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Travelogues
Oh! Grand Canyon
Its 'Grand' name does not do justice to its grandeur. It is a valley sculpted by the Colorado River using a chisel made of nothing harder than water to cut and expose layers after layers of history. The 6000 feet deep Grand Canyon is also two billion years deep. Central North America Was Situated on Equator The cutting edge of water has created a show window: a large one, - 450 kms long, 1500 meters deep and 15 kms wide. Rain and wind, alas, have eroded the last 250 million years of layers of rocks. We traverse these vast eras in the space of only one and a half km, from the rim to the river, going back to the time when only micro life such as bacteria and algae existed on earth. And the seeker can see fossil records. It may be unbelievable that about 250 million years ago (mya) this part of America was on the equator and therefore richer in life. Then about 200 mya North America started to separate from the mother landmass Pangaea and gradually move to its present location (India stared separating from Africa around 150 mya). The Grand Canyon's layers indicate that at least seven seas, several lagoons and a desert have existed there, off and on thereby forming various layers of different rocks. Kaibab, the present top layer was formed 250 mya but has become the top layer only because erosion has removed the 8000 feet thick layers that formed afterwards. The bottom most layer, viz. Vishnu schist, of the Grand Canyon was formed 2,000 mya. Thus these layers contain fossils of life forms that existed during the period between 2,000 mya and 250 mya, covering almost half of the age of earth. Poignant Human History No wonder this fabulous and fantastic formation captures the imagination not only of those who witness it but also of those who hear or read about it. The eye is literally hit by the rich colours of the precipitous faces of rocks - white, yellow, green, red and black, in all their blends and spectral hues. In addition to the scenic splendour and geologic mystery, the natural history of the Grand Canyon is extraordinary in its diversity. But the human history, connected with this natural wonder, projects a poignant dimension of exploitation, killing, and drama, the most important being the daredevil adventures defying death. Therefore in this trip to U.S.A., after the birth of my Grand Son, the Grand Canyon of Colorado was top priority. By Road to Grand Canyon This time I was living with my son Sandeep and daughter-in-law Anuradha at Los Gatos, an exquisite suburb of San Jose, one-hour drive from San Francisco. Distance to Grand Canyon is 1200 kms, but we took a detour of additional 600 kms. My friend Mohan, a Ph.D. in engineering, and 65 years of age who had come to meet me from Minnesota and Param Singh, a friend of Sandeep, also joined us in this fantastic journey. We could start only on first December and were required to be back before sixth Dec. We started by 7:45. We had decided to drive 1200 kms straight and reach St. George, a town on the border of Zion National Park by about 9 in the evening. I took out some books on Grand Canyon and started reading with spicy interference in between by everybody. |
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When one looks at the Grand Canyon from any one of the several view points on its rims, one's breath is taken away, one's mouth opens as if dumb founded, one is flabbergasted at the staggering size and amazement of
colors. And one is left wondering as to how such a symphony of structures of stupendous stature was sculpted on earth and by what earthly and unearthly forces! What a magnificent scene! What grandeur! Perhaps nowhere on earth has nature nurtured so striking an example of the power of something as humble as water. But Grand Canyon is even more than all this!
The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It is in the grand company of the grandest natural wonders viz. the Himalayas, Victoria Falls, the Great Barrier Reef etc. The Grand Canyon is not the deepest canyon in the world and yet it is the most visited of them all. Located in the desert of Arizona State far away from everywhere, except the world famous casino town Las Vegas, which is about 400 kms west, and it draws five million tourists every year. Las Vegas, on the other hand, attracts 30 million people annually, a good half of them come to make a quick buck (perhaps better half are able to resist the temptation), a kind of gold rush for which a tradition exists in this area.