100 Years of Grand Canyon National Park

Happy 100 to the Grand Canyon National Park! President Teddy Roosevelt urged Americans to protect this great canyon, “What you can do is keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American should see.”

I have had the opportunity to visit this national park two times (so far).  It’s on our list to take the two children there, so we will be back.

I first visited the Grand Canyon National Park many years ago after finishing the 8th grade and went with my grandma. Coming from the Midwest, I had never seen this grandness (had to use the word in this blog at least once!)!  As a child you often feel like the center of everything and I remember seeing this canyon and realizing how little people are in this great world and what wonders exist out there to see and experience.

Many years later, I traveled to the Grand Canyon National Park with my husband in the spring about 13 years ago.  We spent an entire week exploring this national park.  Again, the grandness of the canyon truly resonated here with me. We really enjoyed our time in this national park!  We even experienced some snow while out on a hike one day!  In today’s social media era this would be a disaster, but our camera broke on the way back home, so we have no photos from this amazing trip! Crazy! And our cell phones did not take photos back then either (not sure our children will ever understand that idea!).

My husband visited the park last year with a couple of friends. Enjoy a few of his photos here.

To understand this grandness, I will share some statistics of the park with you.  The park covers 1,217,403.32 acres or 1,904 square miles. The Colorado River runs 277 miles in the park. The South Rim averages 7,000 feet of elevation and the North Rim averages 8,000 feet.  The park preserves landscapes and resources ranging from 1,840 to 270 million years old.  The Colorado River established itself there about 6 million years ago. So, this park has some grandness (tired of the word, yet? 😉 ).

If you visit Las Vegas or Arizona, take the time and check out this grand national park! Definitely worth the time and journey! Just make sure to protect your camera!

Cheers to 100 and to the next many 100!