Canyon destinations in the USA

South Rim, Coconino County, Arizona

Two billion years of stone stacked like a book, opened by the Colorado River.

36.1° N · 112.1° WOpen plate →

Navajo Nation, near Page, Arizona

Wind and flood wrote a corridor of fire-colored stone.

36.9° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Zion National Park, Utah

A river walking through a cathedral of red walls.

37.3° N · 113.0° WOpen plate →

Chihuahuan Desert, Rio Grande, Texas

Where the river cuts a door through desert mountains.

29.2° N · 103.3° WOpen plate →

Paunsaugunt Plateau, Utah

A frozen congregation of stone, lit from within at sunrise.

37.6° N · 112.2° WOpen plate →

Glen Canyon, near Page, Arizona

The river turning back on itself in a perfect horseshoe of stone.

36.9° N · 111.5° WOpen plate →

West Kauaʻi, Hawaii

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific — smaller, greener, just as sudden.

22.1° N · 159.7° WOpen plate →

Appalachian Plateau, near Fayetteville, West Virginia

An old river in a young park, under a high thin bridge.

38.1° N · 81.1° WOpen plate →

Canyonlands National Park, north mesa, Utah

A tableland with two rivers cutting the floor out from under it.

38.5° N · 109.8° WOpen plate →

Dead Horse Point State Park, near Moab, Utah

A peninsula of stone hanging over a river that has nowhere to hurry.

38.5° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Markagunt Plateau, Utah

A Bryce that kept the altitude and lost the crowds.

37.6° N · 112.8° WOpen plate →

San Juan River, near Mexican Hat, Utah

A river that refused to straighten, and cut down instead.

37.2° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Navajo Nation, near Chinle, Arizona

A canyon that is still a home, not only a view.

36.1° N · 109.5° WOpen plate →

Caprock Escarpment, Texas Panhandle, Texas

A Grand Canyon the plains kept for themselves.

35.0° N · 101.7° WOpen plate →

Channeled Scablands, Washington

A flood that ended twelve thousand years ago, still falling.

46.7° N · 118.2° WOpen plate →

Finger Lakes, south end of Seneca, New York

A staircase of water hidden in a fold of New York.

42.4° N · 76.9° WOpen plate →

Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky

A hidden canyon of arches under a Kentucky forest.

37.8° N · 83.6° WOpen plate →

Southern Sierra Nevada, California

A Yosemite that kept the canyon and gave away the crowds.

36.8° N · 118.6° WOpen plate →

Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, Idaho

A river that named itself by refusing a way back.

44.7° N · 114.8° WOpen plate →

south of Lander, Wind River Country, Wyoming

A red book of stone left open beside the highway.

42.7° N · 108.7° WOpen plate →

Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone, Absaroka front, Wyoming

A white canyon the Beartooths cut on their way out.

44.9° N · 109.3° WOpen plate →

Gunnison River, Colorado

A canyon so narrow the day never quite arrives.

38.6° N · 107.7° WOpen plate →

Grand Valley, near Grand Junction, Colorado

A red canyon country the valley kept for a back wall.

39.0° N · 108.7° WOpen plate →

Taos Plateau, New Mexico

A crack the river opened in a lava floor.

36.5° N · 105.7° WOpen plate →

north rim of the Grand Canyon, remote west, Arizona

The canyon without the crowd.

36.2° N · 113.1° WOpen plate →

Snake River, Idaho–Oregon line, Idaho / Oregon

A canyon deeper than the famous one, and quieter.

45.4° N · 116.7° WOpen plate →

Columbia River, Multnomah Falls to Rowena, Oregon / Washington

The river that opened the mountains to the sea.

45.6° N · 122.1° WOpen plate →

Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah

A waterfall the canyon kept for itself.

37.8° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Bighorn National Forest, US-14, Wyoming

A short, hard fall the highway stops to hear.

