106 years ago today, Grand Canyon National Park was established! It was the 15th site to be named a national park. It covers over 1.2 million acres and received more than 4/7 million visitors in 2023. Native Americans have inhabited the area for thousands of years. It became known to Americans in the 1880s once railroads were built and pioneers developed infrastructure and early tourist attractions. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site in 1903, but despite his interest in preserving the land for public use, it didn’t become a national park until 1919.
The Grand Canyon isn’t the world’s deepest canyon – it’s not even the deepest in the U.S.! The deepest canyon in the U.S. is Hell’s Canyon along the border of Oregon and Idaho, which drops half a mile deeper than the Grand Canyon. Weather in the Grand Canyon varies according to elevation. The coldest recorded temperature was -22 on the North Rim in 1985, and the warmest recorded temperature is 120 degrees, recorded multiple times in the summer months. A weather station on the North Rim is the coldest and wettest area of the park, and Phantom Ranch, the hottest and driest point in the park, is just 8 miles away.
Today, Grand Canyon National Park is the 2nd most visited national park after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Learn more in the audio below.