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Grand Circle Contact
Information
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The United States of America's Southwest.
Within The Grand Circle lies
America's largest concentration of
National Parks and Scenic Byways. The Grand Circle Association’s goal is to
promote the incredible year-round vacation opportunities available to you in the
Four Corners area of the Southwestern U.S., the Grand Circle.
The
Grand Circle offers visitors the true Wonders of the West. From Native American
experiences to hot-air ballooning, fresh powder runs in the winter to raging
rivers in the summer; the Grand Circle is a premier destination for young and
old alike. Test your luck in the casinos, try hiking a “fourteener,” practice
your photography skills, and pamper yourself at a spa. Hop aboard a historic
train, witness the rising sun, taste the cuisine of the west, listen to a story
of Native Ancestors, and experience the beauty of the Grand Circle on foot or
bike, by Jeep, skis, boat or plane.
Planning a
trip to and through the Grand Circle offers you a nearly endless array of
choices and adventures. You could spend a lifetime exploring this magnificent
region. That’s what is so fun about the Grand Circle: like all true circles,
it’s endless. Visit for a weekend or a month, no matter how long, you will
become part of this region, and this region will become part of you.
THE GRAND CIRCLE ASSOCIATION
The Association was formed in 1984 by private and public organizations to
provide information about the Grand Circle and its attractions.
THE GRAND CIRCLE
ASSOCIATION
Grand Circle Association was
formed in 1984. It is a membership destination
marketing organization with the mission of providing quality tourism services
and educational opportunities for its visitors. Its membership is comprised of
private and public organizations to provide information and accommodations
within the Grand
Circle including 11 National Parks, 16 National Monuments and over 20 Scenic
Byways.
LOCATION
Draw a perfect circle in the heart of the American Southwest and you map the
Grand Circle, an
all-encompassing, all-embracing diverse travel region overflowing with
spectacular sites. The makeup of the Grand Circle is a rare collection of
awe-inspiring canyons, cliffs, mesas, buttes, and spires created by millions of
years of volcanic eruptions and erosion. Encompassing sections of Arizona,
Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah, the Grand Circle is a 1,400-mile
imaginary circle comprised of the Southwest’s most unique landscapes,
attractions, and scenic byways.
CLIMATE
The Grand Circle is a sunny four-season travel destination. Although most of the
area enjoys an arid climate, the high desert and mountains experience distinctly
different weather.
In the mountains, winter brings excellent snow conditions for downhill and
cross-country skiing January through March. Spring and Fall in the mountains
have warm to cool days and colder evenings.
In the high desert, winters are generally milder although some locations
experience light snow. Snow melts quickly so it is seldom a hindrance to winter
travel. High desert summer days are warm to hot; summer evenings are usually
comfortably cool.
GRAND CIRCLE GATEWAY CITIES
Reaching the Grand Circle is easy
through any of the several gateway cities including:
Albuquerque,
Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. Each has its own character and is
home to a wide variety of attractions. Entering the Grand Circle by automobile
opens the door to explore even more spectacular scenic roads, uniting the
Gateway Cities with the wonders of the National Parks and many year-round
attractions and activities.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
- South and east of the
Grand Circle and gateway to the Four
Corners region.
Denver, Colorado
- 258 miles east of Grand Junction, a gateway to the canyons and Indian ruins of
southeastern Utah and southwestern
Colorado.
Las Vegas, Nevada
- South of St. George, Utah and gateway to the
Grand Circle
tour of southwestern Utah and the Arizona Strip.
Phoenix, Arizona - Two hours south of Flagstaff, Arizona and the northern
Arizona gateway to Native American ruins and reservations, canyons and craters.
Salt Lake City, Utah
- Only three hours north of the Grand Circle, this gateway opens to southern
Utah with its canyons, gorges and spectacular Grand Staircase.
