Placid water in Hell’s Half Acre Canyon reflects the sheer walls and box elders. By Jack Dykinga
Ancient Creeks
Quiet conversations of water moved through a forest. Words chattered across smooth, black stones as a clear stream turned one way and then another, threading among jail bars of tree roots. Where the…
Victoria Howell Westlake leads her daughter, Katherine, out of the gate after a long day of work at the Tin House Ranch location. By Peter Schwepker
Ranch Women
It’s close to noon on this windy Friday, and Victoria Howell Westlake has been up since 4 a.m. She’s preparing her second meal of the day, which, like the first, will feed a dozen or so hungry…
A new aspen shoot rises from earth charred by the Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This photo was made just south of Cape Royal Road on October 1, the day the road reopened to the public. By Amy S. Martin
Listening to the Land: Reflections on the North Rim
A week or two after the summer solstice, mirage-inducing heat across the desert Southwest creates a low-pressure vacuum. Winds, weighted with moisture, sweep in from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of…
Stars and the Milky Way fill the night sky over Wotans Throne in a view from Cape Royal, on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. The Canyon’s world-renowned dark skies have made it a haven for stargazers — and, since 2021, the home of an astronomer-in-residence program sponsored by Grand Canyon Conservancy. | Sean Parker
Making a Night of it
So, here I am, gazing more than 2 million light-years into the universe from a spot a mile deep and a billion years inside the Earth. I’m at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It’s 26 years ago — not…
Grand Canyon wrangler Remy Kelbel prepares one of the mules at the South Rim for a morning ride. Kelbel is one of up to nine wranglers employed at the Canyon by Xanterra Travel Collection. By John Burcham
Riding High
‌Remy Kelbel was 4 years old when she rode a horse for the first time. She didn’t come from a riding or ranching family; it was pure chance that her Aunt Vonna took her to a stable near her hometown…
The setting sun colors the sky over the layered buttes of the Grand Canyon, as seen from the South Rim. Frequent visitors recommend arriving at the rim an hour before sundown to fully experience a sunset at the Canyon. By Adam Schallau
The Canyon
Editor’s Note: As we begin a new year, we continue the celebration of our centennial with another classic from our archive. This month’s piece was written by Frank Waters, a prolific, award-winning…
Storm clouds whip up waves on Lake Mohave. By Joel Hazelton
Joel Hazelton: This Is My Story
It’s good to have an excuse to leave the house, even if you aren’t that optimistic about what you’re going to find out there. Last March, my wife, Kristen, and I took our dog, Cholla, on an overnight…
An aerial photo of Lake Powell’s Reflection Canyon displays the reservoir’s current and former water levels, along with the canyon’s looping course. By Gary Ladd
Lake Powell
When plenty of water was sloshing around Lake Powell in the 1980s, I briefly encountered Floyd Dominy, who’d been the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation when Glen Canyon Dam was completed…