Grand Canyon National Park

by Jennifer Uhlarik

So…I had the great fortune to take a two-week road trip with my family this summer. We were able to see a lot of great things on our cross-country travels, stopping in several states along the way, but our big destination was Arizona’s Grand Canyon. I’d been to see it when I was roughly 10 years old, but neither my husband nor my 18-year-old son had been. So that was the anchor location that we built our trip around, and while we didn’t attempt going down into the canyon, we were each awed by the splendor and beauty we saw from the South Rim. If you have never been, let me just say it is so worth the trip.

Grand Canyon At Sunset

© Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Another view of Grand Canyon
© Jennifer Uhlarik

Here’s a few facts. Grand Canyon is 277 miles long. At its widest point, it is eighteen miles wide, and at its narrowest, it is four miles wide. It is approximately one mile deep. Temperatures at the South Rim can range from 30-40 degrees in winter, with a good chance of snow at times…to 100 degrees or above during summer, though the nighttime temperatures can fall quite a bit, causing a big discrepancy. Inside the canyon, temperatures are known to reach 120 degrees easily.

Ancestral Puebloan granaries high above the Colorado  River at Nankoweap Creek, Grand Canyon.
(Photo: Drenaline, Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0)

Grand Canyon was the seventeenth national park to be established within the United States, and was granted that honor in 1919. But long before it was discovered by white men, Grand Canyon and the surrounding area was home to various tribes of Indians. Ancient Puebloan Indians, the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people, were thought to be some of the earliest settlers to Grand Canyon. Like I said, my family didn’t hike into the canyon, so we didn’t see them in person, but this photo of Ancient Puebloan granaries found within Grand Canyon indicate the Indians’ presence from long ago. In addition to the Ancient Puebloans, the Cohonina, the Sinagua, the Hualapai, and Havasupai—among many others—lived around or in the canyon long before the white man came along.

With that in mind, it was a real pleasure for us to see an authentic display of Native American dances

put on by a group of very talented folks. We had a truly amazing time watching the various dancers in their colorful regalia as they performed a traditional grass dance, hoop dance, and others for the park goers.

A Young Native American man performs a dance
honoring the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII.
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A young girl and her grandmother perform a traditional women's dance.
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A Native American Man performs the Grass Dance
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A young woman performs the Butterfly Dance
© Jennifer Uhlarik

A Native American man performs a traditional
Hoop Dance.
© Jennifer Uhlarik

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado

So how did the white or European settlers come across Grand Canyon? In the mid-1500’s, the Spanish found their way to the area as they searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola under orders from Conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. The small band of Spanish soldiers followed a Hopi guide about a third of the way into the canyon, but were forced to turn back because they lacked water. In their notes on the foray, they expressed concern that their guide purposely didn’t show them watering holes along the way for fear that the newcomers would stay. In 1776, Spanish priests returned, this time to the North Rim, as they searched for a way to reach California from Santa Fe, while others spent time attempting (unsuccessfully) to convert the Havasupai Indians to Christianity.

In 1826, a group of American trappers and mountain men traipsed into the area and “discovered” Grand Canyon. By the mid 1800’s, Lieutenant Joseph Ives led a military survey party into the canyon, only to deem the area “altogether valueless” and a “profitless locality.” (Doesn’t that make you laugh when you consider that five million people visit Grand Canyon National Park each year?)

Grand Canyon at Morning
© Jennifer Uhlarik

John Wesley Powell

In 1869, John Wesley Powell, who later founded and ran the U.S. Geological Society, explored the Colorado River with a team of men using wooden boats, and went back to explore the river again in 1871. Soon after, lead, zinc, asbestos, and copper deposits were found in the canyon, which led many to stake mining claims across the next two decades. Unfortunately for them, the process of mining in such inhospitable conditions proved to be difficult, if not deadly, and Grand Canyon finally shifted from a miner’s playground to one of the most sought-out tourist attractions within the United States.

There are lots of great things to do at Grand Canyon today. Both the North and South Rim areas are run by the National Park Service today. You can hike or ride a mule into the canyon, or white-water raft down the Colorado River. Helicopters rides are available for a price to those who want to see an up-closer view of the canyon floor without the hike or mule ride to get there. Hiking along the rim provides many scenic and beautiful views, and there are many historic buildings with interesting stories to be explored along the South Rim. The North Rim is much more rugged with fewer services than the South Rim. And the Western Rim, which is run by the Haulapai Indian Tribe rather than the National Park Service, is where tourists can go to experience the “Skywalk”—where they can walk out over the Grand Canyon on a crystal-clear pathway that provides a view into the canyon like no other. (Unfortunately, as one who has a very healthy fear of heights, I doubt I’d be able to experience the Skywalk or a hike/mule ride into the canyon).

Rugged terrain at Grand Canyon
© Jennifer Uhlarik

It’s your turn: Have you ever been to Grand Canyon? Did you stay on the rim or did you hike into the canyon? If you haven’t been, would you hike down? Why or why not?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.