44.6° N · 107.6° WOpen plate →

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Wyoming / Montana

A canyon the river kept, then a lake filled.

45.0° N · 108.3° WOpen plate →

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Utah / Wyoming

A red gorge the river turned into a lake.

40.9° N · 109.4° WOpen plate →

west of Douglas, Converse County, Wyoming

A stone span the creek refused to go around.

42.7° N · 105.6° WOpen plate →

Bighorn National Forest, US-16, Wyoming

A limestone hall the highway had to ask.

44.1° N · 107.3° WOpen plate →

US-14A, west rim of the Bighorns, Wyoming

The west door of the mountains.

44.8° N · 107.9° WOpen plate →

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A village the cliff still holds.

37.2° N · 108.5° WOpen plate →

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A tower the alcove kept standing.

37.2° N · 108.5° WOpen plate →

west of Cortez, BLM, Colorado

Homes set into red stone west of Cortez.

37.4° N · 109.0° WOpen plate →

McInnis Canyons NCA, west of Grand Junction, Colorado

A red window the canyon cut and kept.

39.2° N · 108.9° WOpen plate →

Echo Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado

A river that learned to go around a ship of stone.

40.5° N · 109.0° WOpen plate →

East Rifle Creek, Colorado

Three white ropes the limestone let go.

39.7° N · 107.7° WOpen plate →

near Great Sand Dunes, Colorado

A white fall the mountain hid in a crack.

37.6° N · 105.6° WOpen plate →

Dinosaur National Monument, Jensen, Utah

A mountain the river learned to cut in two.

40.4° N · 109.3° WOpen plate →

Green River, Utah

A river that kept its own distance.

39.5° N · 110.0° WOpen plate →

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah

Red stone and a black river of rock.

37.2° N · 113.6° WOpen plate →

Strike Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef, Utah

A hundred miles of stone stood on edge.

37.8° N · 111.0° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

An arch you look down through.

38.3° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

Paria Canyon–Vermilion Cliffs, Utah

A slot that does not end soon.

37.0° N · 112.0° WOpen plate →

Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch, GSENM, Utah

A window the slot kept for itself.

37.5° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

Neon Canyon, Glen Canyon NRA, Utah

A room the potholes lit from above.

37.7° N · 111.0° WOpen plate →

Devil's Garden, Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah

A blade of stone the wind left standing.

37.6° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah

Two windows in one cream wall.

37.5° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Zion National Park, north, Utah

Zion’s north wall, fingered into the plateau.

37.4° N · 113.2° WOpen plate →

Left Fork of North Creek, Zion, Utah

A tunnel the creek carved and kept.

37.3° N · 113.1° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

A cream bridge the wash walked under.

38.3° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

A chimney the Reef stood alone.

38.3° N · 111.3° WOpen plate →

North Fork Virgin River, Zion, Utah

A cathedral you walk in the river.

37.3° N · 112.9° WOpen plate →

Zion Canyon, Utah

A ridge that keeps only as much path as it must.

37.3° N · 112.9° WOpen plate →

Moab backcountry, Utah

A crown the cliff wore and opened.

38.6° N · 109.6° WOpen plate →

The Maze, Canyonlands, Utah

A room of stone figures the Maze kept.

38.2° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Utah

Figures the canyon has held for a very long time.

38.5° N · 110.2° WOpen plate →

San Rafael Swell, Utah

A narrow walk the Swell cut for a horse.

38.6° N · 110.8° WOpen plate →

San Rafael Swell, Utah

A little Grand Canyon the Swell kept.

39.1° N · 110.7° WOpen plate →

Mule Canyon, Utah

Rooms the ceiling still seems to warm.

37.5° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Cedar Mesa rim, Utah

A rim that looks past the river’s turns.

37.2° N · 110.0° WOpen plate →

Hovenweep National Monument, Utah

Towers a community set on the rim.

37.4° N · 109.1° WOpen plate →

Havasupai Reservation, Arizona

A blue pool the red wall still holds.

