Grand Canyon 6

The headwaters of the Colorado River are at 9,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. By the time the river gets to the Arizona border it has dropped to 3,000 feet. Through the Grand Canyon, the river is between 2,800 and 2,500 feet in elevation. However, the rim of the Grand Canyon, the point at which the river began eroding this magnificent ditch, is at 8,000 feet.

Since water does not flow uphill, how can this be? Geologists say that this section of northern Arizona began a major upheaval about the time the Colorado River began flowing through the area. As the land rose, the river kept cutting its path deeper and deeper into the upheaval.

Which means that the Colorado River we see today is pretty much at the same elevation above sea level that it's always been; it's the LAND that has risen around it!

Sometimes we see without seeing. Hymn for today: "Open my eyes, that I may see."

Put this cross on a mug!