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Sunday, January 13, 2008
About the Colorado River
The Colorado River was originally named Rio Colorado or "Red River" by the Spanish. A person looking at the river today may not understand how it came to be named in this way, as the present day color of the river is more of a blue-green. The silt and sediments that gave the river its color are now trapped behind the Glen Canyon Dam. Construction of the dam has resulted in significant changes to the river. Flash floods that used to clean the inner-canyon and deposit fresh sand along the beaches no longer occur. The water temperature, which used to get as warm as 80 degrees, now averages around 42 degrees. Native fish that used to inhabit the river have become extinct. Despite these changes, the river remains central to the ecology of the southwest. The Colorado River is the primary river of the southwest. It drains about 242,000 square miles of land, from the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Green River is the primary tributary of the Colorado River. The headwaters of the Colorado River are located in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado at 9,010 feet. From there the river flows southwestward toward the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. By the time the river enters the Grand Canyon, its altitude has fallen to 3,110 feet. It drops another 2,200 feet before it reaches the other end of the Grand Canyon. The river contains alternating sections of rapids and calm waters. The depth varies from 6 feet to 90 feet. The rapids are only 10 percent of the river's total length but they account for more than half of the total drop in altitude. Oh, by the way, it is beautiful in the winter!
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