Hiking in The Grand Canyon »

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Hiking in the Grand Canyon

One thing hikers love about the Grand Canyon is that, by knowing what geologic layer you are in, you know exactly where you are, how far you've hiked, and just how far you've left to go. There are very few places that geologic layers are so obvious, or that the layers themselves are so well-known by name!

Here we go, from the trailhead at the rim, down to the river...

Kaibab - 7,200 feet - This grey-white limestone is a straight plateau at the top. The Kaibab gets rather slopey and well-eroded at the edge from all the rain runoff spilling off the rim. When you hike through the Kaibab section, the trail is generally a mix of ledginess - small cliffs and lots of breaks. Many copses of pinon and juniper predominate, with occasional small oak groves and single leaf ash in scattered ravines. It's a good way to stretch your tendons and muscles before the serious descending begins.

Toroweap - A thin, grey, ledgy band of limestone with more downstepping required than the upper Kaibab layer. Again, a bit of a warm-up to the very first serious layer you will encounter!

Coconino - This buff-colored sandstone wall is the first imposing drop your body must endure. Many of the south rim trails have sections of your path actually carved into the cliff, from back in the early days of park service management. Often this section is paved with inlaid stone cobbles to assist in footing on the steep terrain.

Lesser-used trails find breaks in the wall to descend. The Coconino is actually a rather quick descent compared to the intimdating redwall cliff you encounter below.

What I love about the Coconino section is hiking out - I know when I'm on it, that it's really the last major "push" before attaining the rim.

Hermit - This thin layer of ledgy shale lets your body recoup after the calf-pounding Coconino descent.

Supai Group - A hiker's favorite section! The Supai Group of reddish-orange sandstones is well-known for it's gentle, beautiful, long stretches of mostly-level traversing. Here you often find nice overlooks and a few saucy little springs, many constructed by the CCC or private companies in the 1930s. Some desert-type vegetation crops up, mixed with some of the last junipers and pinons occuring.

The Supai is known as a relaxing segment - with a bit of gentle rise and fall -usually continuing over the course of several miles. The trail invariably traverses the huge orange supai ledge until a suitable break (ie - ravine) occurs in the Redwall segment below.

The Redwall - 4,000 feet - Always referred to as 'the' redwall, this awe-inspiring sheer drop of limestone was a major hurdle for Grand Canyon trail-builders. Best descents were found in places the runoff water from above carved a ravine into the Redwall. Lacking a decent ravine, on some trails hikers must negotiate a tricky descent near some kind of pour-over/dry waterfall/amphitheater. If there is a limiting factor to pioneering new Grand Canyon trails, a suitable Redwall break is almost always "it".

The red color of the Redwall is actually an overcoat of the iron-bearing sandstone above...the Redwall limestone is itself a greyish-white. You can see this in some places where the red color has washed off. keep your eyes open for it.

Temple Butte - Eventually the cliff becomes a thin band of tiny reddish-beige ledges and some desert vegetation reoccurs. Patches of yucca and scrubby apache plume appear in between the ledges of this limestone segment, blending right into the next section.

Mauv - Before you know it, you're almost seamlessly on a white limestone slope. This is a good spot to stretch your aching chalves! Lots of Blackbrush Desert vegetation abounds as you continue your gradual descent to the Tonto Platform. This layer often features huge boulders resting on the slopes, providing bits of needed shade. Remember, the deeper you go, the hotter it gets!

Bright Angel - This short layer of greenish, heavily-eroded shale signals your emergence onto the flat Tonto Platform. Most of the well-known campgrounds - like Indian Gardens, Hermit Campground and Cottonwood - are found here, usually by a perennial water source cutting through the adjacent Tapeats layer. The resultant cottonwood oases are largely lush and beautiful, set deep in a fold of the canyon. While this cuts off the grander views, it makes a more intimate setting for rest and refreshment.

Tapeats - This grey-buff sandstone layer can be a ledgy slope (South Kaibab Trail), a traversing ravine (Bright Angel Trail), or a lovely mini-gorge (Hermit Trail). Vegetation includes both Upper and Lower Mojave Desert indicator plants.

This lovely section sits atop the Great Unconformity - a huge missing layer of geologic time - and drops you into the heart of the Grand Canyon: the Inner Gorge.

The Inner Gorge - 2,000 feet - This is the inner valley of old, old rock found at the very bottom of the canyon. Mojave Desert vegetation predominates outside of the creek hikers will invariably be following - and usually criss-crossing - enroute to the Colorado River.

This PreCambian rock section bakes in the intense heat of its low elevation. Hikers know the deep black walls of the Vishnu Basalt intensify local heat to the melting point. Dikes and sills and large pegmatite clumps of pink Zoroaster Granite break up the black, shiny vishnue walls.

The Vishnu Schist is some of the oldest rock on the world - around the 1.4 billion-year-old mark. It's been warped, molded and crunched in many directions over the years, making for some very unusual geologic morphology (shape-making) if you look for it.

The hiking itself is level enough - a gently, very gradual descent to the river, through copses of thin willows. You hear the mighty Colorado before you see it, with promises of cool water to slake the heat from your body.

At the river, the temperature drops about ten degrees. Cool air rising from the chilly water makes camping a real pleasure on the sandy or gravelly beaches. Hikers find rapids where the Inner Gorge disgorges, and tall tamarisks crowd among the scattered cottonwoods and willows.

Swimmers should be careful of getting hypothermia in the 40-50 degree (F) waters. Watch out for strong currents in the Colorado River when wading, and always treat this water before drinking.

Relax and enjoy your hike across 1.4 billion years of time! Now, of course, you have to hike UP all that geology...

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