Grand Canyon National Park

A powerful and inspiring landscape, the Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its sheer size and scope. It is 277 river miles (446km) long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile (1.6km) deep.




The need to both protect the Grand Canyon and facilitate tourist visits to it became clear long before the turn of the last century. Since 1919, the Grand Canyon National Park has done just that. Its 1,904 square miles encompass both the North and South Rims of the canyon. The South Rim, the location of the Grand Canyon Village, is 60 miles north of Williams, AZ and 90 miles northwest of Flagstaff. The Village and nearby Market Plaza are where you’ll find the concentration of Park services, including lodging, campgrounds, stores, restaurants, emergency services, information centers and other useful amenities. The vast majority of the Park’s five million annual visitors experience the Grand Canyon in this portion of the Park, and are accommodated by a free shuttle service that travels along to the major trailheads, lookout points, lodging, dining and retail areas.

While on average, the distance from the North Rim to the South Rim as the condor flies is only ten miles, it takes about five hours to drive the long, wiggly way around from one to the other. Because the North Rim is at a significantly higher elevation, Park services and facilities are closed from October to May, and access to the Park may be closed off entirely, depending on weather conditions

Of the Park’s 588 miles of trails, two of the most popular day hike routes are within easy reach of the Park’s main hub: Bright Angel Trail creeps down the steep canyon walls directly beneath Bright Angel Lodge. South Kaibab Trail can be reached by shuttle bus and offers spectacular views to those willing to do some steep climbing. The less strenuous option is the partially-paved Rim Trail, which stretches from the Village area several miles along the Rim to Hermit’s Rest.

Hikers who wish to venture further into the Canyon for overnight camping need a backcountry permit. 11,000 of these are granted each year, about a third of the number of applications received. Hikers can apply for a permit three months in advance of their trip date, or try their luck at the crack of dawn each day at the Backcountry Information Center, when a few may become available due to cancellations and such.

While there’s more outdoors than anyone can begin to comprehend, there’s plenty of cool stuff indoors, too. The Kolb Studio is perched on the canyon rim at the Bright Angel trailhead, and has an intriguing bookstore on local topics as well as unique gallery art exhibits. The Tusayan Museum at Desert View has artifacts from the 12,000 years of human history in the Grand Canyon, and the Grand Canyon Museum Collection has over 800,000 objects from all areas of study including history, biology, geology and paleontology. Interpretive facilities like the Yavapai Observation Station allow visitors to put fabulous canyon views into context and gain an in-depth understanding of the Grand Canyon’s many stories.