A short post, with a question that has no easy answers.
Glen Canyon was a beatiful place, full of canyons, mesas, archeological sites, and natural beauty, until the west needed water and electricity. By 1963, a dam had been built and 186 miles of canyonlands behind were flooded by 1966. What we lost can never be restored, even if the dam is removed.
The image above is just downstream from the dam. Look at that beautiful canyon.
A bit farther down is the famous Horseshoe Bend formation.
Very Short Video: Horseshoe Bend
This is what the canyon looks like above the dam. Flooded, and yet it shows how beautiful the drowned world must have been. Choices like power and water put is at the hard edge of decisions that have lifelong impacts for ourselves and the environment.
Should the dam remain, or be removed? Here’s a good article about the choices already made and what choices there going forward.
The night. The stars. The river.
What would be the permanent damage if the dam was removed?
When I think of your travels, I think of Blue Highways, and of a couple of solo adventures of my own. While those were very fine adventures, I think I’d still like to have a travel companion, and somehow, less driving and more seeing. I looked into the prices of Ford Transit Connect vans, and found them a lot cheaper here on the east coast than to the west. So driving less by buying one further west wouldn’t be an obvious solution to the driving problem.
What has been done can’t be undone. I’ll leave it to smarter folks than me to make that final decision, but as a resident of a drought state, I’m inclined to say that we need the water. If there were a better solution to store it, I’d be all for it though.
Thank you Annie for another informative posting on your WynnWorlds. Your photos are beautiful as always and your commentary is reflective and thought provoking. For folks looking for more background on this region (geologically, culturally, & politically) and at the same time get a thrilling story of a wooden boat excursion down the Colorado River and thru the Grand Canyon I recommend the book The Emerald Mile.