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by Charlie Wolcott

Two weeks ago, from June 10-13 this year, I got an experience of a lifetime. I got to go on a Biblical tour of the Grand Canyon with Russ Miller, Eric Hovind, and Helmut Welke among 50 others. I had been to the Grand Canyon once before, about 15 years ago, stopping likely at Mather Point to see the Canyon. We really only stayed there about 30 minutes or so to enjoy the views and headed out. I recall the spectacular views from then, but that was then. This is now. I’ve not only been studying the Creation/Evolution issues in much greater detail since then, but now I could take what I have been learning and see it with my eyes. I LOVE mountain top views and the Grand Canyon is no different. So, I am going to do several posts about this trip and highlight some of the major themes that were discussed.

My intellectual interest in the Grand Canyon was sparked when I kept getting invited to check out a book titled The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth. I finally got it and read through it, filling pages of notes and observations. The bulk of the secular arguments I will be addressing come from this book. While I hardly addressed the specific science claims, I was primarily looking at the internal logic and compared that to the Young Earth Creationist claims. I ended up with 70 pages of comments from the quotes. While hailed by numerous scientists and some Christian leaders, it is ALSO hailed by numerous atheists and secular groups who would love nothing more than to have Bible-believers’ heads. It is quite telling on where you actually stand when the atheist community is promoting your work more than Christians.

So I read this book, and I knew Russ Miller from a conference he gave back here in El Paso a few years earlier, and I asked him if he knew about it. Knowing he led trips to the Canyon and knowing this was out there, I believe it is important that we know what our “opposition” is saying. He was thoroughly impressed with my critique and then invited me to come on one of his tours. I was all set last year, and then COVID hit. But I asked that my registration be held off till the next year and with much doubt, confusion, and uncertainty about what would happen, the trip was on.

Our group met in Phoenix on Thursday evening, June 10, where we introduced ourselves to each other and had a little warm-up talk. Having studied this stuff quite a bit, I did everything I could to keep my mouth shut to add my knowledge in. I wanted to let the speakers speak. Then Friday, we got onto a charter bus and drove to the South Rim of the Canyon, picking up Russ Miller (who lives in the Flagstaff area) along the way. On the bus ride, we watched a few video presentations from the speakers. Helmut Welke gave presentations on the general origins issue debates including on dinosaurs, radioactive decay, and age of the earth. Russ Miller’s presentations included the importance of the origins debate to the Gospel, but also to the foundations for our nation’s morality, as well as being the main speaker for the canyon presentations themselves. Eric Hovind’s presentations were primarily on evangelism and sharing the Gospel.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon and stopped by three viewing points on the South Rim: Mather Point, Bright Angel Lodge (looking across from Bright Angel Canyon), and Desert View. At best, we only saw about 1/3 of the Canyon all together. From those three stops, we then went to the Camron Trading Post (run by the Navajo) for dinner and then drove all the way to Page, Arizona, crossing the Little Colorado River and Canyon towards where the Grand Canyon officially starts at Lake Powell. The Colorado River is dammed there at the base of the Glen Canyon. Here we stayed the night.

In the morning, we took a river raft tour from base of Lake Powell for the first 17 miles of the Grand Canyon (formally called Glen Canyon) to Lees Ferry where the Glen Canyon levels out and the Marble Canyon begins. The Marble Canyon continues on until it officially becomes part of the main Grand Canyon. Rafters have to stop at Lees Ferry because once you enter Marble Canyon, there is no place to get out or escape the canyon without hiking out until you reach the other end of the Canyon 270 miles downriver at Lake Mead. For this part of the tour, we split up into two large rafts (each able to hold 30 people) with a formal guide.

Throughout Glen Canyon we pointed out several features, just in awe at the 500-1200 foot tall cliffs (very small in proportion to the main canyon which is over a mile deep) and also passed the famous “Horseshoe Bend” before arriving at Lees Ferry. We took a rest stop about halfway there where there are restrooms and some petroglyphs. About six of the group came prepared to go swimming and leapt off the raft into the river, at 47 degrees regularly (due to coming out from the bottom of the dam). But they were warned to never go out to the current because the river would take them.

From there we headed off to a spot for pictures at what is called “Poison Rock,” then went to a Navajo location where dinosaur tracks (including Velociraptor and T-Rex) are found. After that, we returned to Phoenix for a pizza party and final sessions. Sunday morning, we scattered with nothing official but hanging out at the hotel until different flights and departures from there.

The trip as a whole was a bit under $1000, not including transportation to Phoenix, but that includes three nights of hotel stays, a two-day charter bus, all meals, park fees, the raft tour, and three speakers’ costs. It was worth it. There are other tour groups who do the Canyon as well. I know Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research do 9-14 day trips where they raft through the whole length of the Grand Canyon (I hear those are roughly $5000 each, but you don’t get hotels every night in the canyon). They operate these through Canyon Ministries headed by Tom Vail which takes numerous groups on a regular basis. One of my friends here in El Paso had just returned from a four-day trip with them.

But what amazed me about this trip was having studied the theories and learning from both sides the claims, and seeing it all in person, it just ignited the fire for me even further. So, for the next few posts, I’m going to go into details about the trip and will compare and contrast what the secular models say and what the Biblical models would suggest. I will not get into the technical details, but I will simply highlight the main ideas.

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