Sight · Grand Canyon National Park
A big-screen canyon primer before the South Rim.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Grand Canyon Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Grand Canyon National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Grand Canyon audio tourRecorded for this area
The Canyon’s Missing Billion Years“Rocks touching each other can be more than a billion years apart in age. In parts of the canyon, the Tapeats Sandstone rests directly on ancient rock that formed deep underground.”
Plays on the road 1.2 mi from Grand Canyon Visitor Center IMAX in the Parkwolf Grand Canyon Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
The Grand Canyon Visitor Center IMAX is a commercial theater and exhibit stop in Tusayan, outside Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim entrance. Its main draw is Grand Canyon: Rivers of Time, a roughly 30-minute film on a six-story screen, with aerial and river-level views. If you want a little context before the overlooks, it’s an easy indoor stop; if you’d rather spend your time outside, you can skip it.
The exhibits take on canyon geology and history, including wooden dories used while filming the John Wesley Powell expedition sequence. Explorer’s Café has fast-casual options, including Pizza Hut Express, and the Official Store sells souvenirs, books and outfitter gear. The campus also has Electrify America DC fast charging, with 150- and 350-kW units.
Despite the name, this is a commercial gateway attraction, not the National Park Service visitor center inside the park. You can pick up park passes here; go to the in-park center for ranger help and official park information. This is a good warm-up before the rim, and a useful charging stop, but it isn’t where to ask about trail conditions.
Wildlife
718 sightingsCalifornia CondorMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
533 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
169 sightingsAmerican BisonMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,891 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
59 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
27 sightingsGray FoxMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Grand Canyon. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
Entrance station · 1.8 mi awaySouth Entrance StationSort your pass and map before the drive onto the South Rim.
Scenic pullout · 4.4 mi awayDuck on a RockA named rock profile makes this quick canyon pullout memorable.
Scenic pullout · 4.8 mi awayTwin OverlooksTwo quick pullouts for a big canyon view from the road.Parkwolf’s Grand Canyon ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
