The Grand Canyon
by Wendy AronLocated in the hot desert of northwestern Arizona, the Grand Canyon is no doubt our country’s greatest natural landscape. The canyon is a huge, long valley cut into the earth. The width of the canyon ranges from one-tenth of a mile wide in some places to 18 miles in others. The canyon is also very long and deep. It is about 277 miles from one end to the other and one mile straight down. The edges of the canyon are called rims. The North Rim is 8,200 feet above sea level. The South Rim, the most developed part of Grand Canyon National Park, is 7,000 feet.
The Grand Canyon was created by the Colorado River some six million years ago. Large amounts of water carried about 500,000 tons of mud, sand and gravel downstream every day. This sediment in the river acted like sandpaper on the land. Over time, the force of the water and the sediment carved out the canyon. The canyon continues to widen because of rain, wind and changes in temperature. These forces erode the rock. Now, the layers of rock in the canyon form a rainbow. The main color is red, but some parts are gray, green and even pink. There is also some brown and violet-colored rock. The Redwall limestone forms cliffs of rock around the middle of the canyon. It used to be gray, but minerals from other rocks have washed down over it and stained it a deep red in places. The canyon walls also change color because of different environmental conditions. Constant erosion changes the shape and look of the canyon. These multi-colored rocks are what attract many tourists to the site.
Native Americans lived in an around Grand Canyon Arizona for thousands of years. In 1540, Spanish explorer Vasquez de Coronado and his men were searching for gold when they saw the canyon. It wasn’t until the mid 1700s, however, until people began to make maps of this part of the world. Then, in 1869, a man named John Wesley Powell and a team of explorers journeyed down the canyon. They studied the natural wonder for a long time and wrote down information about the rocks, plants, animal life and people living in and around the canyon. After Powell’s expedition, people began to talk about the Grand Canyon and first became interested in seeing it.
In 1919, the United States government made a large part of the canyon into a national park. This was done to protect the environment of the canyon. The government has paved roads in Grand Canyon National Park to make it easier for people to travel. Today, the Park has 38 hiking trails that cover a total of about 400 miles. The three main trails into the canyon are Bright Angel and South Kaibab, which begin on the South Rim, and North Kaibab, starting on the North rim of Grand Canyon National Park. These trails connect on the bottom of the canyon at Phantom Ranch, which has cabins, a dining hall and a campground. One-day trips by mule into the canyon begin on both the North and South Rims. Visitors may also travel by boat or raft down the Colorado River as it flows east to west through the canyon. Private companies provide most of the river trips, but visitors with the proper skill and equipment may obtain permits to travel the river on their own. The Grand Canyon National Park also offers horseback riding and fishing.
The rocks of the Grand Canyon tell a wonderful story about how the Earth changes over time Many plants and animals now live in and around the canyon, where once there were very few. There are coyotes, foxes, deer and even species as exotic as the kangaroo rat living throughout the canyon. There are forests of pine, fir and spruce on the North Rim. The hotter and drier South Rim is home to cactus and yucca. The Colorado River continues to break away pieces of rock from the bottom of the canyon. Harsh weather also still wears down the rocks. This makes the canyon deeper and wider. We can only wonder what the Grand Canyon will look like in another million years.
