Grand Canyon West Print

Eagle Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA • Vast range of warm colors • Big desert skies • Geological marvel When you are standing on the glass Skywalk at West Canyon the rim is 70 feet behind you and the other side is 3 miles in front. Dare to look down, the bottom is 2,000 feet below. The Grand Canyon is a monumental earthen fissure stretching 277 miles long and over a mile deep, streaked with colorful bands from top to bottom. These different rock layers have provided a near-perfect timeline for geologists to discover and date the canyon’s history. 60-70 million years ago the Rocky Mountains formed, and the western drainage of these mountains became the Colorado River. Over these millions of years, the Colorado River twisted its way through the plateau, changing courses several times as the terrain below it was altered. Another shift of the Earth’s plates caused the plateau to tilt westward. This slanted the ground, allowing gravity to pull the westbound river water faster. The increased speed of the water flow is how the Grand Canyon began to erode. Over the next 5-6 million years, the rushing Colorado River cut into the earth, exposing each stacked sediment layer of the plateau little by little. These are the stripes stretching across the canyon walls – nearly 40 different rock layers have been identified. The raven in native American lore is a creature of metamorphosis, symbolizing change/transformation.