The west is dotted with national parks and state parks abound. Arizona is chock full of park systems – one of the most populated in the U.S. (aside from Utah and California). Tourists will find that Arizona is a different variety, with plants and animals that have unique adaptation to constant drought-like conditions. The extremes of wildlife and the barren beauty make these extremes reason enough for a national park preserve area.
Let’s take Painted Desert for instance. This is the badland area of Arizona – badlands meaning that the arid ground has been eroded by wind and water from ancient times past until present. The strata of soil and rock show bare, like the earth’s bones lay strewn in the sun with limbs seemingly sawed through in places leaving them glowing ruddy with shades of vermillion — menacing and almost out of place.
This park is just a little further down from Grand Canyon, still in Northern Arizona and among the Navajo Nation. It covers an expanse of land, everything from just southeast from the Grand Canyon to the Petrified Forest National park, roughly 7,500 square miles. This is a colourful display of miles and miles of buttes and hills with Neapolitan-like rock strata showing lines of beige, white, brick red and blood-red colours. The soil and land is the remnant landscape of an ancient Triassic time, where the organic material has long decayed yet left its mark within the soil.
Views of the canyon
The highlight within the Painted Desert area is the Petrified Forest national park. It’s within the Painted Desert region and it displays a wonderment of Petrified rock and fossilized plant and animal material. An ancient coniferous forest that had previously existed, in what was once a much more lush and moist place, left fallen wood of extinct trees that later became petrified over the years.
There are a great deal of dinosaur fossils that pique the interests of the public and field of archaeology alike as well. Vertebrate animals are found on a consistent basis by both amateurs and pros. Triassic animals like the aetosaur and the phytosaur were found with nearly complete skeletal structures.
This is a lesser known area in Arizona that is often left of the list. Where most people are spending time golfing and spending leisure time in Arizona resorts, its places like this that the more adventuresome vacationers seek out.
Nearly five million people see Grand Canyon each year. Most of them see it from their car at overlooks along the South Rim. The South Rim is the most accessible part of the park and is open all year. A much smaller number of people see the Canyon from the North Rim, which lies just ten miles directly across the Canyon from the South Rim.
Views from the North Rim tend to give a better impression of the expanse of the canyon than those from the South Rim.
Temperatures on the North Rim are generally lower than the South Rim because of the greater elevation. Heavy snowfall is common on both rims during the winter months. Access to the North Rim via the primary route leading to the canyon is limited during the winter season due to road closures. Views from the North Rim tend to give a better impression of the expanse of the canyon than those from the South Rim.
The Grand Canyon has suffered some problems with air pollution, attributed to nearby coal burning power plants.
Explore the grandeur of this world wonder on Grand Canyon helicopter or air tours, guided Grand Canyon jeep tours, Grand Canyon railway, Grand Canyon bus tours, or a embark on some guided Grand Canyon hiking or Grand Canyon river rafting tours.
There are many opportunities here for adventurous and hardy persons who want to backpack, ride a mule to Phantom Ranch, or take a river trip through the Canyon on the Colorado River. It can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks, there are no one day river trips through Grand Canyon.
