S Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon Arizona – Images by Lee Foster by Lee Foster
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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. Over eons, the river created the canyon, displacing the soil a grain at a time. Ives would be surprised to see the number of nature observers and rafters who express a great fondness for the river. A third of the visitors to the park each year are foreigners. Records kept at the park show that people from 110-120 countries seek out the park each year. The Japanese, British, Germans, French, Italians, Canadians, and Australians are among the more prominent groups. The park service once conducted some revealing studies of human behavior at the South Rim. For example, the average Japanese visitor spent 17 minutes gazing into the Canyon and 57 minutes in the gift shops. The beauty of natural erosion is the major draw to this rather harsh environment, situated at 7,000 feet above sea level. Most visitors come to see the Canyon from the South Rim. Winter brings the dedicated photographers who seek out the crispest particulate- free light. It is said that air pollution, from multiple sources, reduces the optimal visibility by perhaps 30 percent. Getting to Grand Canyon National Park The Grand Canyon is in northwest Arizona. The nearest major fly-in cities are Phoenix, 225 miles southeast, and Las Vegas, 278 miles west. Flagstaff is closer, but has limited commercial aircraft flights from Phoenix. The small Grand Canyon National Park Airport is served by charter flights from Salt Lake, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Interstates 17 and 40 lead to the Canyon, with connecting routes 89 and 64, which are both good paved roads. One way to arrive at the Grand Canyon is the Grand Canyon Railway, connecting the town of Williams to the South Rim, some 62 miles away. The experience of riding the railway is highly recommended. Lodging at both ends can be arranged with a rail ticket in packages from AAA and other travel agents. You begin at the train platform in Williams in the morning. Cowboy shootout performers entertain with re- enactments of the “lawless” Old West. The same entertainers stage a “robbery” on the train ride back from Williams. The leisurely three-hour ride up to the Canyon passes juniper and pinon pine forests alternating with ponderosa pine enclaves, as the altitude changes. On the train you can order a beer or wine. There is a luxury club car and dome cars for scenic viewing. The park service is delighted with the train because the 150,000 people carried each year on the train cuts down on the automobiles that would be entering the park. History of Grand Canyon National Park The natural history of the planet is visible in a two-billion-year record on the walls of the Grand Canyon. The Vishnu schist at the bottom of the Canyon is part of the earliest earth formations. The river has been sandpapering or buzz-sawing its way, depending on your preferred metaphor, through the more recently deposited sediment. Sediment that accumulated in the wink of a geologist’s eye, mere millions of years ago, allowed for the possibility of a Grand Canyon. The human story can be seen at the main Anasazi Native American site along the Canyon. This site is called Tusayan, east from the Rim Village, and has a visitor interpretive center. Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning “the ancient ones.” The Anasazi culture, which developed prominently at other Southwest sites such as Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta, includes the Basketmaker culture (circa 500 AD), when tight baskets of exceptional quality were produced, and the Pueblo culture (1200 AD), when the agrarian and sedentary life of farming reached its peak. About 2,000 known Native American sites have been identified by archaeologists in the Grand Canyon. When drought forced the Anasazi to move east, they contributed to the racial stock that became the Hopi and Navajo cultures. Although the Anasazi are known to have flourished in the Grand Canyon, there were also earlier tribes, about 4,000-2,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found wood twig fetishes made by these people in the shape of deer and sheep, sometimes with small arrows piercing them. Several are on display at the Tusayan site visitor center. Techniques such as carbon dating have determined the 4,000-year date. Between these early people and the Anasazi, a long uninhabited period ensued in the Canyon. The next chapter of the human story occurred when Francis Vasques de Coronado entered the region. Coronado dispatched Don Lopez de Cardenas to the Grand Canyon area, where the Hopi tribe directed him to the rim. Coronado and his comrades searched restlessly for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, which were presumed to glitter like a mirage of gold and silver somewhere out on the deserts of the Southwest. Pueblo Native Americans of the Grand Canyon area also attracted missionaries. Father Francisco Tomas Garces, who visited the Hualapai and Havasupai lands at the Grand Canyon, is believed to be the first person to use the term Rio Colorado, meaning the “river colored red” by the silt. The U.S. assumed control of the Grand Canyon from Mexico with the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe. Several geological surveys of the area occurred in the next decades. The most famous of these geological explorers was the one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, who rode a dory through the Grand Canyon in 1869, charting the river’s course. His book on the expedition is a classic of exploration. Powell and his men didn’t know what lay around the next bend. In 1916 Woodrow Wilson signed the bill making the Grand Canyon a National Park. Main Attraction of Grand Canyon National Park The most accessible area of the Grand Canyon is the Grand Canyon Village along the South Rim, where most of the support facilities and 95 percent of all visitors congregate. A circuitous route leads east from the South Rim and then north before curving in in to the North Rim, but that is another world altogether and can be considered as a Nearby Trip. If you plan to stay at the Grand Canyon, know that there are extensive lodging choices at the South Rim and in the gateway town of Williams. There are also camping and RV sites at the South Rim. However, reservations should be made as far in advance as possible, especially during the busy summer season. Arizona Grand Canyon South Rim El Tovar is the oldest and most elegant of the lodgings at the Grand Canyon. El Tovar was built in 1905, followed by Bright Angel Lodge in 1935. The El Tovar dining room is famous for sumptuous dining in this rustic setting. Try their specialties, such as French onion soup and roast duck, perhaps preceded by a prickly-pear syrup margarita. Maswik Lodge is the most recent and modern of the South Rim properties. When pausing in Williams before or after a trip, the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel is a dependable choice. When at the Grand Canyon there are several ways to see it. The most popular method of viewing the Canyon is by driving to overlooks along the east side of the South Rim. In the busy summer season, due to the numerous cars, the Park Service restricts driving along the west side portion of the South Rim overlooks. Park shuttles provide the transportation. Other ways of encountering the Canyon include hiking along the South Rim or into the canyon, biking the South Rim with rental bikes, riding a mule on a day trip through a ponderosa pine forest to the Abyss overlook, and riding a mule (only 10 per day allowed) down to Phantom Ranch at the river. Rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is another option. One spectacular way to view the Grand Canyon is on a helicopter ride from the South Rim. Twenty-five and 45 minutes rides can be arranged with AirStar. From a helicopter the full grandeur of the canyon becomes apparent, with the river snaking along at the bottom and the geological time scale on the canyon walls apparent.