General Information

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General Information

South Rim

The south rim of the Grand Canyon is for the most part a desert. There is no surface water to be found anywhere in the area and there are few springs. The plants and animals that live on the south rim have, over millions of years, adapted to these conditions to present the flora and fauna that you see today. Trees like the Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper that require very little water and are very good at storing the little that happens to find their roots, do very well here. There are some groves of Douglas Fir scattered here and there along the south rim, most of these being in the area of the visitor center and along the Desert View Drive. Along with the conifers there is also a healthy population of cacti, agave and yucca plants on the south rim.

Some of the animals to be seen on the south rim include Mule Deer, Rock Squirrel, Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel, Raven, Pinon Jay and a few Grand Canyon Bighorn Sheep.

All of the water that is used on the south rim comes from Roaring Springs, at the junction of Bright Angel and Roaring Springs Canyons on the north rim. The water flows through a pipeline from the pumping station at Roaring Springs, down Bright Angel Canyon, across the Colorado River, and up to Indian Garden, from where it is pumped up to the south rim. Breaks in the pipeline are not uncommon and can raise havoc with the water supply on the south rim.

The first European to view the Grand Canyon was Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas in 1540. Cardenas was sent north from Mexico by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola (Gold). Cardenas and his party spent three days at the Canyon, trying to get down to the river, until depleted supplies forced them to give up. It was some three centuries before the Europeans would return to the Grand Canyon, when in 1869 Major John Wesley Powell became the first person to explore the entire length of the Canyon.