We had the awesome opportunity to travel to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona to write Audio Description narratives for 125 outdoor sites between Hermit’s Rest and Desert View Watchtower along the South Rim.
We also won the contract to write Audio Description narratives for 25 outdoor sites along the North Rim of Grand Canyon.
Both tours are available in the National Park Service’s NPS app which contains tools to explore more than 400 national parks nationwide, complete with interactive maps, tours of park places, on-the-ground accessibility information, and much more to plan your national park adventures before and during your trip.
Contact us to explore Parks Audio Description for your next project.
Here are a few samples of the narratives we wrote for these projects:
South Rim Sites
Desert View Watchtower
As you move north down a gently sloping eight-foot wide asphalt path, a five-story, 70-foot-tall (21 m) circular stone tower sits perched on the South Rim at the left. Massive, irregularly shaped limestone foundation stones ring the bottom of its 30-foot (9 m) diameter base. Concentric rows of rough rectangular-shaped limestone bricks with weathered faces fill its tapered sides. Log posts stick out through the wall here and there. Trapezoidal-shaped picture windows appear near the top of the tower. Cracks in the walls seem to run through many smaller window openings irregularly disposed along its surface, some of which are themselves irregular in shape, all conveying a partly ruinous appearance. Inlaid in one side is a three-foot (1 m) square limestone plaque of a native snake spirit, and there is open observation area on the roof.
View along Hermit’s Rest Road
Standing just a few feet (about 2 m) from the rim of Grand Canyon, Hermits Rest is a stone building tucked into a small man-made earthen mound, built around and atop the building to blend it in with its setting. Using the natural timber and boulders of the area, the exposed portions of the structure look like a natural rock formation. Two stone chimneys appear as outgrowths of the building. The main chimney appears as a stone outcropping rising from the ground on the south side of the building. It is generally cylindrical in shape and the stones are stained by soot. About three feet (1 m) above the ground, a course of stones projects out from the chimney. Above them, rectangular stones are oriented vertically and the gaps between them provide openings for the exhaust. The holes facing the south side have been blocked by additional stones. The stones in this course are rounder in shape. Thin, rectangular stones are situated above the openings and span the diameter of the chimney. A secondary chimney extends up from the east elevation wall. It is fully integrated with the stone wall below and gently narrows as it rises. It is generally cylindrical in shape and the individual stones decrease in size as it rises. Rectangular stones, oriented vertically, cap the top.
Mather Point
Located about 1800 feet (550 m) northeast from the visitor center along a wide, smooth concrete path is Mather Point. The viewing area here is quite extensive with two major overlooks, each lined with four-foot (1.2 m) high metal safety railings built into the rocks that project out into the canyon. The powerful Colorado River snakes far below at the bottom of a one mile (1600 m) deep abyss. Colorful rock layers fill the cliffs all around you, including the tan Kaibab Formation, white and creamy Coconino Sandstone, red to orange Hermit Shale and Supai Formation, and dark gray to black Vishnu Schist and other basement rocks at the bottom.
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North Rim Sites
Angel’s Window
About halfway along the paved Cape Royal Trail from the parking area, a second paved trail leads left (east) to an observation platform, and an unpaved trail along the top of Angel’s Window. The Angels Window trail leads down a slight slope to a fork. Take the left fork to continue along a slightly narrower path that curves around to the right to a paved, stone-lined observation platform. To the left is the towering Vishnu Temple. To the right, the massive, curved walls and flat top of Wotans Throne.
Cape Royal
Beside the accessible parking spaces, the paved, six-foot wide Cape Royal Trail leads east towards the rim, flanked by two wildlife-proof, metal garbage containers. The flat, paved trail, lined with stones on either side, leads about four-tenths of a mile (650 meters) to the point at Cape Royal. Note a wide variety of plants and trees growing along the sides of the trail. Pinyon pine is recognized by its short needles which typically grow in bundles of twos; cliffrose by its cream-colored blossoms and sweet fragrance throughout the summer; Utah Juniper trees by their scraggly bare trunks and bluish berries; and sagebrush with small blue-gray leaves with a strong sage aroma.
Vishnu Temple
About two miles (three point two kilometers) east-southeast of Wotans Throne is Vishnu Temple. Also composed of cream-colored, cliff-forming sandstone with a limestone cupola caprock, it rises over just over 7,500 feet (nearly 2,300 meters) high.
Contact us to explore Parks Audio Description for your next project.