Exploring National Parks

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Exploring National Parks

• Amy Hainzinger
• ETE 100-01
• August 29, 2005

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Grand Canyon National Park

• Located in the northwestern corner of Arizona
• Six million years ago
• The Colorado River began to form the Grand
  Canyon.
• Took over thirty years for it to become a
  national park in 1919

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More on the Grand Canyon

• President Theodore Roosevelt reactions on the
  great wonder
• The Grand Canyon fills me with aweDo nothing to
  mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You
  cannot improve on it. But what you can do is to
  keep it for your children, your childrens
  children, and all who come after you, as the one
  great sight which every American should see.

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Inside the Grand Canyon

• Before the mid-nineteenth century, little was
  known about the Grand Canyon.
• Europeans did not explore the canyon very
  closely.
• Mountain men provided information on the
  canyon.
• 1836 Warren Augustus Ferris drew a map of Grand
  Canyon.

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Facts on the Grand Canyon

• Water is drained by the Colorado River from seven
  states.
• Canyon
• No dams present
• Width / depth vary
• 10-18 miles in width
• 5,000 ft-6,000 ft from rim to river

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park

• Contain oldest mountains on earth
• Location in Appalachian mountains of North
  Carolina and Tennessee
• Named for mist surrounding mountains
• 1000 A.D. Cherokee Indians
• 1540 Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto
• Mid-nineteenth century geographical expeditions

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Lets hike through the Great Smoky Mountains

• Over 500 acres
• 800 miles of hiking trails
• 90 inches of rainfall may accumulate each year.
• 25 peaks gt 6,000 feet tall
• Lumbering
• 1920s Twenty forest fires

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Facts on the Great Smoky Mountains

• Rich plant / animal life
• 5,000 species of plant life
• 130 types of tree species
• 2,000 types of fungi
• 1,500 species of flowering plants
• Black bears common
• Many streams / waterfalls

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Yellowstone National Park

• Worlds first national park
• 96 park in Wyoming
• 3 park in Montana
• 1 park in Idaho
• The Discovery of Yellowstone
• Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden
• 500 page report
• March 1, 1872 Yellowstone National Park
  established

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YellowstoneWhat a WONDERful place!

• Exceptional beauty
• Animals bald eagle, grizzly bear, whooping
  crane, buffalo
• 63 air miles from N to S
• 54 air miles from E to W
• Highest point Eagle Peak (11,358 feet)
• Lowest point Reese Creek (5,282 feet)

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Facts on Yellowstone

• Yellowstone Park Percentages
• 5 covered by water
• 15 grassland
• 80 forested
• Old Faithful (famous geyser)
• 1988 Devastating forest fires

http//memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/yehtml/yeabout
.html
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More on Yellowstone

• Over 300 geysers
• 2,000 earthquakes annually
• 290 waterfalls
• Tallest waterfall
• Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River (308 feet)

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In Conclusion

• On average, the Grand Canyon National Park
  attracts over five million tourists each year.
• Annually, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
  attracts nine million people. This park attracts
  more visitors than any other national park.
• Each year, visitors from all over the world come
  to have a glimpse of the extraordinary sites at
  our nations first national park, Yellowstone.

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Sources

• http//www.loc.gov

• http//www.nps.gov/grca/grandcanyon/quicklook/