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The Colorado River ('Aha Kwahwat in Mojave) is a river in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 1450 miles, 2333 kilometers long, draining a part of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The river's course takes you from the source in the impressive snow-covered mountain landscapes, over dams and lakes, through the deep eroded canyons and dry desert areas to the estuary in the Gulf of California. The existence of the Colorado River was first noted in the records of written history in September, 1539, when Francisco de Ulloa sailed to the head of the Gulf of California and rowed a short distance upstream. The Colorado River spring is La Poudre Pass Lake, located high in Rocky Mountain National Park, just west of the Continental Divide. "Grand River" is the name once applied to the Colorado River from its headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park to its confluence with the Green River. This gave rise to several names including Grand Lake, Grand Valley and Grand Junction. The earliest appearance of this name on a map could be on the map by Henry Schenck Tanner from 1836. The name there replaces the name of Rio Rafael, which appears on many earlier maps. In 1921 Grand River was officially renamed to Colorado River.

About the "Colorado river tour":
Take a tour along the entire North American Colorado river from the spring in the Rocky Mountains more than 3200 meters, 10000 feets above sealevel, through hundreds of canyons including Grand Canyon, crossing dams and lakes like the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead and finally flowing into the Gulf of California. More than 600 placemarks, in average one at least every 4 km, 2.5 mile, guide you along the river. At the end of the placemark collection the 'overlays folder' offer various displays like national parks, the watershed, the river states and the river basin. Tour creator: Tom Kjeldsen, created may 2008. Recommended to be viewed as a 'Play tour' in Google Earth with terrain feature enabled.

Download not counted in current attachment: GMT+1 ->20090217-0610:719 ->20090315-1600:86 ->20090316-0640:4 ->20090331-1645:45 ->20090404-1840:17 ->20090406-0621:7 ->20090407-1455:8 ->20090409-0427:7 ->20090411-1945:8 ->20090413-1916:6 ->20090416-0508:12 ->20090626-0102:208 ->Accumulated: (1137 downloads)

During the pinpointing of the tour I came to the Navajo Bridge. Using GE terrain feature I can only recommend driving very carefully! Have fun. Tom

Placemark viewpoint are adjusted to many of the more than 600 placemarks, as the current Google Earth version has a better and more seamless, sliding and smooth display when playing the tour ... Have a nice "GE rafting" along the long and winding course of this amazing and fascinating river