Grand Canyon National Park - South Rim

Saturday, 24 May and Sunday, 25 May 2025

The Grand Canyon is so immense that it's difficult to take it in. While each viewing point has similar views, the canyon definitely changes in character along its length. We only "sampled" a small section of the canyon - from Canyon Village in the west to Desert View in the east.

Part of the Bright Angel Trail. Impressive switchbacks! We were in no shape to do any serious hiking in the canyon. This trail drops at least 600 feet each mile. And as you descend, the temperature rises.

The Isis Temple formation as seen from near Canyon Village.

The distant mountains on the horizon are over 60 miles away. The fact that they were clearly visible meant that the air quality was quite good.

Plateau Point Trail. There's a glimpse of the Colorado River in the center of the photo.

Bright Angel Canyon

From left, mid-distance: Shiva Temple, Isis Temple, Cheops Pyramid.

From Mather Point.

From Mather Point - Bright Angel Canyon is towards the right.

Phantom Ranch - at the bottom of the canyon.

View from Grandview Point.

From Moran Point - note the tilted red layers - part of one of the "unconformities" (where millions of years are missing from the geological strata).

From Moran Point - this time the tilted layers are at the top of the canyon wall.

We thought that the views from Lipan Point were the best. There were good views of the river, plus you can see to the flat lands beyond the canyon to the east.

From Lipan Point - the treacherous Hanse Rapids are near the center of the photo.

View from Lipan Point.

Geology

The "Trail of Time" along the South Rim Trail between Verkamp's Visitor Center and the Geology Museum displays rock samples along a physical time line. The rocks have one side polished to bring out the structure and beauty of the rocks. There are several dozen rocks in the time line, I present four of my favorites below.

The metamorphic Vishnu basement rocks show evidence of extensive folding. 1.4 to 1.8 billions years old.

Hautata Conglomerate - 1.2 billion years old.

Supergroup Stromatolite - about 740 million years old.

Banded Spring Deposits (sorry - I lack notes on this one).