The trip in winter from Peach Springs station down to the Colorado
River, through Diamond Creek Canyon, is most enjoyable. Owing to the low
altitude here (4,780 feet at Peach Springs and approximately 2,000 feet
at the river) the air is usually balmy from November to April; in summer
the heat is a considerable drawback.
A journey of but twelve miles leads you through a miniature Grand Canyon
with scenery increasingly sublime. On either side are abrupt walls and
wonderfully suggestive formations—castles, domes, minarets. On your
left, glancing backward, is an exact reproduction of Westminster Abbey.
This comparatively easy jaunt brings you by team to the very brink of
the swift-rolling Colorado, whereas by the other Grand Canyon gateways
you are landed on the rim and must go down thousands of feet by a steep
trail. The outlook here is restricted to the river itself and the great
walls rising precipitously from its banks—a scene well worth while, but
not so impressive as the wide sweep of the canyon visible from the rim.
Following Diamond Creek to its source you may walk along the bed of the
stream between walls thousands of feet high and glistening in the white
sunlight as if varnished. The upper part of Diamond Creek is a veritable
terrace of fern bowers, luxuriant vegetation, crystal cascades, and
sequestered meadow parks.