Tower of Set is a summit located in the Grand Canyon, in

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 ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, US. This butte is situated four miles north of Hopi Point overlook on the canyon's South Rim, two miles southeast of Tower of Ra, and three miles south-southwest of

Shiva Temple A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...

, where it towers above the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. Tower of Set was originally named ''Temple of Sett'' in 1879 by

Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...

, for the Egyptian deity of war,

Set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

, because a niche worn into its wall evoked temples in the valley of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

. Another source states it was named by

George Wharton James George Wharton James (27 September 1858 – 8 November 1923) was an American popular lecturer, photographer, journalist and editor. Born in Lincolnshire, England, he emigrated to the United States as a young man after being ordained as a Methodi ...

, in keeping with

Clarence Dutton Clarence Edward Dutton (May 15, 1841 – January 4, 1912) was an American geologist and US Army officer. Dutton was born in Wallingford, Connecticut on May 15, 1841. He graduated from Yale College in 1860 and took postgraduate courses there until ...

's tradition of naming geographical features in the Grand Canyon after mythological deities.Randy Moore and Kara Felicia Witt, ''The Grand Canyon: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', 2018, ABC-CLIO Publisher, page 211. This mountain's name was officially adopted in 1906 by the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

. In 1919,

Harriet Williams Russell Strong Harriet Williams Russell Strong (July 23, 1844 – September 6, 1926) was an American social activist, inventor, businesswoman, conservationist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement. She has been inducted into the National Wome ...

proposed connecting Hopi Point and Tower of Set across the river via an aerial tramway, an idea that never came to fruition. The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

was made in November 1977 by Bruce Grubbs and Jim Haggart. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Tower of Set is located in a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

zone.

Geology

The top of Tower of Set is composed of the reddish Pennsylvanian-

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last ...

Supai Group.N.H. Darton, ''Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona'', 1917, pages 12, 37. Further down are strata of Mississippian

Redwall Limestone The Redwall Limestone is a resistant cliff-forming unit of Mississippian age that forms prominent, red-stained cliffs in the Grand Canyon, ranging in height from to . Lithology Redwall Limestone consists predominantly of light-olive-gray to ...

, the Cambrian

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 ...

, and finally granite of the

Paleoproterozoic The Paleoproterozoic Era (;, also spelled Palaeoproterozoic), spanning the time period from (2.5–1.6 Ga), is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the Proterozoic Eon. The Paleoproterozoic is also the longest era of the Earth's ...

Vishnu Basement Rocks The Vishnu Basement Rocks is the name recommended for all Early Proterozoic crystalline rocks (metamorphic and igneous) exposed in the Grand Canyon region. They form the crystalline basement rocks that underlie the Bass Limestone of the Unkar ...

at river level. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...

from Tower of Set drains due-south to the

via Trinity Creek (east), and Ninetyfour Mile Creek (west).

Gallery

File:The Grand Canyon, Tower of Set.jpg, Tower of Set centered. Aerial view from the west. File:Grand Canyon, Tower of Set.jpg, Tower of Set centered, seen from South Rim File:Tower of Set, Grand Canyon.jpg File:Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA.jpg, Tower of Set with Tower of Ra beyond File:Tower of Set.jpg, Tower of Set centered, Shiva Temple behind left File:Tower of Set, Grand Canyon ESE.jpg, Tower of Set (centered) from east-southeast, with parent Horus Temple to right and Granite Gorge below File:Tower of Set 1901.jpg, Tower of Set circa 1901 File:The Grand Canyon — Tower of Set.jpg

References

External links

* Weather forecast
National Weather Service

Tower of Set photo
by

Harvey Butchart John Harvey Butchart (May 10, 1907 – May 29, 2002) was a mathematics professor who was well known for his hiking exploits in and around the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States. Beginning in 1945, Butchart explored the Grand Canyon's backco ...

{{Geology of the Grand Canyon area, , state=collapsed Grand Canyon Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Mountains of Arizona Mountains of Coconino County, Arizona Colorado Plateau Grand Canyon National Park Buttes of Arizona Set (deity)

Geology

See also

Gallery

References

External links