On the second day of our trip, we did an early morning guided raft tour of Glen Canyon. Page, Arizona is right on the Arizona/Utah border at Lake Powell (which extends into Utah) and is also where the Grand Canyon officially begins. In the 1930s, a 750-foot dam was in this canyon and the lake was formed as a result. This area is under the guard of Homeland Security. If this dam were to be breached, numerous towns and everything down river would be wiped out. In 1983, a “cavitation” event took place when the dam was filled to the brim and engineers were trying to drain as much water as possible without overflooding everything downstream. But in this event, giant chunks of concrete were being shot out of the overflow spillways about 150 feet. In this picture, you can see a piece of rebar sticking out of the river.
The Colorado River flows out of the Glen Dam at 47 degrees regularly into the Glen Canyon, which is the first 17-mile stretch of the 277-mile long Grand Canyon. A rafting tour company does raft tours along this stretch before the Glen Canyon levels out and Marble Canyon begins at Lees Ferry. Lees Ferry is the only place along the entire stretch of the Grand Canyon where vehicles can get in and out because the surrounding walls are only a couple hundred feet tall, and there is some leveling out on the north side. But there are severe warnings at Lees Ferry that once you pass their markers: there is no going back without either hiking the long way, going the 9- to14-day journey through the rest of the river, or helicoptering out. Marble Canyon begins at this point, which cuts straight through the valley (much like the Little Colorado River Canyon does) and then enters the main Grand Canyon.
Our group of 54 split up among two large rafts, able to hold 30 people each, and each with a raft guide. Our three speakers split up among the two rafts and at various points, our speakers would talk about different formations and observations that we saw. Our raft guides only pointed out several interesting things to note but didn’t say much about how they formed. I’m guessing they really didn’t know. But our speakers did, and they explained the processes that would be required to produce these canyon walls that on average were about 700-1100 feet tall. Keep in mind, this is the SMALLEST part of the Grand Canyon. We did pass through the famous “Horseshoe Bend” which is a 270-degree turning of the river (see picture immediately below).
We also passed by what appeared to be a former ox-bow lake (see picture immediately above). There are two chasms in the wall that circle back and are connected behind what we could see. It looked like another breached dam caused it to drain and from the pictures. You can see where rain would regularly run down and create waterfalls, staining the rocks. Just to get the scale here, that tiny vertical water stain on the left “side canyon” is this up close:
One thing I learned about this canyon is the rock layers this canyon carved through are about 1300 feet above the Kaibab Formation, which is the top layer at the Grand Canyon. So, in terms of the order of rocks, we were above even Red Butte and Cedar Butte, yet due to the huge upwarp, these buttes and the main Grand Canyon itself is higher in elevation except where the river flows through the inner gorge.
What caused Glen Canyon to form? The secular models proudly proclaim the Colorado River carved it. Yet, if that were the case, why don’t we see Glen Canyons, let alone Grand Canyons, in nearly every river? An honest geologist will ask this: “Did the river form the canyon? Or did the canyon form the river?” Water always takes the path of least resistance and flows downhill. It never flows uphill, and if it can go around an obstacle, it will go around it before cutting through it. This is a severe problem in the secular models because the Grand Canyon is carved through the Kaibab Upwarp, and it would easily redirect itself around the upwarp, rather than cutting through it. With Glen Canyon, did the Colorado River cut straight down leaving vertical walls with hardly any erosion debris? Or was the canyon already carved and the Colorado River took the path of least resistance into the canyon?
Horseshoe Bend is a valuable point of contention. Secular geologists will claim that if a dam breach caused the canyon, we should see a straight path. We should not see the bends and meandering that they claim would be the case if a river slowly carved it over millions of years. But is that so? I have seen firsthand that this is not the case. In 2006, El Paso had its “500-year flood.” We had 15 inches of rain in less than 48 hours. It carved up all sorts of stuff, and the west side of El Paso had it the worst, where a brand-new Blockbuster Video store was literally washed off its foundation. But out in the desert, there were canyons carved into the desert sand. They meandered and cut vertical walls, much like the scale of the Grand Canyon or at least Glen/Marble Canyon. It doesn’t take a little water and a lot of time. It takes a LOT of water at high speeds, and it happens in a very short time. So how did Horseshoe Bend form with a 1100-foot wall on the outer curve, and roughly only a 500-foot wall on the inner bend? The best explanation is fast-moving water carved through the path of least resistance. Cavities or cracks in the rocks, perhaps while still soft, would easily enable these twists and turns in the canyon to do its work.
There are two details in these canyons frequently missed by the secular geologists. 1) Lack of debris from erosion on the sides. We have some there, but not millions of years’ worth, and the walls are too vertical for that kind of time to play a role. 2) The side canyons. The secular geologists have no real clue for how the side canyons were cut WITHOUT regular rivers flowing through them. They will have their stories, but they’re pure speculation and frankly, they don’t work in the real world. The Bible give us a mechanism that can explain it all: Noah’s Flood and the aftermath of it. Does the Bible give us all these specific details? No. But it gives an event that fits everything that we see.
Next week, I’ll wrap up this series on why the Grand Canyon is an important item of discussion for Christians to get and understand, and even how the Grand Canyon can be used to either present the Gospel or destroy it. It all hinges on whether you accept Noah’s Flood or not. Stay tuned.
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