Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is one of the world's seven wonders, located in Arizona. It's a steep sided gorge, carved out by the Colorado River. It's held in the Grand Canyon National Park, which was one of the first national parks in the United States.
It is 277 miles long, and the depth of it is about over a mile down. It is nearly 17 million years old, and the oldest traceable rock fossils are found in the bottom layer of the canyon, which helps scientists with their discoveries immensely. It has been said that the Colorado River has been eroding, and running its' course thru the canyon for about 17 million years now.
Before Europeans discovered the land in 1540, Native American Indians called it home. They built settlements throughout the canyon, and its' multiple caves. They considered the territory "holy land".
Although the Grand Canyon isn't the deepest, or largest canyon in the world, it is famous for its' intricate landscape, beauty, and color.
It is 5,000 to 10,000 feet high, of uplift of the Colorado Plateau. Because of this, it has steepened the stream gradient of the Colorado River, therefore causing it to speed up its pace, and erode through the rocks at an even quicker pace. Also, when the ice from the ice age melted, it also supplied the Colorado River with extra water. It responded by cutting through the rock faster, and quicker.

There are exactly 1,737 known types of plants, 167 types of fungus, 64 species of moss, and 195 types of lichen found in the Grand Canyon National Park alone. The difference varieties are due from the major difference in the elevation, from the Colorado River, to the highest point on the North Rim. The way some ridges face, is also a large part of importance for different variation types. For example, the north side of the ridges get about 1/3 of the normal sunlight given, so plants that grow there are similar to ones that grow in higher elevations. While the plants growing on the south side of the ridges are more similar to ones growing in deserts since they get full sunshine.

There are only 34 different mammal species in the Grand Canyon. Of those thirty-four, 15 of them are rodents, and 8 of them are bats.

There are a great deal of activities you can do while visiting the Canyon, aside from appreciating its' beauty. Rafting, hiking, running, and helicopter tours are some of the most popular. However though, while in the Canyon, it is suggested to bring plenty of water, for there is a high risk of dehydration, or heat exhaustion. Be sure to rest often. Usually it can be around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but the closer you get to the bottom, the hotter it will get.

Unfortunately, there have been around 600 deaths in the Grand Canyon since the 1970's. Some happened from drowning in the Colorado River, some have resulted from airplane collisions in the canyon, and some have been from people believing they were fit enough to hike the Canyon without enough water supply, or rest, and they became dehydrated, and had to get rescued. To be exact, 53 deaths have been from people falling into the Canyon, 65 deaths were from environmental purposes, such as dehydration, heat stroke, and more, 7 people died in flash floods, 79 people drowned in the Colorado River, 242 people were killed in plane or helicopter collisions, 25 died on accidents, like rock falls, or lightning strikes, 48 poor souls committed suicide there, and sadly 23 people were murdered there.