Most popular places in Grand Canyon:
Hoover Dam
Address:
36.016092,-114.738038
Priority:
Hoover Dam (originally known as Boulder Dam), which holds back the mighty Colorado River forming Lake Mead, is located on the Arizona - Nevada border on Highway 93.
There are several things to see before taking the escalators down to the Discovery Tour area. Walk along and see the winged angel monument, the intake towers (Lake Mead side), and cross the street to view the actual dam (Colorado River side).
When you're ready to take the tour, descend the escalators to the tour area. You'll have to go through a security screening, and only water is permitted for drinking once inside the tour facility.
Insider Tips
The entire tour, including your own personal sightseeing, should take you about 3 to 4 hours. Plan accordingly.
The best times to visit the Hoover Dam are weekdays between 9-11am. Traffic is low and the going is easy.
It is recommended to avoid the Hoover Dam on busy holidays and weekends. It can take up to 3 hours to cross the dam via car on days like these.
Hoover Dam is a major attraction. It is very much worth visiting but you may want to avoid the crowds. The slowest months for visitation are January and February. The least crowded time of day for tours is from 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. until 4:45 pm.
Remember that you are in the desert. It can get very hot at Hoover Dam (lots of concrete, remember?) Dress accordingly and bring water.
When you are at Hoover Dam be sure and take time to look at the Hoover Dam Bypass being constructed. The bridge over the Colorado River is viewable from the Dam and as you drive across. The immense Colorado Bridge is both amazing and very scary. It is 900 feet above the river! I am not sure I'll have the nerve to drive across something that high when construction is completed.
Prices:
Parking: 7$ (CASH ONLY)
Hours:
The Visitors Center is open at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m.
Center is open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas days. There is an $8.00 fee.
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Grand Canyon
The Canyon by Automobile
Well-maintained highways and scenic roadways make the automobile the preferred mode of Grand Canyon travel. To get to the South Rim, take Interstate 40 to Williams, AZ and then go north 60 miles on highway 64. From Flagstaff, take highway 180 northwest for 80 miles. The North Rim is located 44 miles south of Jacob Lake, AZ; take highway 67 to get there. Although the Canyon is only 10 miles rim to rim, the North Rim is 215 miles by highway (about 4 ½ hours) from the South Rim.
Photo Tips * There is no wrong time to photograph the Canyon. Severe weather often provides dramatic images of mist and clouds. Clouds will often enhance sunrise and sunset.
* Look for what makes each viewpoint unique. Try to include objects in the foreground such as squirrels, ravens or a gnarled tree.
* Follow the lines of the Canyon. Use the walkway leading down to Mather Point as a visual pathway into the photo. Don't just photograph from the edge of the lookout. Walk the Rim Trail for a few yards either side of the lookout. There are fewer people here, and you can get a sense of scale if you photograph the people on the lookout looking over the rim. A perfect example is Mather Point. Instead of walking down to the viewing area, walk 100 yards to the right (east) you will see the viewing area and the drop off to the Canyon below.
* Bring a circular polarizing filter for your camera. It will cut down on glare and reflected light in the Canyon extending the time you can count on good images in the Canyon.
* Place people to the left or right of the frame in your photos rather than in the middle. This is called the "rule of thirds" and will produce a more visually pleasing image.
* Before 11 a.m. and after 4 p.m. are generally the best times to take photographs of the Canyon. The sun is lower in the sky and the light from the sun will give more contrast to the side canyons and different rock layers.
* If you didn't bring a tripod, brace your camera on the ground, on a handbag or railing. A small bean bag works well and forms to any surface.
* Unless shooting in low light you probably won't need a tripod. The light is very bright at this altitude (7,000 feet above sea level) Arizona also boasts 330 days of sunshine a year.
* Don't tell people standing on the rim to back up! Falling in is easier than it looks.
* Have each member in the family take photos. Each family member will see something different in the Canyon. Record who took which photos as they are taken so there is no fight over the perfect photo when you get back home.
-- Jake Bacon, Arizona Daily Sun photo editorSunrise and SunsetWhere are the best views?
• While Hopi Point is unquestionably a desirable viewpoint for sunset, it attracts crowds of people and buses, especially in the summer.
• Yaki and Pima Points offer spectacular views of the canyon, are less congested, and may allow you to hear the sound of the Colorado River a mile below!
• Other points offering great east and west panoramas include Mohave, Navajo, and Desert View.
• Lipan Point, near Desert View, offers incredible views of the canyon with the San Francisco Peaks to the south, the distant Painted Desert, and extensive stretches of the river below.
• For a memorable sunrise, try Mather or Yaki Points.
October 5
6:27 a.m.
6:06 p.m.
October 12
6:33 a.m.
5:55 p.m.
October 19
6:39 a.m.
5:47 p.m.
October 26
6:46 a.m.
5:38 p.m.
November 2
6:53 a.m.
5:31 p.m.
November 9
7:00 a.m.
5:25 p.m.
November 16
7:07 a.m.
5:20 p.m.
