7th day

Grand Canyon and the Route 66


Getting up early, really worthed today, since we did not have to pay for entering the Grand Canyon NP.

The South Rim is more accessible than the North Rim; most visitors to the park come to the South Rim The canyon itself is some 450kms long and getting deeper 16cm every 1000 year. At some stretches it is 1800m deep and at least 17 million years old.

It is nice to experience, although because of its size you can not really close to it, at least from the rim. Lacking time we could not go down to the bottom. It takes at least 1 day down and 1 day up. maybe next time.

Driving Route 66 from Selignan to Kingman

Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926—with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles .

We drove an 80 mile stretch of it on the way towards Vegas. There several stops like pump stations, diners etc. with relics from 60's.

Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936. Some interesting data here

Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Concrete gravity-arch
Impounds	Colorado River
Height	726.4 ft (221.4 m)
Length	1,244 ft (379 m)
Elevation at crest	1,232 ft (376 m)
Width (crest)	45 ft (14 m)
Width (base)	660 ft (200 m)
Dam volume	3,250,000 cu yd (2,480,000 m3)
Spillway type	2 controlled drum-gate
Spillway capacity	400,000 cu ft/s (11,000 m3/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Lake Mead
Total capacity	28,537,000 acre·ft (35.200 km3)
Active capacity	15,853,000 acre·ft (19.554 km3)
Inactive capacity	10,024,000 acre·ft (12.364 km3)
Catchment area	167,800 sq mi (435,000 km2)
Surface area	247 sq mi (640 km2)
Max. length	112 mi (180 km)
Max. water depth	590 ft (180 m)
Normal elevation	1,219 ft (372 m)

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