The Grand Canyon may look like an austere desert landscape, but in fact, it’s home to the largest concentration of waterfalls within the state of Arizona.
The tallest of those, Cheyava Falls, is accessed by a challenging 20 mile hike down the South Kaibab Trail and over to Clear Creek trail. An ephemeral waterfall, it has spectacular flows during the spring when snow melt makes its way down from the North Rim; other times of the year it can dwindle to a trickle.
Deer Creek Falls is another impressive site, as water plunges 120 feet into a pool below. It supports a garden of plants such as maiden hair fern, mosses and the strikingly brilliant vermilion colored blossoms of the monkeyflower.
Havasu Canyon is home to four beautiful aquamarine waterfalls located within the Grand Canyon on the Havasupai Tribe’s reservation. The mesmerizing color results from the calcium carbonate and magnesium minerals that interact producing the brilliant turquoise hues.
Waterfalls are special ecosystems. In their immediate vicinity they create cooler temperatures and higher levels of humidity than their surroundings which can support diverse populations of small spore producing plants such as mosses and liverworts. They also hold significance to many tribes of the region as they can be tied to profound stories of creation, afterlife, and sacred places of reverence.
This Earth Note was written by Carrie Calisay Cannon and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University, with funding from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies.