Grand Canyon: Desert View

I have so many more photos from my Grand Canyon trip, that it's hard to know where to start (and yes, I have wolf photos coming too, eventually). Although we didn't make it to the north rim on this trip, we explored the south rim rather thoroughly, so I have a variety of photos from different perspectives along the canyon rim, as well as from a couple of different hikes down into the canyon. These are a few from Desert View, which is the easternmost lookout in the park along the south rim, just north of the park's East Entrance.

Here are a series of photos looking out over the canyon starting from the northwest and ending in the east.

Cedar Mountain, a cinder cone in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, is visible off to the east. The peak is 7061 ft (2152 m)
 above sea level, although only about 600-700 feet higher than the surroundings, and lower than the rim at
Desert View (7,348 ft/2,240 m). Nevertheless, it stands out in the flat plateau and deep canyon landscape.

There are glimpses of several parts of the Colorado River from here, and if you look closely you can even see a couple of rapids.

The Desert View Watchtower, built in 1932, was designed by architect Mary Colter to resemble Puebloan architecture while also blending into the landscape and providing a panoramic view of the canyon.

The ceiling is painted with a recreation of images from Salinas National Monument in New Mexico.

There is also a memorial here for a mid-air plane collision that occurred in the Grand Canyon in 1956. All 128 people died, making it the deadliest plane crash in the US at the time. It was one of many incidents that spurred interest in improving air traffic control.



The Desert View watchtower and lookout are right next to the Desert View campground where we stayed for the second half of the trip. Although it wasn't as quiet or dark as the Kaibab National Forest, where we stayed the first couple of nights, it was convenient both to be in the park and to leave our tent up. We took advantage one evening by watching the sunset from the Desert View lookout.

One of my favorite things about the Grand Canyon--which was particularly clear at sunset--was the way the array of different cliff faces and side canyons look like layers upon layers receding into the distance.