Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Grand Canyon....

A Nice View from the top of The Grand Canyon: Absolutly beautiful, everywhere you look, is breath taking.

The Grand Canyon, one of the world’s premier natural attractions, known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape, is a steep-sided canyon (or gorge, a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river) carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona in United States.


Geologically it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are beautifully preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (1.83 km) (6000 feet)

In 1908, the Grand Canyon became an official national monument and became a national park in 1919. 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.

Weather in the Grand Canyon varies according to elevation.The forested rims are high enough to receive winter snowfall, but along the Colorado River in the Inner Gorge, temperatures are similar to those found in Tucson and other low elevation desert locations in Arizona.


Amanda says "Another nice view, walk all the way from the other side accross to where this pic is taken (following the lowest point, where the river is), 27 miles roughly. Mind you not in a day....(which is not entertained)It took us a total of 4 days, we walked down 8 miles the first day and camped out, across 8 miles the second day and camped out, 4 miles up and camped and then the rest of the way out (about another 4-5 miles). My legs hurt SOOOOO bad, I had to take Aleeve to help with the pain (it was the hardest waking up and having to hike again). My family did a couple of smaller hikes as well so they went about 6 extra miles in total (I stayed at the campsite and rested while they did this). Yes, I walked all 27 mile :)"



This just shows an example of how the trail is, it zig-zags back and forth to make it less steep. But walking around is definitely the hardest thing .

Aside from casual sightseeing from the South Rim (averaging 7,000 feet [2,100 m] above sea level), skywalk, rivers all green because of the minerals in the water, rafting, hiking, running and helicopter tours are especially popular here.

Tons of Thanks to Amanda through whom I could see and write this....

All that I can just say is 'WOW', and you?

No comments: