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Into the Canyon

A hike into the canyon is a descent through both climate and time. To travel the distance from the canyon rim to the floor is like a trip from Canada to Mexico. The North Rim offers cool air—and animals, such as wild turkey and mule deer. Ponderosa pine and aspen trees grow. Downward, into the canyon, the pines mingle with a woodland of piñon and juniper clinging to the slopes. The air becomes warmer. At the bottom is a desert where the heat can reach 118 degrees F (48 degrees C). Cottonwoods and willows beside the river are surrounded by dry desert scrub and cactus. The canyon depths are home to rattlesnakes and scorpions.

The mile-deep (1.6 kilometers-deep) canyon also takes you back in time. The layered walls of rock are an open geology book of earth’s history. The top layer of Kaibab limestone—formed of the remains of corals, sponges, and other marine animals—is the youngest, about 240 million years old. At the bottom lies the Vishnu Schist—1.7 billion years old, some of the planet’s oldest rock. The layers of rock between reveal a turbulent history of mountain upheaval, lava deposits, erosion by wind and water, and submersion by shallow seas. Finally the land rose, forming the Colorado Plateau. Five or six million years ago, the young Colorado River began to cut the layers of rock, and the Grand Canyon was born.

 

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