-foot-high [304.8-meter-high] cinder cone here erupted about 900 years ago, scattering cinders and ash over an 800-square-mile [2,072-square-kilometer] area during its three centuries of activity. A final blast collared the volcano with red, yellow, and black residues of iron and sulfur, suggesting its name. From this starkly beautiful landscape of dark red cinders, Flagstaff is only 16 miles [25.8 kilometers] south.