|
<br />
<br />Reclaiming a lost canyon
<br />
<br />SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The first
<br />time Phil PenningtOn saw Glen .
<br />Canyon was in June of 1961, from the
<br />window of a search plane. A graduate
<br />student at the University of
<br />California, Berkeley, Pennington and a
<br />handful of university hiking club members
<br />had come to southern Utah to backpack in
<br />the canyonlands.
<br />A few of the more adventurous (and Jess
<br />oriented) in the group had gone exploring
<br />and promptly vanished. So Pennington, the
<br />trip leader, found himselfdrding over the
<br />maze of canyons, searching for the hikers,
<br />who were eventually found.
<br />"Nothing l;ould have prepared me for
<br />what I saw,~ says Pennington. He described
<br />the sight in writing yeats later: ~Canyons
<br />that are twisted saw.cut slots in red sand-
<br />stone. Natural bridges and arches every.
<br />where. And truly desolate stair-stepped
<br />desert mesas. Domes, ridges and needles of
<br />spectacular rock. Plus a river lined with
<br />greenery."
<br />-It was dear we had to do a trip,- he
<br />recalls' today.
<br />Phil and his future wife, Keturah,
<br />returned a year later with another troop of
<br />Cal Hiking Club members and a fleet ofyel-
<br />low rubber rafts. They spent a week bobbing
<br />down the Colorado River and exploring side
<br />canyons lined with cottonwood treeS, mono
<br />
<br />- f",;"- ..
<br />. '~f:i(<- ."t-'~~
<br />~ ~"
<br />:~"~"~~'
<br />~'{"_.~~~'~
<br />.~ . .i~..'~~'
<br />...1_ ,&l,
<br />''''\it .~,
<br />~/
<br />
<br />Greg
<br />Hanscom
<br />isHCN
<br />assistant
<br />editor,
<br />
<br />,"
<br />
<br />'-,
<br />~ ~.
<br />.. ~.
<br />
<br />t" "".By~Greg Hanscom" ~-1:'
<br />
<br />
<br />CATHEDRAL IN THE DESfRT: One of lhe
<br />canyons drained under lake Powell (Phil
<br />Pennington photO)
<br />
<br />keyflower 8l).d maidenhair fern. They saw
<br />lizards, deer, ehuckwallas, bats and signs of
<br />the people who had preceded them: Anasazi
<br />pictographs, a Caterpillar tractor, a plastic
<br />Christmas tree in front of an old cabin.
<br />The Penningtons remember Glen
<br />Canyon as .enchanting, magical, one of the
<br />most beautiful wcperiences in the world."
<br />But the place was,destined to disappear.
<br />In 1960, the Bureau of Reclamation (BuRee)
<br />had poured the first bucket of concrete on a
<br />dam that would eventually drown almost
<br />200 miles of the Colorado River under Lake
<br />Powel!.
<br />Over the next two years, the
<br />Penningtons returned as often as they could.
<br />Keturah climbed sandstone walls and stood
<br />on Phil's shoulders w explore hidden
<br />canyonlJ. Phil tested his theory that quick
<br />sand wouldn't swallow a person the way it
<br />
<br />did in the movies (it didn't). In the winter,
<br />they slid their boats on top of floating ice-
<br />bergs and spun in slow motion down the
<br />Colorado.
<br />There were others in the Glen, If>o.
<br />University archaeologists and biologists
<br />scrambled through the canyon each summer
<br />on ~salvage surveys.~ Desert lovers drove,
<br />bused and hitchhiked to the Glen in a rush
<br />to explore it before it was gone.
<br />Katie Lee, a young actress and singer,
<br />sbandoned a fledgling career in Hollywood
<br />and joined river guidcs who let her ride for
<br />free; in return, she brought her guitar and
<br />entertained the customers. Along the way,
<br />she gave the side canyons names like
<br />Dangling Rope, Little Arch, Corner Stone
<br />and Cathedral.
<br />-Glen Canyon was peaceful and protec-
<br />tive. The more you got to know it, the more
<br />you fell in love with it," she recalls. ~It was
<br />very spiritual - and very real - you had to
<br />watch wbat you were doing in that place. ~
<br />When Katie Lee heard about Glen
<br />Canyon Dam, sbe rallied opposition with her
<br />songs about the "Wreck-the-nation Bureau,"
<br />and its plans to .crucify my river." Phil
<br />Pennington showed his slides ofthe canyon
<br />to the Sierra Chlb and groups in the Bay
<br />Area. David Brower, head orthe Sierra Club,
<br />visited the canyon with his family, filmed it
<br />and lobbied to stop the dam.
<br />Too little, too late. Brower had miilil{,u
<br />his chance in 1956, when the Sierra Club
<br />backed off ita opposition to Glen Canyon
<br />Dam as part of a congressional deal that
<br />eliminated two dams slated for Dinosaur
<br />National Monument. The scattered river
<br />runners and college students were no match
<br />for Bureau chief Floyd Dominy, the self-pro-
<br />claimed "'messiah" of water' projects.
<br />In January of 1963, the reservoir began
<br />to fill. Katie Lee retreated to Aspen, Colo.,
<br />and sang skiing songs. The Penningtons con-
<br />tinued. to visit, but each time found a little
<br />continued on next page
<br />
<br />PRE.POWBl.:
<br />Members of the Cal
<br />Hiking Club floal the
<br />Colorado in the
<br />early 19605 (Photo
<br />courtesy
<br />Pennington)
<br />
<br />In the
<br />winter, they
<br />slid their
<br />boats on top
<br />of floating
<br />icebergs and
<br />spun in
<br />slow motion
<br />down the
<br />Colorado
<br />
<br />HlghCoUhtry News;';" November: JOI' J 99'7~ 9 --'
<br />
|