The Grand Canyon is a massive canyon in Southwestern USA stretching 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet). It is one of the most popular natural attraction in North America and located at the southern end of the Rocky Mountain range in the state of Arizona. Beyond the canyon, the mountain range descends into the Arizona desert, creating natural gorges and a unique red rock formations along the way. One of the popular locations in this natural formation is the town of Sedona, Arizona. One trip idea in the American Southwest is a week-long stay in this region exploring Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park and Grand Canyon West.
Sedona’s main attraction is its array of red sandstone formations. The formations appear to glow in brilliant orange and red when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. The red rocks form a popular backdrop for many activities, ranging from spiritual pursuits to the hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails.
A notable attraction in Sedona is the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Completed in 1956, the chapel rises 70 feet out of a 1,000-foot red rock cliff. Another popular location frequented by locals to watch the subset is the Airport Mesa. Two popular state parks around Sedona are Red Rock State Park and Slide Rock State Park.
Sedona played host to more than sixty Hollywood productions from the 1920s into the present day. Sedona’s red rocks were a fixture in major Hollywood productions – including films such as Angel and the Badman, Desert Fury, Blood on the Moon, Johnny Guitar, The Last Wagon, 3:10 to Yuma and Broken Arrow.
The drive from Sedona to Grand Canyon National Park climbs over 3000 feet elevation through scenic Oak Creek Vista, hairpin turns and the city of Flagstaff (elevation 7500 ft.). The trip takes a little over 2-hours.
Due to the large area that Grand Canyon occupies, there are two visitor centers over 2-hour drive apart. The most popular one is the Grand Canyon National Park, located near Flagstaff. The park, which covers 1,901 sq mi of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than 4.7 million recreational visitors in 2023. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 26, 2019.
Most visitors to the park come to the South Rim, arriving on Arizona State Route 64. The highway enters the park through the South Entrance, near Tusayan, Arizona, and heads eastward, leaving the park through the East Entrance.
Grand Canyon Village is the primary visitor services area in the park. It is a full-service community, including lodging, fuel, food, souvenirs, a hospital, churches, and access to trails and guided walks and talks.
Walking tours include the Rim Trail, which runs west from the Pipe Creek viewpoint for about eight miles (13 km) of paved road, followed by seven miles (11 km) unpaved to Hermit’s Rest. Hikes can begin almost anywhere along this trail, and a shuttle can return hikers to their point of origin. Mather Point, the first view most people reach when entering from the south entrance, is a popular place to begin.
Grand Canyon West is located in northern Mohave County, about 3-hr drive from Grand Canyon National park, in the Hualapai Native American reservation. The visitor center has tourist bus connection to various attractions in the site including Helicopter ride, skywalk, zipline adventure and Guano point.
The main attraction is Grand Canyon Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway at Eagle Point in Arizona near the Colorado River, on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon. Commissioned and owned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, the skywalk was unveiled March 20, 2007, and receives an average of a million visitors annually.
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