View to the west-northwest with Deer Creek (and Deer Creek Falls) joining the Colorado River in the right foreground. In the middle distance, 140 Mile Canyon joins from the left and Fishtail Canyon enters from right. Kanab Creek enters from the right along the extreme upper edge.

   A popular hike for rafting groups is to climb up from the river at the base of Deer Creek Falls to at least reach the open valley above the falls (small green area near the lower edge). As the trail zigzags up out of the schist and Tapeats Sandstone that forms the cliff next to the river, a spectacular view unfolds. ("Throat clutching view" might be equally descriptive.) If you continue to follow the creek up to Deer Spring (extreme lower edge of the picture), you get to see another large waterfall where the stream bursts out of a cave system in the limestone cliffs.

   The trail up from the river uses a slope that is the result of a large slump (very slow motion landslide). Water is able to seep down through the broken material of the slump while the underlying solid rock keeps the water near the surface. As a result vegetation (including one of the few locations that Poison Ivy exists in the canyon) is able to grow in areas several hundred feet away from the river.