Grand Canyon Holiday
Millions of people come to the northwestern corner of Arizona each year purely to gaze in wonder at the glorious Grand Canyon – America’s most universally celebrated natural feature and topping the list of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Although it is about an 80-mile drive from Flagstaff to the Visitor Center, it is the largest town nearest to the natural wonder and is considered by many to be the main jumping-off point for a visit.
The South Rim – Getting There
There are two routes to the Grand Canyon National Park from Flagstaff. To reach the more visited South Rim, take US180, which heads northwest past the Fairfield Snow Bowl to cross the mountains at Humphrey’s Peak – the highest point in Arizona. It passes through Tusayan and joins SR 64 at the South Rim, where there is a visitors center and to the west, Grand Canyon Village. SR64 continues east through Desert View at the eastern edge of the park to join up with northbound US89 at Cameron.
The North Rim – Getting There
To reach the North Rim is a bit more of an adventure and is often not even an option in bad weather. Take US89 out of Flagstaff past the Sunset Crater National Monument which is a volcano that last erupted in the 13th century. After that, go up through Navajo Reservation. At Bitter Springs, the main highway veers off through the 6500 ft Antelope Pass to Lake Powell and then on to the Glen Canyon Dam, while US89A heads west crossing the Colorado River at Marble Canyon and traveling into the Kaibab National Forest.
At Jacob Lake, SR67 heads down to the Canyon’s North Rim which being 1000ft higher than the South Rim, gets snowed in and is closed during winter. The North Kaibab Trail is the only maintained one into the canyon from here. To the west, via 60 miles of dirt road from Fredonia is the seldom visited Tuweep region. Here the Toroweap Overlook offers a spectacular view of the lava flows that on long-ago occasions flowed down into the canyon and subsequently dammed up the river. A rugged trail leads to Lava Falls where there are unexcelled views of rafts running rapids.