The Grand Canyon

I am a giant ditch in the ground. I am so big and so deep, deep, deep. My walls are painted with stripes like a rainbow. I have red stripes, orange stripes, and even purple stripes. The sun warms my rocks all day long, and the big blue sky is my roof. If you listen very carefully, you can hear a secret sound. It is the sound of a rushing river, whispering way down at my bottom. I am a wonder carved into the earth. I am the Grand Canyon.

My best friend is an artist. It is the Colorado River. The river has been my artist for a super, super long time. It tickled and pushed my rocks, bit by bit, to make me so deep and wide. The water washed the stone away, like when you wash dirt off your hands. A very long time ago, around the year 1250, the first people lived here. They were the Ancestral Puebloans, and they built their homes right inside my rocky cliffs. They thought I was a very special and safe place, and they took good care of me.

Today, friends from all over the world come to visit me. They stand on my edges and their eyes get big. They say, “Wow.”. They watch birds soar through my open air and see my colors change when the sun says goodnight. I love to show them my beauty. I am here to remind everyone how big and wonderful our world is. I hope when you see me, you remember to take care of all the amazing places on our Earth, so they can make people say “Wow.” for a long, long time.