Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

About this place

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the first large canyon on the Yellowstone River below its falls, in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, about 34 km northeast of the centre of the Yellowstone hub in a straight line. It is about 39 km long, 240 to 370 metres deep and 400 metres to 1.2 km wide. The canyon was carved by the river eroding the volcanic rock that covered the area after the great Yellowstone Caldera eruption about 600,000 years ago, not by glaciers. At its head the river drops over the 33-metre Upper Falls, then 400 metres downstream over the 94-metre Lower Falls, nearly twice the height of Niagara Falls and the largest-volume waterfall in the US Rocky Mountains. The canyon walls glow yellow, orange, pink and white, coloured by hot water that altered the volcanic rock over time. The green river cuts along the floor, spray rises from the Lower Falls between the coloured walls, and pines stand along the rims. Roads and trails along both rims lead to many viewpoints. The best known is Artist Point on the South Rim, which looks up the canyon to the Lower Falls, and a path leads to the brink of the falls itself. The light is best in the morning and evening, and the viewpoints are busy at midday in summer.