Home | Categories | National Parks | Hotels | Site Map | Photographs | QTVR | Whats New? | More... ARIZONA Index | Introduction | Photographs | QTVR | Driving Distances | Map | Weather | Hotels Moran Point, Grand Canyon National Park Sites in Arizona NPS - Landscapes Canyon de Chelly Chiricahua Grand Canyon Lake Mead Organ Pipe Petrified Forest Saguaro Sunset Crater NPS - Historic Sites Casa Grande Ruins Coronado Montezuma Castle Pipe Spring Tonto Tumacacori Tuzigoot Walnut Canyon Wupatki Other Places Apache Trail Ironwood Forest NM Meteor Crater Route 66 Sedona Sonoran Desert NM Tonto NF Vermilion Cliffs NM More Locations... Agua Fria Alamo Lake Bartlett Reservoir Beaver Dam Mnts Bill Williams River Coal Mine Canyon Copper Creek Coronado Trail Coyote Buttes Fish Creek Granite Mountain Kaiser Spring Kofa NWR Lees Ferry Lost Dutchman Mount Lemmon Patagonia Lake Pearce Ferry Red Rock Roosevelt Lake Sabino Canyon San Carlos Lake South Mountain Park Superstition Mountains Sycamore Canyon Tombstone Tonto Creek Tonto Natural Bridge West Clear Creek Arizona Site Map Site Search Enter your search terms this site all the web Submit search form Grand Canyon National Park > South Rim > Viewpoints > Moran Point Moran Point Along with Desert View, Grandview and Yaki, Moran is one of the most visited points on the east rim drive, and offers far reaching views along a wide section of the Grand Canyon, approximately between river miles 87 and 72. The point is due south of Cape Royal on the North Rim - just 8 miles away in a straight line but 215 miles by road. The promontory is reached by a short spur road and was named after the landscape painter Thomas Moran who came here for the first time in 1873 and helped popularize the canyon, leading eventually to its incorporation as a national monument in 1908 (and a national park in 1919). To the west, Coronado Butte blocks some of the southern cliffs but there are still fine views downriver over a succession of red ridges and ravines, as far as Yaki Point where the Colorado bends back south. The eastern aspect is more restricted, by Zuni Point and ridges below. Cliffs west of Moran Directly below Moran Point is Red Canyon, a very colorful tributary and especially so at the lower end where deep red/orange layered rocks are exposed, formed of Hakatai shale. This location is one of many unconformities in the strata of the canyon, where adjacent rocks are separated by long periods of geological time - here the flat, light colored plateau between Red Canyon and the next drainage north (Mineral Canyon) is formed of Bright Angel shale from the Cambrian era, and is over 600 million years younger then the pre-Cambrian Hakatai. The New Hance Trail runs along Red Canyon and meets the Escalante Route opposite Hance Rapids, which are just visible from the rim. Next Points West: Grandview Point East: Zuni Point The view northwest Lower Red Canyon Edge of the plateau Back to Top Arizona | California | Colorado | Nevada | New Mexico | Texas | Utah | Wyoming | Slot Canyons | Travelogue | SOUTHWEST

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