Читать книгу One Best Hike: Grand Canyon. Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Hike from the Rim to the River—and Back онлайн

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Inner Gorge refers to the steep gorge of Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite below the Tonto Platform. Inner Canyon is anywhere below the canyon rim.

Leaving national park policy aside, there are many more good reasons to take multiple days: Completing the hike as a dayhike accentuates the endurance aspects of the hike and takes away from the magic of the canyon and the natural history, because you have much less time to sit and absorb your surroundings. Plus you miss the beautiful morning and evening light from its depth. Many people probably attempt a dayhike because they did not reserve a wilderness permit. Others are people who do not enjoy the extra weight of an overnight pack or simply do not enjoy camping. If you fall into these categories, consider returning for a second trip when you have a backpacking reservation and can travel very light, when nighttime temperatures are warm or you have made a reservation to spend the night at Phantom Ranch.

Human History

NATIVE PEOPLES

The Colorado Plateau, although not the Grand Canyon, has been inhabited for at least 13,000 years, as evidenced by spearheads found in the region. The first of the southwestern Paleo-Indians, the Clovis culture, preferred the open plains areas to canyon country and are thought to have entered the Grand Canyon region rarely. More artifacts have been found from the ensuing Folsom culture, but their population densities on the Colorado Plateau would also have been low. The people of both cultures hunted the large mammal species that went extinct at the end of the ice age—possibly in part because of the hunting pressure. (It makes sense that these groups spent little time along the Colorado River. Can you imagine wooly mammoths and giant sloths descending into contorted canyons?)