The concept of a scaled geologic walking trail, along the heavily-visited South Rim, was originally conceived in 1995 by Dr. Karl Karlstrom and Dr. Michael Williams as a way to improve geoscience interpretation at Grand Canyon and connect research advances to public geoscience education. In 2001 Dr. Karl Karlstrom and Dr. Laura Crossey began applying for funding from the National Science Foundation to implement the project. Major progress on the project started in 2006 when funding was obtained from the National Science Foundation Informal Science Education Program. Since then the Trail of Time has grown to include Dr. Steve Semken (at Arizona State University), Ryan Crow (at University of New Mexico), many partners at Grand Canyon National Park, professional exhibit designers at Jim Sell Designs, and professional evaluators at Selinda Research Associates, among others. A portion of the Trail as conceived in 1995
A portion of the Trail as conceived in 1995