S Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon Arizona – Images by Lee Foster by Lee Foster
Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon Arizona – Images by Lee Foster by Lee Foster Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives wins top honors in the history of American travel for the classic misjudgment of interest in a travel destination. Ives wrote, in 1857, after viewing the Grand Canyon, “Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality.” Little did Ives know that Coronado and his men had gazed into these reaches earlier, but saw little profit in scenery and more in gold. Ives could not imagine that by the 21st century nearly five million annual visitors, both Americans and citizens from many other countries, would rank the Grand Canyon as one of the superb travel destinations on the planet. For spectacular vistas from dizzying heights and for technicolor transformations, especially at sunrise and sunset, the Grand Canyon is world class. A mile deep, 600 feet to 18 miles wide, and 277 miles long, the Grand Canyon offers a sublime spectacle, with a slice of geologic time visible on the vertical walls. Not content to be completely wrong about the Canyon, Ives went on to generalize about the Colorado River. “It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River, along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed,” said Ives. The mighty Colorado River, eroding its way through Utah and entering Arizona from the north, cuts into the deep gorges of the Grand Canyon as it passes west. The river, moving at assured and moderate speed, pushes boulders ahead with ease.
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