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An elevated view of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. See more pictures of national parks.
Its grandness and expansiveness have inspired jokes about what might fit within -- but how big is the Grand Canyon, really? And how did it get that way? The Grand Canyon is at the heart of the 1 million acre Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The canyon is the largest gorge in the world and is known as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
At the canyon's bottom flows the Colorado River. The river begins in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and runs 1,450 miles (2,338.6 km) to the Gulf of California in Mexico. The canyon is measured by river miles -- the 277 miles (445.8 km) that flow from Lees Ferry to the Grand Wash Cliffs [source: National Park Service]. Just how long is 277 miles? That's more than six times the length of Rhode Island and about the same length of Indiana [source: NETSTATE].
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The width of the canyon varies. From rim to rim the average width is 10 miles (16 km), expanding to 18 miles (28.9 km) at its maximum and shrinking down to 600 feet (182.9 m) at its minimum. And from rim to river -- the depth of the canyon -- it averages 1 vertical mile (1.6 km) (and that's straight down, not your walking mileage if you were planning a hike!) [source: National Park Service].
How did the canyon form? And how old is it anyways? Find out in the next section.
