Our reaction at the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon is that pictures don’t do it justice. It needs to be seen to appreciate the magnitude of it.
To help with this, here are a few fun facts:
- The Grand Canyon is 1 mile deep (3 stacked empire state buildings), 18 miles wide, and 277 river miles long
- The south rim trail runs 12 miles of fairly level terrain along the upper plateau of the canyon – we walked several sections of that trail over a period of 3 days
- The road to the north rim is closed until May 15th, due to wintry conditions. Incidentally, its a 212 mile drive between the park’s South Rim Village and the North Rim Village…
- If driving is not your thing, and you would rather hike, the hiking trail across the canyon was also closed (and beyond our skill level anyway) and involves a 9.6 miles descent during which there is a 4500 foot elevation change, followed by a 14.3 mile ascent to the North rim during which there is a 6000 ft elevation change. The park reports that many over-estimate their fitness and preparedness level, and as a consequence, they perform on average 300 rescues per year within the park boundaries.
