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Grand Canyon South Rim

Arizona

In the past, I posted about the amazing scenery of the Grand Canyon West: Hualapai Ranch ( timeout.watchprosite.com   ) Eagle Point   timeout.watchprosite.com  and Guano Point ( timeout.watchprosite.com ). 

While worth visiting, the West Rim pales to comparison to the Grand Canyon South Rim which is part of the U.S. National Parks.  The Grand Canyon is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and when you look at the views from here you will know why, the sights are breathtakingly beautiful!  The Grand Canyon encompasses over 1.2 million acres of land in the State of Arizona.  Here's one of the popular spots to visit in the South Rim:

Getting here is pretty easy, you can drive, fly, or take one of the many tour buses.  From Los Angeles, it's approximately 500 miles while Las Vegas is only 280 miles.  They even have a train that is just off the I-40 from the Grand Canyon Railway hotel in Williams to the South Rim.  The famous El Tavor Hotel, in the Grand Canyon Village Historic District.  If you plan to visit the South Rim, I highly recommend making an effort to getting reservations and staying at El Tavor, the hotel is wonderful and offers a lot of convenience to unique activities within the Grand Canyon.  

The National park is divided into 2 parts, the South and the North Rim.  The canyon that is created by the Colorado River separates the 270+ mile long canyon into the two Rims.

The Desert View Watchtower:

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American arcitect and artist Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter designed the stone tower with influences from Native American Indian sites she has seen.  Completed in 1932, It stands 5 stories high and rises over 70 feet and is 40 feet wide.  

While the structure is concrete and steel in construction, the exterior is made of different types of stone:

 

Observation Deck is on the right of the tower.  The door leads into the Kiva Room which is the main entrance:

Look up at the Watch Tower, you can see that the windows feature different shapes:

Some of the trees and plants found surrounding the tower:

On the outside we spot the wood stacked up for the fireplace.  The Grand Canyon during the winter season does see snow!

The main entrance has a arched fireplace but at the observation deck is the chimney...I think the design looks pretty interesting:

Next up in PART2, we go inside and up the Grand Canyon Watch Tower...

-MW

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