Grand Canyon
Looking down Bright Angel Trail to the Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a colorful, steep-sided gorge, carved by the Colorado River, in northern Arizona. The canyon, considered to be among the major natural wonders of the world, is largely contained in the Grand Canyon National Park - one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of the Grand Canyon area, visiting on numerous occasions to hunt mountain lions and enjoy the breathtaking scenery.
The canyon, created by the Colorado River cutting a channel over millions of years, is about 350 kilometers long, ranges in width from 6 to 29 kilometers and attains a depth of more than 1,600 m. The details of its development are still somewhat controversial. The most likely scenario is that a large lake overflowed the Kaibab Plateau about 5 million years ago, following the route taken by the Little Colorado River up to 70 million years ago. That accounts for the narrow lower (western) canyon and the much wider upper (eastern) canyon, as well as several other lines of evidence.
Aside from casual sightseeing from the South Rim (averaging 7000 feet/2134 m above sea level), whitewater rafting and hiking are especially popular. The floor of the valley is accessible by hiking, muleback, or by boat or raft from upriver. Commercially organized rafting trips, using 35-foot, 15 person "baloney boats" equipped with outboard engines, make the trip from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek in about six days while 18-foot rafts and dories powered only with oars and paddles, and take over two weeks to complete the journey. Sightseers are also carried over the canyon by helicopter.
The canyon was first seen by a European in 1540, García López de Cárdenas from Spain. Long before that however the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements in the canyon walls.
Havasupai Indian Reservation
The Havasupai Indian Reservation is in a large tributary canyon on the south side of the Colorado River, it is administered by the Havasupai Indian Tribe.
Hualapai Indian Reservation
The Grand Canyon as seen from Earth orbit. Photo courtesy NASA
The Canyon is a deep (in places a mile deep) 277 miles long cut in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata. The exposed strata are gradually revealed by the gentle incline beginning at Lees Ferry and continuing to Phantom Ranch. At the point where the river crosses the Grand Wash Fault (near Lake Mead) the Canyon ends.
The Grand Canyon and the Colorado River drainage have developed in the last 40 million years, but the rocks that are exposed by the river's cutting action are over 1.7 billion years old. Deeper strata in the canyon are usually, but not always, older than higher strata.
The strata, from the bottom to top, are:
The United States government made the Grand Canyon a national park in 1919
Geography
South Rim
North Rim
Temperatures on the North Rim are generally lower that the South Rim because of the greater elevation (8000 feet/2438 m above sea level). Heavy snowfall is common during the winter months.
Views from the North Rim tend to give a better impression of the expanse of the canyon rather than the views down which characterise the South Rim.River
Geology
Human history
Native American cultures
The Desert Culture
Little is known about these people who lived in western North America between 9,000 and 3,000 years ago. The earliest signs of life in the Grand Canyon, radiocarbon dated to older than 3,000 years, belong to them - tiny willow twig representations of animals, a few of which were pierced with tiny twig spears. The desert culture were hunters and gatherers and made baskets and sandals, and hunted with stone tipped spears. The first Europeans to find evidence of their activities were the 1934 Frazier, Eddy and Hatch expedition.
The Ancestral Puebloans (The Ancient Ones, or Anasazi)
The Modern Hopi (see also Pueblo people)
Other Cultures
European discovery and settlement
The Spanish Explorers
American Exploration
Settlement on the rim
See also
External links