Popular Facts about the Grand Canyon

Knowing some interesting facts about the Grand Canyon before you go can enrich your visit or entice your imagination.

Popular Facts About the Grand Canyon

• The Grand Canyon National Park covers 1,904 square miles.
• The Grand Canyon itself is 277 miles long, 6,000 feet deep at its lowest point and as much as 18 miles wide.
• It takes two days to travel to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. This is regardless of whether you walk or you ride a mule.
• The oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon are about 2000 million years old. This compared to the oldest rocks in the world at about 4000 million years old, which are located in northern Canada, makes the Grand Canyon a relative youngster.
• Facts about the Grand Canyon demonstrate that surviving artifacts in the Grand Canyon indicate that the first people lived in the area about 12,000 years ago.
• The Paleo-Indian, Archaics, Ancestral Puebloan, Cohonina, Pai, Zuni, Hopi and Navajo are among the Native Americans who have inhabited the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas.
• California condors are being reestablished in Arizona and the Grand Canyon area. You may be able to see a California condor in the Grand Canyon, particularly during the summer months.
• The Grand Canyon National Park includes five of the seven life zones of North America, the Upper and Lower Sonoran, Transition, Canadian and Hudsonian.
• The Grand Canyon is home to Federal endangered or threatened species such as the kanab ambersnail, the California pelican, the Yuma clapper rail, the bald eagle, the Mexican spotted owl and the Southwestern willow flycatcher.
• There are about 1,000 caves located in the Grand Canyon, only a few of which have been mapped.
• One of the most important facts about the Grand Canyon it that it was designated a National Park in 1919.