Grand Canyon 大峽谷

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. It is considered a Wonder of the Natural World.

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet / 1,800 metres) Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. While the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists, recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to its present-day configuration.
Before European immigration, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon ("Ongtupqa" in Hopi language) a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.[8] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.


Touring the Grand Canyon
Whatever your reasons for traveling to the Grand Canyon; to spend time hiking deep into the canyons, or to run the rapids of the Colorado River far below; a trip here will have you standing at the canyon rim staring in rapt admiration of the beauty that is exposed to your view.
The Grand Canyon, stretching for over 250 miles along the Colorado River has a wide array of scenic delights, among them the vast geologic history that is exposed to your view by the work of many years of erosion.

Some of the larger animals seen wondering in and around the Grand Canyon include big horn sheep, mule deer, mountain lions, bobcats and coyote. Birds you many see include both Bald and Golden Eagles, several types of hawks including the Red-tailed Hawk, Jays of all types, Mountain Chickadees and Wild Turkeys. Reptiles include many species of lizards and snakes.
Well known for its size and its very intricate and diverse landscape it is also very significant geologically because of the ancient rock layers that are so well preserved and so beautifully exposed to the eye in the walls of the canyon. They present a living history of the continent of North America and are spectacular both in what they afford us historically as well as scenically.
Approximately five million people travel to the canyon each year, and most will see the canyon from the south rim, coming for the scenery and very little more. There is however a great deal more to be seen and done in the Grand Canyon , including Grand Canyon Village, Hermits Rest Road and Desert View Drive. The South Rim, 60 miles north of Williams and 80 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, is the most easily accessed part of the park and is open all year.
A much smaller number of people will view the canyon from the north edge, which is only 10 miles directly across from the South Rim. The North Rim rises 1000 feet higher than the South Rim and is much less accessible. Heavy snows close the rim from October to May every year.
Even in the best of weather this side, although an incredible viewpoint, is much more difficult to get to, being about 220 miles further by car than the south rim, or by foot, across the canyon, about twenty miles hiking across the South and North Kaibab trail.
The Inner Canyon includes everything below the rim and is seen primarily by die hard hikers, mule riders and river rafters. Many opportunities exist here for adventurous people who live to backpack, ride the mules to the well known Phantom Ranch, or take a rafting trip down the river.
Having supported human life for over 4 thousand years, the canyons are the site of much history of human life a well, and have given up many secrets over the years such as petroglyphs, pottery, dolls and the history of the Anasazi, left behind in over 3500 different locations of throughout the canyon.