Grand Falls

Grand Falls is a natural waterfall system 30 miles north-east of Flagstaff, in the Painted Desert on the Navajo Nation. It is also called Chocolate Falls, after the colour of its water. The falls carry snowmelt and seasonal rain into the gorge of the Little Colorado River, and their muddy flow is a major contributor to the river's opacity. They were formed when lava from Merriam Crater, in the San Francisco volcanic field, flowed into the Little Colorado and created a lava dam; the river rerouted itself around the dam, and Grand Falls formed where it rejoined its original course. Flow is seasonal, and for months of the year the falls are reduced to a trickle or dry. The site is remote and no major paved road reaches it: the nearest, Grand Falls Road, crosses the bed of the Little Colorado, and at times only a four-wheel-drive vehicle can make the crossing. The falls were open to visitors until March 2023, when they were closed to protect the local environment.

Where it is

Grand Falls is a waterfall near Flagstaff, in Coconino County. It is one of the waterfalls in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Grand Falls, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.

Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.

Sources

• Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
• Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
• County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates

Record last verified 2026-08-12.