Horus Temple
An Egyptian-named butte glimpsed from the South Rim
About
Horus Temple isn't a place you hike to — it's a butte deep in the canyon interior, best picked out from a South Rim overlook like Yuma Point, where it appears to the northwest alongside its neighbor, Tower of Set. The formation tops out around 6,150 feet, capped by a flat, reddish platform of Supai Group and resistant Esplanade Sandstone, with a fractured remnant of Coconino Sandstone clinging to a slope of deep brown-red Hermit Formation below it. Older layers — Redwall and Muav limestone, Bright Angel Shale, Tapeats Sandstone — stack down toward the river.
Why the name
Horus Temple belongs to a cluster of buttes that geologist Clarence Dutton named after Egyptian deities during his 1880s surveys of the canyon, a naming scheme that also gave us nearby Osiris Temple (its taller parent peak) and Isis Temple. Dutton leaned on mythological names across cultures to convey the scale of what he was mapping, and the Egyptian cluster is one of the most concentrated examples of that habit in the park.
There's no trail to the summit — it's a distant landmark, not a destination, and part of what makes rim viewpoints worth the stop.
Best Time to View It
Morning and late-afternoon light bring out the contrast on this formation's layered red-and-cream rock best.
Good to Know
- Horus Temple belongs to a cluster of buttes that geologist Clarence Dutton named after Egyptian deities during his 1880s surveys of the canyon, a naming scheme that also gave us nearby Osiris Temple (its taller parent peak) and Isis Temple.
- Dutton leaned on mythological names across cultures to convey the scale of what he was mapping — the Egyptian cluster is one of the most concentrated examples of that habit in the park.
- Look for Tower of Set nearby to spot both formations together from Yuma Point.
Where to See Horus Temple
View it from Yuma Point on the South Rim. There's no trail to the summit — it's a distant landmark, not a destination.
What You're Looking At: Horus Temple
Horus Temple isn't a place you hike to — it's a butte deep in the canyon interior, best picked out from a South Rim overlook like Yuma Point, where it appears to the northwest alongside its neighbor, Tower of Set. The formation tops out around 6,150 feet, capped by a flat, reddish platform of Supai Group and resistant Esplanade Sandstone, with a fractured remnant of Coconino Sandstone clinging to a slope of deep brown-red Hermit Formation below it.
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