The Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA - One of the America's Most Spectacular Natural Wonders

Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular natural sights in the United States. It is the scenic beauty of nature and acts as more than just a view. Actually, it is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile. This canyon is an unique combinations of geologic color and erosional forms. It overwhelms our senses through its immense size. When the earliest travelers stood here to see the canyon, they simply could not comprehend the canyon enormous scale. The scientists still do not know how exactly the canyon was created, but they do know the story stretches back to billions years ago. The Grand Canyon is part of the Colorado River basin which has developed over the past 70 million years. It is the result of erosion which exposes one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.

Grand Canyon is located within the Grand Canyon National Park. Grand Canyon National Park is the 15th site in the United States to have been named a national park. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the park is located in northwestern Arizona. The park covers 1,217,262 acres of unincorporated area in Coconino (Coconino County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Arizona) and Mohave (Mohave County is in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona.) counties. This park received nearly six million recreational visitors in 2016, which is the second highest count of all U.S. national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.

Many recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through this region approximately 5 to 6 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon. The first European to see the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540. This area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people (Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material and religious practices) considered the Grand Canyon a holy site, and made pilgrimages to it.

The Grand Canyon area has some of the cleanest air in the United States. However, at times the air quality can be considerably affected by events such as forest fires and dust storms in the Southwest. A number of actions have been taken to preserve and further improve air quality and visibility at the canyon.

There are approximately 1,737 known species of vascular plants, 167 species of fungi, 64 species of moss and 195 species of lichen found in Grand Canyon National Park. Sixty-three plants found here have been given special status by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are around 90 mammal species found along the Colorado River corridor, of which 18 are rodents and 22 are bats.

Grand Canyon National Park is one of the best sights for tourism. It is one of the world's premier natural attractions, attracting about five million visitors per year. Overall, 83% were from the United States: California (12.2%), Arizona (8.9%), Texas (4.8%), Florida (3.4%) and New York (3.2%) represented the top domestic visitors. Seventeen percent of visitors were from outside the United States; the most prominently represented nations were the United Kingdom (3.8%), Canada (3.5%), Japan (2.1%), Germany (1.9%) and The Netherlands (1.2%). If you are a traveler or traveling is your passion, then it is the best location for you to visit, it will definitely make you stunned with its naturally built gorgeous landscape.