November 23
7:14 a.m.
5:16 p.m.
November 30
7:20 a.m.
5:14 p.m.
Grand Canyon Skywalk
Address:
Latitude: 36.01222978468913
Longitude: -113.8118199669291
Priority:
Is a tourist attraction along the Colorado River on the edge of the Grand Canyon (Grand Canyon West) in the U.S. state of Arizona.
Commissioned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, it was unveiled March 20, 2007, and opened to the general public on March 28, 2007. It is accessed via the Grand Canyon West terminal or 120 miles (190 km) drive from Las Vegas (which includes an unpaved and bumpy 14 miles (23 km) stretch). A walk on the skywalk is available for a twenty five dollar admission fee, payable to the Hualapai Indian tribe at the Skywalk itself.
The horseshoe-shaped glass walkway, at a 1,200 meter (4,000 ft) height above the floor of the canyon exceeds those of the world's largest skyscrapers.
The Skywalk is not directly above the main canyon, Granite Gorge, which contains the Colorado River, but instead extends over a side canyon and affords a view into the main canyon. the elevation at the Skywalk's location as 1454 m (4,770 ft) and the elevation of the Colorado River in the base of the canyon as 354 m (1,161 ft).
Prices:
29.95$
Parking: 20$
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Mother Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.061724
Longitude: -112.107609
Priority:
The majority of visitors to the South Rim first gaze over the Grand Canyon at Mather Point; although other places have slightly better views, Mather is the number one choice as it is closest to the entrance station, and right beside the road. The point has quite a large car park but this soon fills up on busy summer days, when excess cars have to park along the main road. It is not uncommon for both sides to be lined with vehicles for a third of a mile or more and for small queues to form. RVs and other large vehicles are not permitted in the official car park so they too have to be left at roadside. The park headquarters on the south rim (the Canyon View Center, opened in 2001) is a short distance south of Mather Point, accessible only by shuttlebus or on foot. The center is intended to be the northern terminus of a mass transit system, transporting people from large carparks in the village of Tusayan, but this is many years away from completion.
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Yavapai Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.06665
Longitude: -112.118224
Priority:
Yavapai Point has excellent views but limited parking and officially, vehicles over 22 feet are not permitted. It is an easy walk west from Mather Point, and like Mather has a visitor center nearby - the Yavapai Observation Station, which sells books and displays information about the geology & history of the Grand Canyon. Yavapai provides perhaps the best panorama of the three points on this part of the south rim as it is the most northerly, and the closest to the Colorado River, allowing for unobstructed views up and down the gorge.
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Hopi Point
Address:Latitude: 36.076094
Longitude: -112.154614
Priority:
Stop number four along the west rim shuttlebus (the red route) is Hopi Point, the northernmost spot on this part of the south rim, and the first point where much more of the western Grand Canyon comes into full perspective - another 20 miles, since the Colorado begins a big bend northwards, allowing views all the way to Havasupai Point and the Great Scenic Divide. Hopi Point has a fenced viewing area next to the road, and a vista over the canyon centered on Dana Butte, a flat mesa 2,000 feet below the overlook. Salt Creek runs to one side, meeting the Colorado at a series of rapids, while Monument Creek is on the other side, joining the river at another set (Granite Rapids).
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Grandview Point
Address:Latitude: 35.996095
Longitude: -111.985997
Priority:
he southernmost point on Grand Canyon's south rim is Grandview, reached by a 1 mile side road, and looking out over a wide bend in the Colorado half way between Desert View and Grand Canyon Village. This is also the point furthest from the river and so with the largest area of intervening buttes and ravines; the Colorado is 4 miles distant, and the cliffs at the rim are generally less steep than at other, closer overlooks, allowing a relatively easy trail to descend into the canyon (Grandview), though this does not go all the way to the river as the granite cliffs of the inner gorge are too sheer.
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Yaki Point
Address:Latitude: 36.05335
Longitude: -112.08344
Priority:
Overlooks along Grand Canyon's East Rim Drive are much less visited than those to the west with the exception of Yaki Point, at the end of a 1.5 mile side road that starts 2 miles east of the US 180 road junction, near the national park entrance. Several years ago, the small parking area by the rim was deemed to small to cope with the increased volume of traffic, so entry to all private vehicles was stopped and now access is either on foot - by parking on the main road at a nearby picnic area - or by shuttlebus. Yaki is the easternmost stop on the Kaibab Trail Route that also serves Pipe Creek Vista and the Canyon View Information Plaza at Mather Point. The restriction also applies to the South Kaibab Trailhead, located half way along the side road.
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Moran Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.004800
Longitude: -111.924317
Priority:
Along with Desert View, Grandview and Yaki, Moran is one of the most visited points on the east rim drive, and offers far reaching views along a wide section of the Grand Canyon, approximately between river miles 87 and 72. The point is due south of Cape Royal on the North Rim - just 8 miles away in a straight line but 215 miles by road. The promontory is reached by a short spur road and was named after the landscape painter Thomas Moran who came here for the first time in 1873 and helped popularize the canyon, leading eventually to its incorporation as a national monument in 1908 (and a national park in 1919). To the west, Coronado Butte blocks some of the southern cliffs but there are still fine views downriver over a succession of red ridges and ravines, as far as Yaki Point where the Colorado bends back south. The eastern aspect is more restricted, by Zuni Point and ridges below.
