Arizona Grand Canyon National Park map and highlights

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Arizona Grand Canyon National Park map and highlights

Map of National Park Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon, Arizona on the map. National Park Grand Canyon (Arizona state) on the map of US.     
Below: The many-hued Grand Canyon presents a dazzling display of purples, pinks and browns.     
Far right: Pima Point on the South Rim affords a spectacular view of the steep walls of the Canyon.     
Grand Canyon, Arizona     
Established: 1919 Acreage: 1,218,375     
Tn the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural  wonder which, so far as I know, is in kind absolutely unparalleled  throughout the rest of the world... .Leave it as it is. You cannot  improve on it....'—President Theodore Roosevelt, 1903.     
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is  not only awe-inspiring in its depth and mind-boggling in its extent, but  it has a dazzling, constantly changing display of colors, light and  shadow. Amid this pageantry of color, the Grand Canyon offers panoramic  vistas of sunrises and sunsets against the rugged cliffs. It is truly  one of the most spectacular sights on the face of the earth. The  canyon's statistics are equally amazing: it is about one mile deep; from  rim to rim it ranges from 600 feet to 18 miles wide. Measuring all the  twists and turns of the river, the canyon is 277 miles long. The  canyon's two rims are a five-hour drive apart, but they are also linked  by a narrow suspension bridge wide enough for a person and a mule. The  North Rim is, on the average, about 1000 feet higher than the South Rim,  and the weather is correspondingly cooler and wetter. The North Rim is  largely a spruce-fir forest, while the South Rim is drier and its plant  life adapted to these conditions.     
For those who wish to go below the rim  into the canyon itself, mule rides offer an exciting way to view the  scenery. Trails along the rims and down into the canyon allow the hiker  to experience the canyon from varying perspectives. The canyon can also  be viewed from a boat trip on the river.     
Four thousand years ago prehistoric  Indians lived in the canyon and climbed up steep talus slopes with  spears after their dinner of bighorn sheep, spending nights under rock  overhangs. Around 500 AD the Anasazi Indians began to move in, hunting  and gathering. As they adapted to the environment, they settled down  into towns. This phase was called the Pueblo, distinguished by the  pottery, granaries and above-ground masonry dwellings. When drought  struck about 800 years ago, the Anasazi moved east. Their descen-dents,  the Hopi Indians, now live east of the park.     
Wildlife in the park includes part of the  largest mule deer concentration in the United States, as well as  mountain lions, bobcats, desert bighorn sheep, coyotes and badgers. At  Phantom Ranch near the Colorado River are numerous ring-tailed cats. On  the North Rim are Kaibab squirrels, and on the South Rim, the Abert  squirrels. Both species are beautiful and interesting.
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