Western Grand Canyon: Diamond Creek to Toroweap

The wild west end of the Grand Canyon. About 107 km in the remote western part of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The track starts at Diamond Creek on the Hualapai Reservation, where a rough road reaches the Colorado River, and goes through the canyon country down to about 440 m and up again to the plateaus at about 1,300 m, past the lava-dam region and the Vulcan’s Throne cinder cone, towards Toroweap. It is drawn in a few long steps, so it shows the general direction rather than the exact road.

What you see. The Grand Canyon is a steep canyon carved by the Colorado River, up to about 1.8 km deep and 446 km long. In this part of the canyon the walls are layered red rock and old black lava flows. Toroweap Overlook (Tuweep) looks straight down about 900 m to the river and is one of the most dramatic views in the park. Vulcan’s Throne is a volcanic cone about 73,000 years old on the rim.

Good to know. These roads are remote and unpaved: a high-clearance vehicle, extra water, fuel and a spare tire are essential, and there is no mobile phone coverage. A permit is needed for Diamond Creek (Hualapai Nation). Flash floods can close the roads after rain. The summer heat is extreme.

Picture: The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, from the air, Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.