Frommer’s EasyGuide to the Grand Canyon & Northern Arizona. Gregory McNamee
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Frommer's Arizona and the Grand Canyon, 20th Edition
ISBN 978-1-62887-406-8 (paper), 978-1-62887-407-5 (e-book)
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Editor: Holly Hughes
Production Editor: Lynn Northrup
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How to contact us
In researching this book, we discovered many wonderful places—hotels, restaurants, shops, and more. We’re sure you’ll find others. Please tell us about them, so we can share the information with your fellow travelers in upcoming editions. If you were disappointed with a recommendation, we’d love to know that, too. Please write to: [email protected].
Frommer's Star Ratings System
Every hotel, restaurant and attraction listed in this guide has been ranked for quality and value. Here's what the stars mean:
| Recommended | |
| Highly Recommended | |
| A must! Don't miss! |
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
The world is a dynamic place. Hotels change ownership, restaurants hike their prices, museums alter their opening hours, and buses and trains change their routings. And all of this can occur in the several months after our authors have visited, inspected, and written about these hotels, restaurants, museums, and transportation services. Though we have made valiant efforts to keep all our information fresh and up-to-date, some few changes can inevitably occur in the periods before a revised edition of this guidebook is published. So please bear with us if a tiny number of the details in this book have changed. Please also note that we have no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracy or errors or omissions, or for inconvenience, loss, damage, or expenses suffered by anyone as a result of assertions in this guide.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The author of Tortillas, Tiswin, and T-Bones: A Food History of the Southwest, Gregory McNamee was the first writer to document the Sonoran hot dog, which has since become an international sensation. He has also written The Ancient Southwest: A Guide to Archaeological Sites; Monumental Places: Arizona’s National Parks and Monuments; and many other books. He has lived in Tucson since 1975. Visit him at www.gregorymcnamee.com.
Bill Wyman is a former assistant managing editor of National Public Radio in Washington, where he oversaw the network’s arts, digital, and media coverage across its signature news shows. He was a senior editor at Salon, the pioneering Internet magazine. His work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York magazine, and other publications. He grew up in Arizona and currently lives in Phoenix.
1The Grand Canyon & Northern Arizona
The Grand Canyon North Rim
Flagstaff
Williams
Havasu Canyon & Grand Canyon West
Kingman
3Planning Your Trip to Arizona
Arriving
Getting Around
Tips on Accommodations
Tours & Guided Trips
Outdoor Sports
Fast Facts
1
The Grand Canyon & Northern Arizona
The Grand Canyon—the name is at once both apt and inadequate. How can words sum up the grandeur of 2 billion years of the earth’s history sliced open by the power of a single river? Once an impassable barrier to explorers and settlers, the Grand Canyon today is a magnet attracting millions of visitors from all over the world. The pastel layers of rock weaving through the canyon’s rugged ramparts, the interplay of shadows and light, the wind in the pines, California condors soaring overhead—these sights and sounds never fail to transfix hordes of visitors gazing awestruck into the canyon’s seemingly infinite depths.
While the Grand Canyon is undeniably the most awe-inspiring natural attraction in the state, northern Arizona contains other worthwhile (and less crowded) attractions. Only 60 miles south of the great chasm stand the San Francisco Peaks, ancient volcanoes sacred to the Hopi and Navajo as the home of spirits that bring rain to the parched desert below. Amid expansive ponderosa pine forests stands the city of Flagstaff, one of the highest cities in the U.S., with its well-preserved downtown historic district.
The Grand Canyon South Rim
60 miles N of Williams; 80 miles NE of Flagstaff; 230 miles N of Phoenix; 340 miles N of Tucson
A trip to the Grand Canyon is an unforgettable experience, whether you spend days hiking deep in the canyon, ride the roller-coaster rapids of the Colorado River, or merely stand on the rim peering down in amazement. A mile deep, 277 miles long, and up to 18 miles wide, the canyon is absolutely overwhelming in its grandeur, truly one of the great natural wonders of the world. Clarence Dutton, a 19th-century geologist who published one of the earliest studies of Grand Canyon geology and who named many of its features, held it in such reverence that he named land formations for the gods and sages of the ancient world: Solomon, Apollo, Venus, Thor, Zoroaster, Horus, Buddha, Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Confucius.