Grand Canyon Arizona
For millions of years, the Colorado River has cut a channel that created the Grand Canyon. It is about 277 miles in length and about a mile deep with ranges varying in width from 0.25 to 15 miles. The Grand Canyon is a very colorful, steep-sided gorge in the state of Arizona. The canyon itself is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park which is one of the first national parks in the United States.
Theodore Roosevelt, the president of the U.S. at the time, used to visit the area hunting and enjoying the scenery. He was a major proponent of the Grand Canyon area. The Spanish explorer Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, made the first recorded sighting of the Grand Canyon area in 1540. In the late 1860’s, U.S. Major John Wesley Powell led the first scientific expedition to the canyon. The sedimentary rock units exposed in the canyon was referred by Powell as “leaves in a great story book.” Though the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon walls long before.
Today, Grand Canyon National Park is considered as one of the world’s premiere tourist attraction. The canyon has an estimated number of visitors of 5 million coming from all the 50 states including Puerto Rico, along with visitors from 41 foreign countries.
