Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Interesting facts

Before the river cut through it, the canyon area was a geyser basin whose heat cooked the rhyolite soft, a process geologists have likened to baking a potato.

The colours reflect how much water the iron minerals in the rock contain, and geologists describe the canyon as, in effect, slowly rusting.

Its V-shaped profile shows it was carved by the river rather than by glaciers, even though ice sheets covered the area several times.

At its brink the Lower Falls is only about 21 metres wide, compared with roughly 790 metres for Niagara's Horseshoe Falls.

When Charles Cook reached the rim on 20 September 1869, he recalled, his party sat in stunned silence for about five minutes before anyone spoke.

In 1870 Lieutenant Gustavus Doane wrote that from deep inside the chasm he could see stars at three o'clock in the afternoon.

William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition heard reports of the falls but did not believe them.

Thomas Moran's 1872 canvas of the canyon was bought by Congress and hung in the Capitol, helping win support for protecting Yellowstone.

From 1898 'Uncle Tom' Richardson ferried tourists across the river and led them down toward the foot of the Lower Falls with ropes and ladders.

The brink of the Upper Falls marks the line where hard rhyolite meets a weaker glassy lava that the river has worn away faster.

Why it is worth it

In the middle of Yellowstone National Park the Yellowstone River drops over two waterfalls and then runs through a canyon whose colours give the whole park its name. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is about 39 km long, more than 300 metres deep in places and between roughly 450 metres and 1.2 km wide. Its walls are not the reds and browns of Arizona but a startling mix of pale yellow, cream, orange and pink, streaked with white and dotted with steam vents.

The colours are the work of heat and water. The canyon is cut into rhyolite, a volcanic rock from Yellowstone's ancient lava flows, which hot, acidic hydrothermal water has altered and softened. Iron in the rock oxidises into the yellows and oranges, and the canyon is still geothermally alive, with features such as Calcite Spring visible along its course. The gorge itself is geologically young: it was deepened catastrophically around 14,000 to 18,000 years ago, when glacial ice dams failed and floods tore through the weakened rock.

The two falls are the heart of any visit. The Upper Falls drop about 33 metres; further down, around a bend that keeps the two from ever being seen together, the Lower Falls plunge about 94 metres, almost twice the height of Niagara, in a thick band of white water framed by the yellow walls. The classic view is from Artist Point at the end of the South Rim Drive, looking up the canyon to the Lower Falls. The prospector Charles W. Cook stood at what became Inspiration Point in 1869, and Thomas Moran painted the canyon in 1872 and again in 1901, fixing it in the American imagination.

Overlooks line both rims, and short, steep paths lead down to the brink of the Lower Falls and to a stairway descending into the canyon. The Canyon Visitor Education Center at Canyon Village explains Yellowstone's volcanic system, with a room-sized relief model of the park.

Getting there

The canyon is at Canyon Village in the centre of Yellowstone National Park, about 115 km from Bozeman, Montana. The nearest airport is Yellowstone Airport (WYS) at West Yellowstone, about 50 km away in a straight line. The North Rim and South Rim drives lead to the overlooks, including Artist Point.

From the encyclopaedia

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the first large canyon on the Yellowstone River downstream from Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The canyon is approximately 24 miles (39 km) long, between 800 and 1,200 ft deep and from 0.25 to 0.75 mi wide.

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Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia