Читать книгу Backpacking Arizona. From Deep Canyons to Sky Islands онлайн

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The Colorado Plateau is a varied landscape that covers approximately the northeastern third of Arizona, from the Mogollon Rim north and eastward into Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, limestone, and shale, laid down in horizontal beds, form slickrock canyons and make up the bulk of the plateau. The plateau is not a single, level surface, but a series of plateaus varying in elevation from 3000 to over 12,000 feet. One of the continent’s largest rivers, the Colorado, drains the western Rocky Mountains and cuts through the Colorado Plateau, creating a series of deep canyons along its length. Many of the side drainages carve their own canyons in turn, so that the surface of the plateau is dissected by upwards of 10,000 canyons. Towering above these deep canyons are scattered volcanic mountains. Two of the featured hikes explore canyon systems on the plateau.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon, or “the Canyon,” as locals refer to it, is the Colorado River’s master achievement. It is more than 260 miles long, up to 20 miles wide, and over a mile deep, but such numbers don’t convey the canyon’s uniqueness. A colorful variety of sedimentary, metamorphic, and volcanic rocks are exposed in the Grand Canyon. These not only make for good scenery, but their character determines the shape of the canyon and controls the very routes that humans may use.