A long trail to an overlook of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument.

Whitmore Canyon 2.0

It is 73 enjoyable miles from pavement in St. George to the overlook high above the Colorado River. The road has 3 distinct sections:

St. George to Mt. Trumbull is 50 miles of wide well-graded road. Most will drive this in less than 1.5 hours.
Mt Trumbull to the Bar 10 Ranch Airstrip is 14 miles of narrower and curvier road that is graded, but has a few rocks. Time will be .75 to 1.0 hours.
Bar 10 Ranch Airstrip to the overlook is very bumpy and slow because it is mostly across lava fields. This could easily take 1.5 hours, depending how well your vehicle does on bumpy, rocky roads.

Plan on around 4 hours one way, plus time for photos, lunch and just plain breaks. Aggressive drivers can do it in less time.

There is a GPS - gpx track file at the bottom of the page.

Rafters on the Colorado

The road starts at below 3,000' elevation in St. George and ends at 2,300' at the Colorado. Most of the land in between is +/- 5,000'.

There are not many specific attractions along the way, but the countryside is wide open and varies from wide flats to deep canyons. Very enjoyable.

Climbing up from St. George

Long stretches of sagebrush

Mt Trumbull began in 1917 and reached a peak population of 200-250 in the 1930s. The school closed in 1968 and the last full time resident left in 1984.

Mt Trumbull School

Playground equipment behind school

The school burned flat in 2,000 and this replica was built in 2001. It is open to the public and is supplied with period memorabilia.

The road is a bit less beyond the school but still not too bad. Drop down into Whitmore Canyon and there you will find the Bar 10 Ranch.

Schoolbooks of the era

Whitmore Canyon

The Bar 10 Ranch is an upscale lodge offering horseback riding, river rafting, helicopter tours and more. They were flying Grand Canyon tours with 2 helicopters and ferrying customers in and out of the Ranch with 2 planes the day we were there.

The airstrip

Customers headed for home

It is a mostly bumpy trip beyond the airstrip as the road crosses many lave flows. Excitement builds as you approach the rim.

Road across lava field

Approaching the rim

Lava has flowed into the Colorado River in this area 13 times in the last 700,000 years. This appears to be a cinder cone from some of that activity.

Cinder cone

First view of river

The Whitmore Canyon Overview is less than 1,000' above the river. There is a trail down to the river if you are looking for a little exercise.

We have friends that ended their rafting trip at this point and were helicoptered out by Bar 10 Ranch, then flown out by plane.

Upstream view of Colorado River

Downstream view of Colorado River

Page updated 2018.

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