Grand Canyon Area

The Grand Canyon Area wraps around the canyon itself in northern Arizona, a high-elevation plateau cut deep by the Colorado River. The South Rim sits at about 7,000 feet, the North Rim at 8,000, and the canyon floor a mile below the rims at the river. The terrain on top is ponderosa and pinyon-juniper forest; the canyon walls expose nearly two billion years of rock layers in horizontal bands. Coconino County holds most of the canyon, with smaller acreage extending into Mohave on the western end. Anchor towns include Flagstaff (the regional hub), Williams (the historic Route 66 town with the railroad to the South Rim), Tusayan, Page (near Lake Powell), and Cameron and Tuba City on the Navajo Nation. Grand Canyon National Park, Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area carry the public-land scenery. Most visits center on the South Rim. The North Rim — closed by snow from late October to mid-May — gets a fraction of the traffic and offers cooler temperatures and longer views in summer. Flagstaff makes a comfortable base for combining canyon visits with the volcanic country south of town.