t on the floor of the canyon at the base of a magic
temple. The finest trip of all takes him down the Hermit Trail, gives
him a night in the depths, and returns him to the rim by the Bright
Angel Trail. Powell named Bright Angel Creek during that memorable first
passage through the Canyon. He had just named a muddy creek Dirty Devil,
which suggested, by contrast, the name of Bright Angel for a stream so
pure and sparkling.

The Havasupai Indian reservation may be visited in the depths of
Cataract Canyon by following the trail from Bass Camp.

The first experience usually noted in the descent is the fine quality of
the trail, gentle in slope and bordered by rock on the steep side. The
next experience is the disappearance of the straight uncompromising
horizon of the opposite rim, which is a distinctive feature of every
view from above. As soon as the descent fairly begins, even the smaller
bluffs and promontories assume towering proportions, and, from the Tonto
floor, the mighty elevations of Cheops, Isis, Zoroaster, Shiva, Wotan,
and the countless other temples of the abyss become mountains of
enormous height.

[Illustration: _From a photograph copyright by Fred Harvey_

CAMPING PARTY ON THE SOUTH RIM

This is within a few hundred feet of the Grand Canyon abyss]

[Illustration: _From a photograph copyright by Fred Harvey_

DOWN HERMIT TRAIL FROM RIM TO RIVER

Grand Canyon National Park]

From the river's side the elevations of the Granite Gorge present a new
series of precipitous towers, back of which in places loom the tops of
the painted palaces, and back of them, from occasional favored
view-spots, the far-distant rim. Here, and here only, does the Grand
Canyon reveal the fulness of its meaning.

IV

The Grand Canyon was discovered in 1540 by El Tovar, one of the captains
of Cardenas, in charge of one of the expeditions of the Spanish
explorer, Diaz, who was hunting for seven fabled cities of vast wealth.
"They reached the banks of a river which seemed to be more than three or
four leagues above the stream that flowed between them." It was seen in
1776 by a Spanish priest who sought a crossing and found one at a point
far above the canyon; this still bears the name Vado de los Padres.

By 1840 it was probably known to the trappers who overran the country.
In 1850 Lieutenant Whipple, surveying for a Pacific route, explored the
Black Canyon and ascended the Grand Canyon to Diamond Creek.

In 1857 Lieu