U.S.A.
U.S.A. facts & history in brief
U.S.A. Map
The Grand Canyon is also known
and situated in the
Grand Canyon National
Park, in the U.S.
Although not the largest,
it is one of the most
spectacular one in the world.
It is situated in northwest
Arizona, extends 446 kilometres
and the Colorado River flows
through the canyon.
The canyon is 1.5 kilometres
deep and 29 kilometres wide in
some sections, including many
steep hills and tall spires
of rock and extends 493,059 hectares.
The canyon was formed by the
Colorado River eroding layers
of limestone, sandstone, shale,
and gneiss, a coarse-grained,
banded rock over a period
of millions of years.
The layers vary in shade and
colour, change during the day.
At sunset, the red and brown layers
of rock are especially brilliant.
The park ranges from about 380 to
2,795 metres above sea level.
Temperatures vary as much
as 14 Celsius degrees
from the bottom to the top.
The annual average rainfall
varies from 18
centimetres at the bottom
of the canyon to
66 centimetres on the highest
part of the rim,
these variations in elevation
and climate create
several different micro climates
and have a wide variety of wildlife.
The Kaibab Limestone
forming the cap rock was
deposited 260 million years ago.
Some of the rocks exposed
at the bottom,
gneiss and schist goes back
to about 1.8 billion years.
A large section of southwestern
U.S. risen from near sea level to over
10,000 high by the collision of
tectonic plates about
70 million years ago.
Melting snow and rain water
from the Rocky Mountains
running towards the sea including
wind carved out the Grand Canyon.
Many different American
Indian tribes lived in
the Grand Canyon and surrounding
area during the last 4,000 years.
The Havasupai tribe of
about 300 still live on a
reservation in Havasu
Canyon, a side canyon
outside the park's boundaries.
Garcia Lopez de Cardenas,
with a group of Spanish
explorers was the first Europeans
to see the Grand Canyon in 1540.
In 1869, John Wesley Powell
the American geologist
led the first river
expedition through the canyon,
and he named it the Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon National
Park was established
in 1919, and nearly doubled in
size by the U.S. Congress in 1974.
More than 4 million people
visit the Grand Canyon
National Park annually to
drive, along the park
roads and stop at scenic
viewing points.
Others hike along the
approximately 640 kilometres
of trails in the park, or
ride mules into the canyon,
or enter by boat or raft
on the Colorado River.
The south rim is the most
visited and developed
part of Grand Canyon National Park.
The Grand Canyon is a natural barrier to
travel between the south
and north rims.
The distance around the canyon
by road (East) is 344 kilometres.
The hiking distance by trail
into the canyon
and out the other side is
almost 34 kilometres and
takes two days hike for
most visitors to cross.
The major viewing points
along the south rim are the
Desert View, Mather Point,
and Hermits Rest
and Bright Angel Point,
Cape Royal, and Point
Imperial on the north rim.
The headquarters of the
park are at Grand
Canyon Village, on the south
rim of the canyon.
The south rim is open to visitors
throughout the year.
The north rim is closed
from mid-October to mid-May
because of heavy snow.
The Grand Canyon National
Park has 38 hiking
trails covering about 640 kilometres.
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 and they all meet on the bottom
of the canyon at Phantom
Ranch, which has cabins,
a restaurant, and a campsite.
Reservations are necessary.
The park also offers horse-riding and
fishing, but hunting is prohibited.
Reservations or permits are required for
all overnight hikes, mule trips, and river tours.
Reservations should be made well in advance.
The Grand Canyon National Park has a wide
variety of wild life of birds, bighorn sheep, elk,
beavers, lizards, mountain lions, deer, antelope,
mule, pronghorn and snakes. Some wild life like the
white-tailed Kaibab squirrels and pink Grand Canyon
rattlesnakes live only in the Park's area.
Forests on the south rim of the canyon consist mainly
of juniper and pinon trees and fir, spruce and aspen
trees grow mostly on the north rim, but the desert
cactuses grow throughout the park.
Our Hotel suggested and arranged 'Sweet Tours' as our tour
to Hoover Dam , through the Mojave Desert to Williams and
to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon "One of the 7 wonders
of the world in the U.S."
We had a refreshment and rest stop at Williams (Route 66)
before our arrival to the Canyon.
Arriving at the South Rim, Hui Chin and I decided we will
walk the near 5 km South Rim Trail for an 'intimate'
knowledge of the Grand Canyon.
The scenery was awesome, the hiking refreshing.
The Tour was rather expensive at US$129 per person,
but was much more enjoyable, than the tour I had
to endure 7 years ago to the west rim.
Sweet Tours are limited to a van
full of people and our driver/tour
guide Nan was a friendly, likeable
person.
On my previous tour it was a large tour bus full
of people and it was 'hijacked' by a large group
of Korean people and their guide only conducting
his group, not allowing time and opportunity for
our driver to the 6 of us
not understanding Korean.
I've complained at the time, to Interstate Tours,
the tour firm and the Las Vegas Tourist Office and
the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, they never even
bothered to answer.
It is not a complaint against the Koreans or their
guide's, it is a complaint
that we missed our guided tour.
We had a refreshment and
rest stop at Williams
(Route 66) before our
arrival to the Canyon.
Arriving at the South Rim,
Hui Chin and I decided
we will walk the near 5
km South Rim Trail for
an 'intimate' knowledge
of the Grand Canyon.
The scenery was awesome,
the hiking refreshing.
The Tour was rather expensive at
US$129 per person, but was much
more enjoyable, than the tour I
had to endure 7 years ago to the
west rim. Sweet Tours are limited
to a van full of people and our
driver/tour guide Nan was a friendly,
likeable person.
On my previous tour it was a large tour bus full
of people and it was 'hijacked' by a large group
of Korean people and their guide only conducting
his group, not allowing time and opportunity for
our driver to the 6 of us
not understanding Korean.
We've complained at the time, to Interstate Tours,
the tour firm and the Las Vegas Tourist Office and
the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, they never even
bothered to answer.
It is not a complaint against the Koreans
or their guide's, it is a complaint that we
missed our guided tour.
The Tour company should have given
the Koreans due to their large number
a separate bus and ensuring or warning
us (There was six of us), that their
advertised tour that was expected
to be in English went ahead or was
cancelled. We all paid good money
for a conducted tour, that was not
conducted for us.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
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