Friday Eye Candy: Google Documents the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon

Maybe you still don’t know what it feels like to be ABC (Alive Below Crystal Falls) with a taco in one hand and a beer in the other, but now you can witness the romance of the Grand Canyon (and maybe learn a little bit about why it needs to be protected).

Felicia Fonseca reports that Google has released the images of a raft trip down the Grand Canyon—the result of a partnership with the American Rivers advocacy group. Although the trekker project has been in the works for some time now, Google just released the photos and an interactive website of the Grand Canyon journey this week.

The Street View Treks page is full of data about the history and formation of the river, including this description: “The Colorado River is one of the most dammed, diverted, and plumbed rivers in the world -- by the time the Colorado River reaches the Gulf of California in Mexico, it’s so tapped out that the river runs dry.” The river’s state led American Rivers to declare the Colorado River "America’s Most Endangered River" in 2013.