Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon began official protection and status as a Forest Reserve in 1893. It was then designated a National Monument on January 11, 1908. It became a National Park on February 26, 1919 (with 44,173 visitors) and on October 26, 1979 it became a World Heritage Site. The Park covers a whopping 1,218,375 acres (that's over 1900 square miles!), across which several main types of ecosystems exist, from desert to ecological conditions similar to those in Canada. It also encompasses 277 miles of the Colorado River, from Lees Ferry at mile zero, to Grand Wash Cliffs at mile 227. The immense biological diversity creates havens for all sorts of wildlife and plants. The great range in ecological zones also makes for extreme weather conditons of all types, so visitors to the Grand Canyon should be prepared. Stay hydrated, especially during summer months, and bring warmer clothing for evenings. Even a hot desert can get chilly at times during parts of the year. Wintertime will bring icy roads and very cold weather, which is why the North Rim is closed. Entrance to Grand Canyon National Park is $25 for a private vehicle, no matter how many people inside, and $12 for each individual pedestrian or cyclist. Rangers perform a dizzying variety of duties, from leading Ranger-led tours for kids and adults, to serving as the only medical service at the North Rim, to performing search and rescue for lost hikers down in the Grand Canyon.

Park Service Freebies

The National Park Service offers many activities and services that are free to anyone once entrance is gained into the Park. Once you finally make it inside Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim and park your car, if you drove, you will fully appreciate the free shuttle services that run all over the Park. Most tourists at Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim area are thankful to leave the car behind after fighting the heavy traffic and long lines to get to the parking lots. Remember: the Grand Canyon is one of the United States' most popular tourism destinations, and most people get here by car, and ninety percent of visitors come to the South Rim. There are over five million visitors a year to Grand Canyon National Park, by the way. That's a lot of people! The free shuttle bus system helps move people around easily and quicky, so find out about the buses and make use of them as often as you can. There are three main routes through the Park. These are:

1. Village Routh
2. Hermits Rest Route
3. Kaibab Trail Route

There are a number of free Ranger-led activities geared toward providing a deeper understanding of The Grand Canyon. They are, for the most part, aimed at natural history and cultures of the Grand Canyon. They are held during the day and some, like the stargazing program are held at night. Topics range from condors to fossils to river walks to geology treks, and meet at various spots throughout Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. The North rim also offers Ranger Interpretive Programs, although on a smaller scale and there is not no much variety of topic. One of the interpretive walks at the North Rim is especially interesting, however: the one where visitors get to see an excavated ancestral Puebloan site.

For kids, both the South Rim and the North Rim have free Junior Ranger programs. These offer family projects, where you can pick up a discovery pack at the Ranger Station in the morning, and earn a Junior Ranger Certificate and badge if your child completes the activities outlined within the Discovery Pack. Examples of required activities for the certificate and badge would be participating in a Ranger-led walk, or hands-on geology experiments.