Ancestral Puebloans(Anasazi) - The first residents of the Colorado
Plateau appeared around the
Four Corners region about 2,000 years ago. At first they built pit houses.
Later they constructed multi-level stone dwellings in the huge alcoves in the
cliffs and on the mesas and river bottoms. Their legacy is an architecture which
is in harmony with nature and its environment.
This period of dynamic building and strong trade spanned two centuries from 1100
A.D. - 1300 A.D. After this time, because of changes in climate and perhaps
conflict among the tribes, the Anasazi abandoned these communities.
LAND
Size - This gigantic elevated land mass of canyons, cliffs, mesas, buttes
and spires is nearly the same size as the state of
California.
Area - Called the Colorado Plateau, it covers almost half of
Utah, stretching from south to east, and extends to the southwest
quarter of Colorado,
northwest corner of New Mexico and northern one-third of Arizona. Its boundaries
to the north and east are the Rocky Mountains, to the south, the Sonoran and
Painted Desert, and to the west the
Great Basin.
Formation - About 300 million years ago this land was covered by water
and, at other times, by sand. Sometime between 22 and 40 million years ago,
molten rock pushed up from within the earth creating the mountains of the
Colorado Plateau. Ten million years ago, forces within the earth pushed the land
upward and northward. As the earth rose, blocks of the earth crust fractured and
separated and rose even further, creating smaller plateaus.
Grand Staircase
- From the high plateaus in Utah, the Colorado Plateau drops hundreds of feet
from north to south. Like stair steps exposing the very "young" rocks at
Bryce Canyon and
Cedar Breaks to the "middle aged" at
Zion, to the ancient rocks at the bottom of the
Grand Canyon the Colorado Plateau
gradually exposes millions of years of history. Though the parks are located
within just 120 miles of each other, their canyon walls reveal two billion years
of the earth's geologic history.
Rivers - The Colorado River runs through the heart of the Grand Circle
and is joined by the Gunnison in Colorado, the Green River in Canyonlands
National Park, and the Escalante and San Juan in Lake Powell; continuing on
through Glen Canyon Dam and to the Grand Canyon. The Virgin River flows through
Zion to Lake Mead. Over the summer, the numerous rivers create a playground for
water fun including river rafting, boat rides, jet skiing and swimming.
TRANSPORTATION
Airports - The Grand Circle is well served by Delta, Skywest, United Airlines
and Scenic Airlines through the gateway cities of Albuquerque, Denver, Las
Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City airports. Commercial service is also available
through smaller Grand Circle city airports, including:
Cedar City,
Utah Airport - (800) 453-9417
Cortez,
Colorado.
Durango,
Colorado - The Durango-LaPlata County Airport - (970) 247-8143
Farmington,
New Mexico: 12 flights per day making connections to Albuquerque on Mesa
Airlines,Denver on United Express and Phoenix on America West Express
Flagstaff, Arizona Airport - (602) 774-8421
Grand Canyon, South Rim Airport - (800) 634-6377
Grand Junction, Colorado - Walker Field Airport (970) 244-9100
Moab, Utah Airport - (435) 259-7421
Page, Arizona Airport - (800) 453-9417
St. George, Utah Airport - (800) 453-9417
HIGHWAYS
The main interstate and state highways that serve the Grand Circle include:
Cedar City,
Utah
- At the junction of Interstate 15 and Utah 14.
Cortez, Colorado - A gateway to traffic coming into the state from the
south on Highways 160 and 666 and from Denver via Interstate 25 south of
Walsenburg and west on Highway 160.
Durango, Colorado
- Highway 285 from Denver south to Monte Vista and then west on Highway 160.
Flagstaff,
Arizona
- US-180 connects to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon; US-89 serves the
northern part of Arizona.
Grand Junction,
Colorado
- Located on Interstate 70, 258 miles west of Denver.
Moab,
Utah
- On US-191 south of junction with U-128.
St.
George,
Utah
- Located on Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas.
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