Mescalero Point is a -cliff-elevation point located in the central, (to beginning western),

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

Coconino County Coconino County is a county in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff. The county takes its name from ''Cohonino'', a name applied to the Havasupai p ...

of northern Arizona, United States. Mescalero Point is 3.6 miles from its closest highest

scenic viewpoint A scenic viewpoint – also called an observation point, viewpoint, viewing point, vista point, lookout, scenic overlook,These terms are more commonly used in North America. etc. – is an elevated location where people can view scenery (often w ...

, Yuma Point (6,654 ft), located east at Eremita Mesa, at the northeast, overlooking Central Hermit Canyon. (Hermit Canyon, with the Hermit Trail is located at the west terminus of West Rim Drive.)

Mescalero Point is in a region of points, at the headwaters of canyons, and landforms below the South Rim. Jicarilla Point lies ~1.0 mile west-northwest, and Mimbreno Point lies ~0.7 miles southeast.

Mescalero Point is distinctive because it has separated from the

water divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a singl ...

between two canyons, by flat and forested,

Diana Temple Diana Temple AM (1925–2006) was an Australian pharmacologist and Associate Professor who pioneered respiratory research in Australia. She was recognised for her work on respiratory pharmacology, the role of women in science and in promot ...

, which is narrow and linear, about a mile long. A saddle, about 0.1 mi long separates Mescalero Point from Diana Temple. Mescalero Point is at the headwaters of Slate Canyon, northwest, and

Topaz Canyon Topaz Canyon is a linear, narrow canyon in the western Grand Canyon, below the South Rim. It lies in a region of four canyons, and a fifth smaller canyon, all trending mostly northeasterly towards the west-flowing Colorado River, in western Gran ...

, southeast.

Geology

Mescalero Point is composed of horizontally-layered

cliff-former A cliff-former is a geological unit of bedrock that is more resistant to erosion than overlying or underlying strata and consequently produces outcrops with high slope angles. It is more or less equivalent to ''ridge-former'', and may be contrast ...

Kaibab Limestone The Kaibab Limestone is a resistant cliff-former, cliff-forming, Permian geologic formation that crops out across the U.S. states of northern Arizona, southern Utah, east central Nevada and southeast California. It is also known as the Kaibab Fo ...

, and is mostly buff, or tan-white. The cliffs of Kaibab Limestone sit upon

Toroweap Formation The Middle Permian Toroweap Formation is a thin, darker geologic unit, between the brighter colored units of the Kaibab Limestone above, and Coconino Sandstone below. It is a prominent unit in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, found through sections ...

slopes, upon buff-white cliffs of Coconino Sandstone. Below are slopes of burnt-red

Hermit Shale The Permian Hermit Formation, also known as the Hermit Shale, is a nonresistant unit that is composed of slope-forming reddish brown siltstone, mudstone, and very fine-grained sandstone. Within the Grand Canyon region, the upper part of the H ...

upon the red-orange

Supai Group The Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Colorado Plateau. The group was laid down during the Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian. Cliff-forming interbeds of sandstone are noticeable throughout the group. The Su ...

, which sit on upper platforms of the cliffs of Redwall Limestone. The Redwall sits on units of the

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

Tonto Group The Tonto Group is a name for an assemblage of related sedimentary strata, collectively known by geologists as a ''Group'', that comprises the basal sequence Paleozoic strata exposed in the sides of the Grand Canyon. As currently defined, the T ...

References

External links

{{commons category, Mescalero Point
Aerial view: Mescalero Point, Mountainzone

Grand Canyon Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon, South Rim Grand Canyon, South Rim (west) Scenic viewpoints in Grand Canyon National Park

Geology

See also

References

External links