36.3° N · 112.7° WOpen plate →

Coconino National Forest, Sedona, Arizona

A bridge the hollow left standing.

34.9° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Arizona–Utah corridor, Arizona

A river that kept both states for a hallway.

36.9° N · 111.7° WOpen plate →

Colorado River, Arizona

A marble-named trench the river kept narrow.

36.8° N · 111.6° WOpen plate →

North Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona

The North Rim’s long look into the eastern gorge.

36.1° N · 111.9° WOpen plate →

Caprock Escarpment, near Quitaque, Texas

Palo Duro’s quieter red cut, still wearing prairie.

34.4° N · 101.1° WOpen plate →

Pease River breaks, Hardeman County, Texas

A red break the Panhandle kept smaller.

34.1° N · 99.8° WOpen plate →

Mills Canyon, Canadian River, New Mexico

A river canyon the grassland hid.

36.0° N · 104.4° WOpen plate →

Pecos River, Val Verde County, Texas

A Pecos canyon that keeps its shade.

29.7° N · 101.3° WOpen plate →

Colorado River, San Saba County, Texas

A river bend that still keeps a waterfall.

31.0° N · 98.5° WOpen plate →

Canadian River breaks, Hutchinson County, Texas

Blue water the Panhandle hid in red breaks.

35.6° N · 101.7° WOpen plate →

Blue Ridge escarpment, Burke County, North Carolina

The East’s deep gorge, still wearing fall.

35.9° N · 81.9° WOpen plate →

Bitterroot National Forest, Ravalli County, Montana

A granite canyon the Bitterroot still cuts.

46.3° N · 114.3° WOpen plate →

Letchworth State Park, Genesee Gorge, New York

Middle Falls, a rainbow, and October hardwood.

42.6° N · 78.0° WOpen plate →

Taughannock Falls State Park, Cayuga Lake, New York

A white thread in a limestone bowl of October.

42.5° N · 76.6° WOpen plate →

Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas River Valley, Arkansas

A white drop in a ring of October sandstone.

35.1° N · 92.9° WOpen plate →

Canyon Rims Recreation Area, Hatch Point, Utah

A Hatch Point balcony over a city of striped stone.

38.3° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Canyon Rims Recreation Area, Hatch Point, Utah

A river fold read from the opposite rim.

38.5° N · 109.6° WOpen plate →

Canyon Rims Recreation Area, Hatch Point, Utah

Island country read from the east rim.

38.4° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Scenic Byway 12, east of Escalante, Utah

Slickrock falling away under a black highway thread.

37.7° N · 111.5° WOpen plate →

Scenic Byway 12, Escalante River, Utah

A red canyon the highway has to cross.

37.8° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Padre Bay cape, Glen Canyon NRA (approx), Utah

A stone table over a drowned canyon.

37.1° N · 111.3° WOpen plate →

Utah 261, Cedar Mesa switchbacks, Utah

A mesa wall the road learned to descend.

37.3° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Comb Wash at UT-95, San Juan County, Utah

A stone comb standing over its own wash.

37.5° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Burr Desert, Dirty Devil rim, Utah

A desert rim over a named dirty river.

38.2° N · 110.5° WOpen plate →

US-89, Logan Canyon, Utah

Limestone windows in the canyon wall.

41.8° N · 111.7° WOpen plate →

Dark Canyon Wilderness, Manti-La Sal NF, Utah

A quiet cut behind the Needles.

37.9° N · 110.1° WOpen plate →

KI Jo-Mary, Piscataquis County, Maine

A slate gorge in the northern Maine woods.

45.5° N · 69.3° WOpen plate →

Lookout Mountain, DeKalb County, Alabama

A river that runs on top of a mountain.

34.4° N · 85.6° WOpen plate →

Blanco County, east of Johnson City, Texas

A Hill Country river laid out in stone steps.

30.3° N · 98.2° WOpen plate →