Arizona
Grand Canyon National Park
Inscribed 1979
The Grand Canyon is among the earth’s greatest on-going geological spectacles. Its vastness is stunning, and the evidence it reveals about the earth’s history is invaluable. Carved out by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon’s horizontal strata (nearly 1,500 m deep) retrace the geological history of the past 2 billion years.
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Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its immense size.
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Unique combinations of geologic color and erosional forms decorate a canyon that is 277 river miles (446km) long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile (1.6km) deep.
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Beautiful scenery draws around 5.5 million people each year to see the 1 mile deep Grand Canyon.
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About 10% of the visitors see the canyon from the North Rim of the park, which lies just 10 miles (16km) across the canyon from the South Rim, but is a 220 mile/ 354 km drive by car.
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People have been part of Grand Canyon’s history and culture from 10,000 years ago through today. Passing through or calling the canyon home, many people have influenced the development and protection of Grand Canyon for themselves, for visitors, and for the National Park Service.
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Grand Canyon Panorama Map: South and North Rims with everything in between. This is the “big picture,” a generalized overview. Distant features are shown at a smaller scale than foreground areas.