Most Exciting Adventure

Recently, AiG board member Dan Wooster took his two sons on a Grand Canyon raft trip down the Colorado River in northern Arizona. AiG works closely with our good friend Tom Vail of Canyon Ministries so that AiG supporters and others can experience the Grand Canyon’s formation from a creationist perspective. On this recent trip, AiG staff member and astronomer Dr. Danny Faulkner provided creationist teaching as part of the experience.

I thought you would like to read Dan’s blog post about this exciting trip, and I hope that you plan to go on one of the future trips. There are only about three spaces left on the remaining AiG raft for this year. (Go to the raft trip event page for details.)

Here is Dan’s blog post about his trip:

Here’s a brief summary of one of the most exciting adventure trips I have ever been on. A four day Grand Canyon tour with Tom Vail of Canyon Ministries down the Colorado River with my amazing sons, Jonathan and Joseph!

We just got back to “civilization”, which for me means text messages, emails, and voice mails. 219 emails, 10 texts, 5 voice mails. So I am capturing my impression of the trip on the 2.5 hour bus ride back to Vegas. Now there’s a culture contrast—Vegas after 4 days wandering thru the vast canyon [and river] wilderness.

The first thing that comes to mind which best summarizes this trip is “no pain, no gain“. While the rigors of survival without [the] aid of much modern technology is a bit of a pain, the overwhelming benefits of seeing with your own eyes the beauty that exists, though marred by the affects of the Curse, are great gain!

Here is a list, only in the order they occurred to me, of my immediate take always from the trip. …

• The supposed benefits of no Internet access are grossly overrated! Every time our tour guide, Tom Vail, shared information about the canyon, I instinctively wanted to do some googling or see where we were on google earth or share a photo with my wonderful wife.
• Seeing the canyon from the rim or the air is nothing compared to the view from the river. No other experience can provide such spectacular views. No digital capture devices can begin to provide the sensory input that being there provides. The colors and layering provide one with a better understanding of the tremendous power of lots and lots of water!
• As a Believer, there is no better way to tour the canyon than with someone like Tom who interprets the data from a strong biblical worldview with a solid young earth position. Tom’s 30+ years as a grand canyon tour guide, half of them before he put his faith in Christ, enable him to explain to a Believer not only a biblical model of the [effects] of the Flood [of Noah], but helps one understand the fallacies in the evolutionary model of canyon formation.
• While a 3-day river trip through the wilderness has its many physical challenges, Tom and the crew know just what to bring along and how to make the tourist’s stay as physically [comfortable] as possible while upholding a strong commitment to leaving this awesome national park in as close to the same condition as humanly possible.
• There was a warm fellowship among the 28 members of the tour as the vast majority of us were drawn to this trip thru the ministry of Answers in Genesis.

I highly recommend this trip. Parents, take your children as part of their education and faith building. It’s as good an investment in their hearts and minds as a Christian education! In closing I summarizes the highlights of this faith building adventure.

• plane ride from Vegas to The Bar 10 Ranch located about 5 miles from the river, providing spectacular views of the canyon
• a day and night at one of the most uniquely positioned ranches in all of America
• horseback ride
• ATV ride to the edge of the canyon crossing ancient, post flood, lava flows
• a western steak dinner from grass fed Red Devon cattle imported from New Zealand
• 3 days rafting the river with dozens of side trips to spectacular water falls, unique rock formations, and even a Sunday morning natural cathedral for a place of Christian worship
• nightly talks and star gazing with professor, astronomer and author, Dr. Danny R. Faulkner, one of only 4 phd astronomers [to our knowledge] which hold to a strong young earth biblical model of the universe
• a speed boat ride down the last 50 miles of the trip
• nice air conditioned bus ride with modern “high tech” toilet facilities, much appreciated after 3 days of roughing it

Final words—just do it with Tom Vail of Canyon Ministries!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken