South Rim of Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

*WS40 - South Rim of Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA*

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, the United States. It is 446 km long and attains a depth of over 1,800 m.  The canyon and adjacent rims are contained within the Grand Canyon National Park established in 1919 and accorded a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. 

The Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colourful landscape. The canyon is the result of erosion which exposes a series of the most complete geologic columns on the planet, made up of mostly sedimentary rocks like limestone. 

For the general tourists the main viewing points are the South Rim and the North Rim. The more popular is the South Rim, 2,100 m high, with about 50 km accessible by road. The North Rim is higher but less accessible. 

We first visited the South Rim in 1982 and had a 2nd visit in 2019. The 2nd visit was made via a coach tour from Las Vegas. We had a 5 km walk along the so-called Rim Trail westwards from the Visitor Center on a cloudy afternoon. 

Trees, mostly pines and spruce-firs, are stunted due to the high winds. A number are burnt and skinned by lightning said to be not uncommon. 

Every year a few people lost their lives accidentally falling into the canyon. With selfie getting popular the casualty rate is going up. See the “mo kia si” tourists in the last photo.