Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
view of slim
Silver Cord Cascade
on Surface Creek. It drops about 1,200 feet (366 m) into the
canyon from the other side and is probably the park's highest waterfall.
Grand View is a great place to see the canyon colors.
Inspiration Point**
was originally called Promontory Point because it protrudes in-
to the canyon, affording fine views in both directions, including some wheelchair-accessible
views. Fifty steps lead down to a panoramic view. You see only a slice of Lower Falls from here
because of a bend in the river, but the colors of the rocks are marvelous. An earthquake in
1975 caused a large part of this promontory's rock to fall into the canyon.
Innumerable writers, artists, and photographers have tried to reproduce what they see in
this canyon. One can never tire of gazing at it. Here's a late-nineteenth century attempt to de-
scribe the colors:
The whole gorge flames. It is as though rainbows had fallen out of the sky and hung themselves
there like glorious banners. The underlying color is the clearest yellow; this flushes onward into
orange. Down at the base the deepest mosses unroll their draperies of the most vivid green;
browns, sweet and soft, do their blending; white rocks stand spectral; turrets of rock shoot up as
crimson as though they were drenched through with blood. It is a wilderness of color.
—Dr. Wayland Hoyt, as quoted in the
Haynes Guides.