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Pima Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.071927
Longitude: -112.200171
Priority:
Pima is the final point along the West Rim Drive, though the road continues 1.5 miles further, ending at Hermit's Rest which has a gift store, rest rooms and cafe, though here the views are rather limited - the canyon edge is quite densely wooded, and the overlook is at the end of a side canyon. But from Pima Point, at the northernmost corner of a wide promontory, there is nothing to block a vista of over 40 miles along the Grand Canyon, from Bright Angel Canyon in the east all the way west to Powell Plateau and the Great Scenic Divide.
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Desert View
Address:
Latitude: 36.042680
Longitude: -111.825886
Priority:
Four miles from the national park boundary, Desert View offers the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon for visitors arriving from the east, and presents a spectacle rather different to most overlooks as one third of the panorama is of the flat plains of the Painted Desert, on the east side of the Colorado as it bends round to the north. The park road cannot follow the rim any further east as the ground falls away steeply towards Cedar Canyon, a tributary of the Little Colorado River, so the many other viewpoints are all found to the west.
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Zuni Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.01554
Longitude: -111.91266
Priority:
Zuni is one of the few points along the south rim of the Grand Canyon that has no road, trail or signpost, though it is easy enough to reach, by walking through the open pine forest for half a mile, staying close to the canyon edge. Cars can be parked on the south side of the road between mileposts 257 and 258, near where the rim is just a few yards away through the trees but begins to curve northwards, away from the road. As well as trees the plateau is dotted with various species of cacti, all bearing beautiful flowers in summer.
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Papago Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.023041
Longitude: -111.885438
Priority:
The walk westwards from Pinal Point to Papago (also known as Hollenback) Point could either be along the cliff edge or (slightly shorter) cross-country through the woodland, passing by a small limestone summit at 7,367 feet then on to the far northwest corner of the plateau. Papago Point ends with 2 semi-detached rocks, gradually being eroded away from the main rim, and for the best views it is worth climbing to the furthest one. This requires first scrambling over a narrow neck below two steep ravines that drop away to north and south, then descending the cliffs at the far side, to the base of an isolated flat-topped pillar about 10 meters across, then finally scaling the left side to the summit.
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Yuma Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.07998
Longitude: -112.22906
Priority:
Although the paved West Rim Drive ends at Hermit's Rest, several forest tracks follow close to the rim for 20 miles further west, from where other viewpoints could be reached by cross-country hiking, though the road (which starts 1.5 miles south of Grand Canyon Village) is rough and all of this area is very remote. But the next two points west of Pima (Yuma and Cocopa) are reachable on a day hike starting from Hermit's Rest, so this first involves a ride on the shuttlebus, taking nearly an hour.
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Maricopa Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.071817
Longitude: -112.148517
Priority:
At Maricopa Point the canyon edge forms quite a narrow promontory, extending northeast for 100 feet before dropping away vertically, though it continues much lower down as a thin ridge between Horn Creek and the larger Garden Creek. This is the first point on the west rim shuttlebus tour (the Hermit's Rest Route), though the second stop, the first being Trailview Overlook. The views from Maricopa encompass over 180° of the Grand Canyon, with no significant obstructions between here and the river. Several miles of the Tonto Trail are visible, snaking around Horn Creek and Dana Butte, as are some parts of the Bright Angel Trail down Garden Creek, though most is hidden by the Battleship formation.
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Powell Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.073433
Longitude: -112.151083
Priority:
Powell Point is another narrow spur along the West Rim Drive, on which is built a granite memorial to John Wesley Powell, erected to commemorate his two groundbreaking explorations of the Colorado River in 1869 and 1872. The point is only a 10 minute walk through the pine woods from Maricopa, past Orphan Mine, so many people hike rather than wait for the next shuttlebus. The vista is similar to that from Maricopa except that more of the canyon to the west is visible, though some is still obscured by the next ridge (Hopi Point). The river is not in view since it flows deep within its inner granite gorge.
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Lipan Point
Address:
Latitude: 36.032700
Longitude: -111.853350
Priority:
Powell Lipan Point lies half a mile north of the main scenic drive, reached by a spur road that climbs 80 feet to the parking area, on top of a small summit that would have a 360° view were it not for the pine woodland on the east side. The starting point for the 8 mile Tanner Trail is located a short distance back from the parking area. The point looks down over Seventyfive Mile Creek and its tributaries, which run beneath a thin ridge connected to Escalante Butte and joins the Colorado between two of the over 100 sets of rapids on the river - Nevills and Hance (which are just visible to the west). Just downstream of Hance Rapids is the start of the inner canyon gorge, where the Colorado first cuts in to the prehistoric Vishnu Schist.
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