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Grand Canyon
It's universally agreed that no one has ever been able to do justice to the Grand
Canyon, the crown jewel of natural wonders and America's number-one beauty
spot. Located 60 miles north of Williams and 80 miles north of Flagstaff, it lies
inside the state of Arizona. For convenience's sake, it is divided into four areas,
the South, West, North and East Rims, with most of the activity centered on the
South Rim.
The course of history can be tracked through the Canyon's layers. The upper
layers of rock, the Kaibab and Toroweap formations of the Permian Age, were
formed around 250 million years ago. At the foot of the Inner Gorge are some
of the oldest exposed rocks on earth the hard black rocks of the Precambrian
Age. The Colorado River began curving its way through the rock between 6 and
25 million years ago.
The Canyon was first sighted by white people in 1540, when a group of Spanish
soldiers led by Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas stumbled across it. But the
Captain had been sent on an expedition by Vasquez de Coronado to find
settlements described by Hopi Indians; he had embarked on a treasure hunt for
the legendary Cities of Gold and was not in the least impressed by the canyon,
which to him was an obstacle and an irritation.