The Grand Canyon is about eighteen miles wide at its widest point and it extends from the northern part of Arizona to the Grand Wash Cliffs, which is near the Nevada border. This is a distance of about two hundred seventy-seven miles. The canyon is over a mile deep in places and the deepest section of the canyon is fifty-six miles long. This is the stretch of river that runs from Lake Powell to Lake Mead.
The Grand Canyon National Park was officially established by the United States Congress in 1919. However, President Benjamin Harrison set aside a section of the canyon in 1893 that was referred to as the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve. This section was later redesigned as a game preserve in 1903. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt named it a national monument.
By 1975 new lands were added to the park and in 1979 it was designated as a “UNESCO World Heritage Site” and became one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world. It now accommodates millions of visitors each year.
The layers of the Canyon represent different time periods that can be determined by the sediments left behind. Looking out at the Grand Canyon, the general color that you’ll see is red. However, as you look closer you’ll notice that each layer has a distinctive hue of different colors that range from green, pink and gray in the top layers and a brown, violet and light grayish color as you go deeper. There is nothing that compares to seeing this natural wonder in person and experiences the sights and beauty personally.
