In
July, I had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were
floating down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. I’m in the
middle of blogging through the amazing week from my hand-written personal
journal. Bite-sized chunks ... I hope
you enjoy them.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 6:46
A.M. (Camp)
Good morning! Well, my first night of truly roughing it
went about as expected. Directly after
supper I started getting ready for bed.
We were (rightly) warned that it gets dark quickly in the Canyon, and we
should be well set up before dusk. Good
advice. My main problem was not knowing
how I wanted to set up!
We each have a cot, a
very plush sleeping bag, a thin sheet, a pillow, and a ground tarp. I secured the tarp under the legs of my cot,
then laid the open sleeping bag on the cot as my mattress and sheet. That was okay – a bit warm on the back. The sheet was then my “blanket,” which for
the most part was unnecessary, as the temperature overnight was probably 84-75F
(28-24C).
So I was “set up” in my
bed by 8:45 or so, and started trying to fall asleep. Then I saw lightning flashes, and began to
worry about what the night might hold.
At about 9:30 the wind started to pick up. After 10 minutes or so I realized I would
need to take my stuff down off the tree branches so it wouldn’t blow away or
down.
About 10:00, the rain
started. Very light droplets, just
enough to help me cool off some. At that
point I realized I needed to pack my stuff into my waterproof boat bags. So I got up and repacked and
reorganized. Then the rain started in
earnest! With nothing separating me from
it, I quickly got unpleasantly wet, and decided to try “Bill’s Burrito.” I got up (again) about 10:45, undid my ground
tarp so only one corner was under each cot leg on one side, then pulled the
full tarp over my cot and my body. That
kept me dry, but also made me very warm.
I waited out the rain, which petered out by 11:30, then went back to
just the bare sheet. The wind then
picked up again, keeping me awake.
The worst thing about the
wind was the SAND. The wind itself was
very refreshing, but it blew fine grains of sand all over me. I was sweaty, so naturally the sand stuck to
my body – and blew in my eyes (and ears and nose). A bit unpleasant!
But one thing I’ve
learned and accepted thus far in the Canyon is that you have to just embrace
the sand (and the water). You’re going
to get wet. Accept it. Embrace it.
Your feet are going to be wet and sandy – embrace it. There’s no point fighting it, trying to avoid
the water or sand, because you would lose that fight anyway! So even overnight, I embraced the sand – just
let it cover me.
Anyway, between the wind
and rain and sand, I was up past midnight already, and by then I had to
pee! Well, in the Canyon, all pee goes
in the River, no exceptions. (“Dilution
is the solution to pollution.”) My cot
was 3 spots up from the river, so I had taken an overnight pee bucket, which I
then had to clean and repack in the morning.
Eventually, after 1:00, I finally fell asleep, and slept fitfully until
the sun came up … at 5:00. J I dozed in and
out a bit, then got up, went to the bathroom, and packed up my campsite. It is breakfast time now.
I survived my first night
– and I trust that subsequent nights will get better. I’ll know how to set up, and will be so tired
I’ll sleep no matter what comes! I am
thankful for the sleep I did get – it was more than none.
Wednesday: 12Noon (Lunch)
Another stunning morning
on the River. We stopped at Redwall Cavern
(mile 33), a very large cavern carved in the Redwall Limestone. Terry Mortenson gave a 45-minute talk on
animal death and predation in relationship to the Fall in Genesis 3. Good challenging thoughts.
We then had some time to explore the Cavern,
take some pics, and sing a few hymns together (great acoustics!).
 |
| Half the Depth of Redwall Cavern |
 |
| View from inside Redwall Cavern |
Before leaving, John Whitmore showed us a couple examples of nautiloid fossils in rocks, to help set us up for the next stop, at …
Nautiloid Canyon (mile
34.5) – an 8-foot thick layer of limestone absolutely littered with billions of
nautiloid fossils – little six-inch sea critters that got buried in a massive
mud flow. Convincing argument for a
catastrophic fossil deposit, and fits much more easily within a young-earth
global flood perspective. (Afterthoughts:
My OBU Colleague John McWilliams notes that typically, dead critters don’t
stick around long enough to be fossilized, particularly in huge numbers like we
see in Nautiloid Canyon. Hence, massive
fossil deposits are pretty strong evidence for a catastrophic event of some
sort which wiped out entire groups of animals all at once. The global flood of Genesis is a good
candidate for such a catastrophic event, and there doesn’t seem to be a
reasonable alternative that would explain the numbers and spread of
fossils. Cedarville’s John Whitmore
notes that the fossilized Nautiloids are evident in a layer that spreads
throughout much of North America, and even toward Greenland and Europe – in other
words, it’s not just a localized catastrophe, but an incredibly widespread
(global?) event with monstrous effects.
Such evidence certainly makes me pause, and ponder whether perhaps I
need to reconsider the young earth position.)
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| Picture of Nautiloid Fossils ... a bit faint to discern clearly |
Even I was able to discern some of the fossilized Nautiloids – hopefully the pictures turn out.
We’ve stopped for lunch at
Redbud Canyon (mile 39),where we were able to hike up a couple of ledges before the lunch call.
 |
| Redbud Canyon |
 |
| Flowers at Redbud |
Up the 3rd
ledge there were streams coming out of the cavern walls – absolutely fascinating
that the water is able to infiltrate the rock wall like that and then produce
moss, ferns, and trees growing out the side of a cliff! Absolutely amazing. Every leg of this journey brings new wonders.
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