Grand CANYON - USA

Nature's Architectural Wonder

INTRODUCTION

This world famous canyon is located in the Arizona State of United States of America. Basically this canyon is steep sided and has been formed by the carving of Colorado River. When we define a canyon we say that a canyon is a deep ravine between cliffs normally formed by the carving of a river. Most of the part of Grand Canyon is situated in the Grand Canyon National Park. This canyon is the result of uplift of Colorado Plateau. Although the right time of the formation of Grand Canyon is still a point of debate among the geologists but current evidences suggest that the Colorado River started flowing through the canyon about 17 million years ago.

It is really a big canyon and you can find the proof of the statement with the fact that the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long with the width of 18 miles and depth is about 1 mile. Although it is neither the deepest nor the widest canyon of the world but it is famous for its overwhelming size and specially the intricacy and colourful landscape. It was 1540 when the first European named Garcia Lopez viewed the Grand Canyon. The original inhabitants of the canyon are Peublo People who were Native Americans.

TOURISM

The Grand Canyon is a big tourist attraction in United States of America. Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most famous natural attractions in the world. You can imagine that how popular is the site with the fact it attracts about 5 million people every year.  But the majority of the tourists are from the different states of America which is about 83% while the remaining 17% of the visitors come from other countries like United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Canada and Japan.No doubt that the site as a whole is a wonderful place to see.

Besides the normal sightseeing at Grand Canyon, there are other activities which the visitors can enjoy like rafting, hiking and helicopter tours.  If you have a plan to visit the site then you have all the options to reach and access. To reach the floor of the valley you can access by foot, muleback or by boat or raft. It is very difficult for the hikers to come down the canyon and reach back to the rim in one day.

The officials recommend because of the distance, steep and rocky trails and heat exhaustion. Recently on the west side of Grand Canyon the Hualapai tribes opened the Grand Canyon Skywalk which is glass bottomed. This gives the beautiful view indeed but it has some limitations like you can’t take cameras and personal equipment are not allowed in view of securing the glass from damage.

PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Grand Canyon National Park has different types of plants. There are about 1737 species of vascular plants, 167 species of fungi and 64 species of moss. There are about dozen of endemic plants. There are 34 species of mammals of which 15 are rodents and eight are bats. The weather of the place varies according to the elevation. The forested parts of the canyon receive snowfall in winter. The weather remains dry but there is substantial precipitation twice a year. The fatalities of the place are also known.