Stories from the Road: Glen Canyon Dam
Glen Canyon Dam, Grand Canyon, Arizona (Julie)
At the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, one of five interpretive/visitor centers of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, we learned about and signed up for a free guided tour of the dam. We wanted to do a worldschooling lesson on this massive structure that forms Lake Powell and provides water resources for 40 million people throughout the US West. I was not super comfortable dropping 110 feet down an elevator to the interior of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second highest dam in the United States. It was crowded, and I couldn’t breathe. There were ugly rust colored splotches on cement walls. I was pretty sure those were signs that the entire dam was about to come crashing down.
fellow Road Scholar, Hance
Then we met Hance, another 9-year-old worldschooler traveling with his mom through the US for an entire year, just like us. While I readied myself for certain death, Johnny and Hance compared notes on penstocks and turbines, spillways, and hollow jet valves. Within seconds, a friendship was cemented and we spent the next week together at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The Colorado River from Deadhorse Point.
We camped in a grove of Douglas Fir and played tag on 78 million-year-old rock. We had sleepovers in each other’s rigs and compared bush pancake recipes and miles traveled to date. Budding environmentalists, Johnny and Hance went around camp on a waste management mission and picked up cans and litter. They deposited the cans in the blue recycle bin and the litter in the trash.
The next morning they discovered the aluminum cans in the trash dumpster! Tearful with their first-ever experience of betrayal, we put together a worldschooling lesson in environmental accountability and advocacy. We did some research to find out who held the contract for concessions, and the boys wrote a letter saying, in so many words, “Hey dude, why do you claim to recycle when you really do not?” We explored the concepts of individual responsibility and corporate responsibility and talked about ways to make a difference.
Believe it or not, they got a response! It was heartening to be heard, and this experience motivated Johnny to look for ways to speak up throughout our Wonder Year.
Dear Recreation Resource Management
why do you claim to recycle but really don’t?
