Attractions at South Rim Grand Canyon

The majority of the Grand Canyon's four million visitors drive along park roads on the canyon's South Rim, stopping at scenic viewing points, such as Desert View, Mather Point and Grandview Point, marveling at formations such as the Vishnu Temple.
Nearly as striking as the Canyon's size and shape are the exquisitely varied colors--from pale pinks and creams, to purples, crimsons, sandy yellows and blacks. The sunlight changes their tone and hue, creating the most spectacular display at sunrise and sunset.

Those with more time for viewing take the shuttle towards the west on the Hermits Rest Route, stopping at overlooks such as Pima Point. Fewer take the five-hour, 215-mile drive to the more remote North Rim on the opposite side of the canyon, which in the winter months is closed because of snow.

Peering across a ledge into the canyon's abyss-like depths or seeing it from a distance are not the only ways to experience the Grand Canyon. There are trails to hike, mules or horses to ride, rapids to conquer, and the vastness of the canyon to comprehend in helicopters and small planes.

Some people even live at the Grand Canyon! But available time and weather can be a limiting factor. This is where the Grand Canyon Movie at the IMAX theater (in the National Geographic Visitor Center, one mile south of the South Rim entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park) can help fill in the blanks. The seven-story, giant-screen presentation puts viewers right inside the canyon walls, sometimes only feet above the foaming waters of the Colorado River--a view no longer available on any commercial air tour because of FAA regulations. With its dramatic close-ups and almost dizzying twists and turns, the movie introduces the canyon from nearly every vantage point and showcases its history through dramatic reenactments.

For visitors who don't have time to explore the Grand Canyon, this puts the enormity, beauty, history and majesty of the canyon in perspective--all in 35 minutes. Right outside the theater are replicas of the wooden boats used by Civil War Major John Wesley Powell, the first explorer to navigate the Colorado River in 1869. Today, large, inflatable river rafts (motorized or oar-powered) follow the route, providing an unforgettable adventure for people of all ages.

River-Rafting Adventures Some people choose river-rafting trips along the calmer portions of the Colorado River. Others prefer to bronco ride the more challenging of the canyon's 60 rapids, and a few commit themselves to the entire 277-mile span, becoming so at one with the canyon that after 17 days they feel their lives have been altered and the canyon has become a part of them.

For all the Colorado River adventures, experienced guides are at the helm, mindful of each rapid's pattern and dangers and skillfully maneuvering the boats for the safest ride possible. On these trips, there are astonishing side hikes to otherwise inaccessible canyons, surprise waterfalls, unanticipated flowering gardens, and memorable camping experiences where one sleeps on the ground or on a ledge and bathes in the river without a care in the world. While adventurers pitch their tents, the guides set up camp and meals.

By air, the Grand Canyon unfolds in all its glory, and one sees the canyon the way only birds have seen it--laid out in all its splendor. Tours such as the "The Grand Discovery" at Grand Canyon Airlines offer breathtaking overviews of the Canyon. The Grand Discovery is a 100-mile air tour around the most famous and beautiful parts of the Grand Canyon. The airline's signature 19-passenger Vistaliner airplane, with its panoramic windows for unobstructed views, travels along the Canyon's South Rim up the Zuni Corridor, past the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers and back along the North Rim and down the Dragon's Corridor, which has an uncanny resemblance to a sleeping dragon.

The effect of seeing the Grand Canyon, with its exquisite colors and formations, suddenly appearing out of a flat plateau is unforgettable. Headphones provide rousing symphonic music and narration in several languages. The only thing missing is the Hallelujah Chorus.

On foot, there are three ways to experience the Grand Canyon: walking part of the Rim Trail, which can be accessed at many locations; day hiking into the Grand Canyon (it takes twice as long to hike up as it does to hike down) and backpacking, which requires a permit. It is on foot that one is most likely to see the abundant animal life in the Canyon--300 species of birds, 50 species of mammals and 25 species of amphibians. Eagles, falcons, and California condors circling overhead and big-horned sheep, elk, lizards, squirrels, snakes and mountain lions moving around the crevices and rocks are among the animals that call the canyon home.

There are 15 trails and many more obscure routes into the Grand Canyon. The four main trails on the South Rim are Bright Angel, Hermit Trail, Grandview Trail and South Kaibab. The main trail on the North Rim is the North Kaibab. Most of these trails are steep, with no water along the path. Hiking requires physical stamina, planning and taking appropriate precautions.