About Toroweap

When National Geographic published a special edition commemorating the 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park, they chose a view of Toroweap for its cover. There really is no other Grand Canyon viewpoint like it. Sheer red cliffs drop 3,000 feet into the mighty Colorado River. Standing here feels like standing in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon – no hiking required. It is less than one mile across the canyon to the Hualapai Indian Reservation on the South Rim, making this one of the narrowest and deepest segments of the inner canyon.

Those standing on the rim at Toroweap can actually hear the turbid river flowing through the giant gorge and rafters hooting and hollering after a thrill ride through Lava Falls. Extensive river views both up and downstream mark Toroweap. The colorful red-rock of the Hermit Shale and Supai sandstones to the east contrast with the black, basaltic lava flows to the west.

Toroweap is the Paiute word for dry or desolate valley. Tuweep came into use to describe the local white settlement and later the park area. The Paiute word Tuweep refers to the earth.

Getting to Toroweap

Our tours traverse Antelope Valley Road, 61 unpaved miles, to this remote Grand Canyon Viewpoint. We access this road from Highway 389 between Fredonia, Arizona and Pipe Spring National Monument. There is little to no phone reception on the road, flat tires are common, especially in vehicles with typical “street” tires, and other vehicles that could offer help are few and far between. Sections of slippery, sticky mud and deep ruts develop when the road is wet, and occasionally flash floods in washes make the road temporarily impassable. Once in the park, the Esplanade sandstone makes for rough road. The last few miles require good ground clearance, sturdy tires and four-wheel drive really comes in handy here.

Did you know you can visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in the winter? Toroweap is many miles from the more frequented viewpoints at the Grand Canyon National Park lodge at the North Rim and the road to Tuweep does not climb over the Kaibab Plateau. Therefore, we offer tours to Tuweep year-round. It does occasionally snow on the road to Toroweap, but it usually melts quickly, so there aren’t very many days in a given year that prevent us from making the trek. The elevation at Toroweap is only 4,600 feet, compared to 8,300 at the north rim lodge.

Human History at Tuweep

The first humans in the Tuweep region were ice-age hunters who lived a nomadic hunting-gathering existence in what was a milder climate. The Ancestral Puebloans, arriving about 2,000 years ago, farmed the area. They migrated eastward around A.D.1300. The most recent Native Americans living here were the Paiute. They now live to the north. There are 500 Paiutes living on 188 square-mile reservation. We pass through part of that reservation on the way to Toroweap, and sometimes we spot wild horses there. John Wesley Powell, led by a Paiute guide, visited Tuweep in 1870. He mapped and named many of the local features. More recently, European-Americans ranched, mined, and settled the Arizona Strip. While ranchers used this valley seasonally in the early 1900s, the first year-round homestead was the Lower Kent Ranch, which was built in 1927. A fascinating book recounts the tale of one family who homesteaded about 20 miles from Toroweap near Mt. Trumbull: “The Last Homesteaders of the Arizona Strip” by Jean Luttrell. She also penned “The Last Old Time Ranger,” which tells the story of John Riffey, who served as ranger of Toroweap from 1942-1980. Riffey is now buried at Toroweap, not far from the 1921 antique pull grader that rests beside the road. Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument was declared on Jan. 11, 2000. The 1,048,325-acre monument is larger than Rhode Island.

Toroweap Geology Explained

At the rim, the  rock you are standing on is Esplanade Sandstone, which is 286-320 million years old. The valley’s volcanic history is apparent because of the towering cinder cones such as Vulcan’s Throne and obvious black lava flows that coat the walls of the canyon. Volcanic activity began along the Toroweap fault around 7 million years ago. Over time, lava issued from more than 60 vents. Beginning about 1.2 million years ago, lava flowed into Toroweap Valley, forming the flat-bottomed valley we drive through. Vulcan’s Throne, Mount Trumbull and the Uinkaret Mountains are all the result of volcanic activity.

The Colorado River was dammed by lava flows multiple times from 725,000 to 100,000 years ago. One lake was believed to be 2,000 feet deep. Geologists estimate it could have taken as long as 20 years to fill. Over the next several thousand years, flowing water undercut the softer river sediment beneath the lava dam. Waterfalls would have poured over the top of the dams. Today, there are only remnants of lava clinging to the canyon walls.

These lava remnants provide key information about its age. Lava flows 7.5-6 million years old found on both sides of the canyon show no evidence that a canyon existed at that time. And a date from a lava flow in the bottom of the canyon indicates that 1.2 million years ago the Grand Canyon was almost as deep as it is today. By about 5.5 million years ago, the Gulf of California was opened up by tectonic forces, and the lower Colorado River was formed and water cut the canyon in a very short time, geologically speaking.

Lava Falls

One highlight of the Toroweap view is looking downstream over Lava Falls. This class 10 climax to multi-day rafting adventure is at river mile 179 from Lee’s Ferry. Even John Wesley Powell refused to attempt it on the first ever Grand Canyon river expedition in 1869.  Lava Falls drops 30 feet in 13 seconds. The rapids appear much smaller than they are from Toroweap, but with a pair of binoculars, one can watch small rafts and kayaks disappear for a second as they are blocked behind the steep falls. If you hold still, you might even hear the rafters shouting when then make it through the rapids.

Wildlife

Along the way, we often spot gopher snakes or rattlesnakes, cottontail and jackrabbits and white striped antelope ground squirrels. There are also mule deer, coyote, bobcats, mountain lions and many small rodents and reptiles. A real treat is spotting an American pronghorn. The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere and is often cited as the second fastest in the world behind a cheetah.  They can run 35 mph for 4 miles and 55 mph for 0.5 mi. Pronghorns are built for speed, not for jumping. Their ranges are sometimes cut off by ranchers’ fences. The protection of habitat has allowed pronghorn numbers to recover to an estimated population between 500,000 and 1,000,000. Their range extends from Canada south through parts of Minnesota, coastal southern California and northern Mexico.