The Grand Canyon is a colorful, steep-sided gorge, carved by the Colorado River, in northern Arizona. The canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and is largely contained in the Grand Canyon National Park — one of the first national parks in the United States.
The canyon is about 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6 to 29 kilometers) and attains a depth of more than a mile (1,600 m).
Aside from casual sightseeing from the South Rim (averaging 7000 feet/2134 m above sea level), whitewater rafting and hiking are especially popular. The floor of the valley is accessible by hiking, muleback, or by boat or raft from upriver. Commercially organized rafting trips, using 35-foot, 15 person "baloney boats" equipped with outboard engines, make the trip from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek in about six days while 18-foot rafts and dories powered only with oars and paddles, and take over two weeks to complete the journey. Sightseers are also carried over the canyon by helicopter.
In 1963, author and backpacker Colin Fletcher became the first man to walk the length of Grand Canyon National Park entirely within the rim of the canyon, as chronicled in his bestselling memoir The Man Who Walked Through Time.
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