Dox Castle

Dox Castle
Southwest aspect at sunrise
Highest point
Elevation4,780 ft (1,460 m)[1]
Prominence760 ft (230 m)[1]
Parent peakEvans Butte (6,379 ft)[1]
Isolation2.05 mi (3.30 km)[1]
Coordinates36°14′44″N 112°19′20″W / 36.2456350°N 112.3222194°W / 36.2456350; -112.3222194[2]
Naming
EtymologyVirginia Dox
Geography
Dox Castle is located in Arizona
Dox Castle
Dox Castle
Location in Arizona
Dox Castle is located in the United States
Dox Castle
Dox Castle
Dox Castle (the United States)
CountryUnited States
StateArizona
CountyCoconino
Protected areaGrand Canyon National Park
Parent rangeKaibab Plateau
Colorado Plateau
Topo mapUSGS Havasupai Point
Geology
Rock typesandstone, siltstone, limestone
Climbing
Easiest routeclass 5.3 climbing[1]

Dox Castle is a 4,780-foot-elevation (1,460-meter) summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, US.[2] It is situated four miles north-northeast of Havasupai Point, two miles northwest of Evans Butte, and 2.5 miles southwest of Holy Grail Temple, where it towers 2,500 feet (760 meters) above the Colorado River.

Dox Castle was named by William Wallace Bass and George Wharton James for Virginia Dox (1851–1941), who was the first white woman to visit this part of the Grand Canyon in 1891.[2][3] Holy Grail Temple was originally named Bass Tomb by Virginia Dox, for William Bass, Dox's guide into the canyon.[4] Impressed by her, Bass named Dox Castle shortly after she left.[5] This butte's name was officially adopted in 1908 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.[2] According to the Köppen climate classification system, Dox Castle is located in a cold semi-arid climate zone, with precipitation runoff draining west to the Colorado River via Shinumo Creek.[6]

Dox Castle is composed of Cambrian rock from the Tonto Group, overlaying the Proterozoic Unkar Group at river level. Levi F. Noble named the Dox Formation because of exposures in a tributary to Shinumo Creek below Dox Castle.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Dox Castle – 4,780' AZ". Lists of John. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Dox Castle". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  3. ^ Gregory McNamee, Grand Canyon Place Names, 1997, Mountaineers Publisher, ISBN 9780898865332, p. 48.
  4. ^ Randy Moore and Kara Felicia Witt, The Grand Canyon: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture, 2018, ABC-CLIO Publisher, p. 99.
  5. ^ Lauren A. Wright and Bennie W. Troxel, Levi Noble: Geologist, 2002, USGS, p. 8.
  6. ^ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11. ISSN 1027-5606.
  7. ^ Noble, Levi F, The Shinumo Quadrangle, Grand Canyon District, Arizona. (1914), Bulletin no. 549. US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. p. 53.