Grand Canyon National Park Facts

The great gorge is accessible from two sides, north and south. Most of the more than five million visitors per year choose to go to the South Rim, which has many more tourist facilities than the north side and, accordingly, tends to get action-packed during the summer season and even some winter weekends. The North Rim is a quieter and more remote place and preferred by people who wish for a more serene, less crowded experience.

The access road to the North Rim is frequently closed during winter due to snow. Both rims can get very cold in the winter, and nights are cool even during summer months. Hiking inside the canyon below the rim, however, is quite another story, as summer temperatures near...

...Carved by the snaking Colorado River, this mile-deep, 277-mile long chasm reveals the sheer force of nature with its towering buttes, pinnacles and mesas; its spectrum of colors and shifting shadows; its wildlife, from the tiniest ant lions to 1,000-pound elk; and its two-billion year geology. It's humbling. Whether you choose the accessibility of the South Rim or the wild solitude of the North Rim (open May to October), the seventh natural wonder is just that -- wonderful.

Park Highlights

The best prelude is the accessible 25-mile Desert View Drive. Watch rippling rock faces glow at sunrise and sunset from Lipan Point, situated above a sweeping bend in the river, and glimpse the Marble Platform...