Yavapai Geology Museum - A Window on the Layers

Photo: Grand Canyon NPS, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on Grand Canyon South Rim, a free self-guided tour.

This stone building sits here on purpose. In the 1920s geologists picked Yavapai Point as the best place on the South Rim to read the canyon's rocks, and architect Herbert Maier designed an observation station that opened in 1928. He used local Kaibab limestone and ponderosa pine so it would blend into the rim.

Step up to the big windows and read the walls from the top down. Under the cream Kaibab Limestone come the Toroweap Formation, the white cliff of Coconino Sandstone, the red slopes of the Hermit Shale and Supai Group, then the sheer Redwall Limestone, gray rock stained red by the layers above. Lower still lie the Tonto Group layers and, deep in the inner gorge, the dark Vishnu rocks, roughly 1.7 billion years old. The exhibits explain how the river cut down as the land slowly rose.

The point is named for the Yavapai people, one of the tribes connected to this canyon. Look straight down and see if you can spot the Colorado River.

Getting here: Walk west on the paved Rim Trail about three quarters of a mile from Mather Point; the Kaibab Rim shuttle also stops here.

Did you know?: The building first opened as the Yavapai Point Trailside Museum and was rededicated in 2007 as the Yavapai Observation Station.

Photo op: From the terrace beside the building, use the curving rim railing as a leading line into the inner gorge.

Nearby: Restrooms and a bookstore at the museum; check nps.gov for current hours.

More on Wikipedia: Geology of the Grand Canyon area · Herbert Maier · Coconino Sandstone · Redwall Limestone

Yavapai Geology Museum - A Window on the Layers

Stops on this tour