Original subtitles

Canyon Country.

A rugged empire of towering rock...

in the outback of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

From a labyrinth of flooded canyons...

to a barren landscape that holds the secrets

of a rich geological past.

It is one of North America's last great wild lands.

A parched plateau of swirling sandstone...

devoid of shade and water.

There are no maps, no signs...

just wilderness.

One little thing goes wrong you may not make it out.

A place where the earth's inner fires

erupt in billows of eternal smoke.

A land rich in marine fossils

revealing million-year-old secrets

of an ancient ocean.

These are little pieces of the puzzle,

the window that brings us back in time

to what the Earth must have been like back then.

And a rarely seen view

of one of the world's most remote

and rugged natural wonders.

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Glen Canyon.

A maze of soaring rock

stretching across more than a million acres

of the southwest United States

straddling southern Utah and the tip of northern Arizona.

An enchanted landscape of twisting canyons

mirrored in the emerald waters of Lake Powell

and the Colorado River Basin.

It's just a very scenic landscape

that just has no comparison anywhere else.

Dubbed "the land no one knew"

the far reaches of Glen Canyon were seldom travelled

until the middle of the last century

and today remain largely undiscovered.

I don't think the world really knows

how terrific this area is.

There is so much that is unique and yet hasn't been touched.

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That term "the place no one knew"

was used because back in the 1950s

Grand Canyon had already attracted a lot of attention.

Glen Canyon is such a remarkable feat of nature

that it still manages to impress

when compared to one of the world's

most celebrated natural wonders.

Its close neighbor...

the Grand Canyon.

In the late 19th century the promise of minerals

peaked an interest in mining at the Grand Canyon.

Though tourism proved to be more profitable.

By the turn of the 20th century

the Grand Canyon was one of America's

most popular tourist destinations.

It had a railroad that went to the south rim

by 1901.

Farther upstream there was a lot of activity

but this canyon, Glen Canyon, was kind of left alone.

Glen Canyon was named by Major John Wesley Powell:

The first explorer to journey down the mighty Colorado River.

Once deemed, the most treacherous waterway

in the northern hemisphere.

In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell

and 9 of his men embarked on a journey

of 1,000 miles of unchartered canyons,

a voyage that would change the West

forever.

The expedition lasted a total of 100 days.

The rapids of the Colorado River

were hostile through Grand Canyon.

Supplies were ripped away...

food and water scarce...

lives lost.

In Glen Canyon it was quite a bit different

than it was downstream in Grand Canyon.

The gradient of the river was so low

there were very few rapids, so it was a relief to be here

in this beautiful place.

The name comes from all of the vegetated alcoves

that lay along the river.

There was more vegetation here

than they had seen upstream or downstream

so it was a very beautiful place

that did not require portaging boats around rapids

and it was very quiet.

After a second grueling expedition

Major John Wesley Powell became the first

to map the hostile Colorado River.

At that time in 1869

this part of the map of North America

was pretty much blank and we did not know really

how the Colorado got from the state of Colorado

down to Arizona and California.

Glen Canyon...

Grand Canyon...

And a vast expanse of Canyon Country were excavated

by the Colorado River over millions of years.

More than 1,450 miles long

flowing through seven different states

the Colorado is the central artery

of the Southwestern United States.

It is the American Nile.

In spring rain and melting snow

roll down the Rocky Mountains

feeding into streams and tributaries

then converging at the Colorado.

This river system is collectively known

as the Colorado River Basin.

Draining more than 240,000 square miles,

an area as large as France,

the basin covers nearly 10% of the United States.

The same percentage of Africa that is drained by the Nile.

For millions of years

these rivers have been flowing through the landscape

carrying debris and boulders downstream

carving out the depths of Canyon Country.

The steep Colorado River and its tributaries

powered through the gully:

Chiseling the scenic landscape of Glen Canyon.

The downward journey of the Colorado

is not always a straight line.

Water takes the path of least resistance

sometimes meandering down the landscape

taking wide and swooping turns.

Horseshoe Bend.

A loop of turquoise water twists between

the soaring sandstone walls

carving more than 1,000-feet into the canyon.

An astounding 270° turn in the river's ancient path

is preserved in stone.

The canyon walls are largely made of sandstone.

Particles of sand bound together by minerals.

Over time, these bonds are broken

by the flowing waters of the Colorado.

And the river's winding path is engraved into the land:

Marking the beginning of what one-day might be

a natural bridge.

The natural bridges of Canyon Country

form in the meanders of the river's path.

As water carves deep into the groove

it hits an impenetrable rock layer

beneath the sandstone.

With its downward excavation at a halt

the stream widens its path instead

undercutting the surrounding canyon walls.

Over time, water wears down the inner wall

as it curves around the bend

leaving the narrow neck of the meander

vulnerable to erosion.

Eventually, the stream pierces through the weakened rock

taking a short cut through the wall.

With time, this hole is widened by the new path of the river.

The result is a natural bridge:

One of nature's most beautifully

engineered structures.

Up the Colorado River

nestled in a canyon north of Horseshoe Bend,

a natural bridge stands proudly arched above its maker...

Rainbow Bridge.

Taller than a 20-story skyscraper...

Nearly as long as a football field...

It is the world's largest natural bridge.

The Navajo, a native tribe that has resided in the area

for hundreds of years considers the bridge sacred,

a protector of the universe.

In the Navajo language the bridge is called Nonnezoshi

meaning "rainbow turned to stone."

In Navajo culture the Bridge is believed

to capture the essence of the desert

serving as a symbol of the divine powers

that created clouds, rainbows, and rain.

Special prayers are offered

passing beneath the sacred bridge.

Failure to do so is believed to bring a lifetime

of misfortune.

Rainbow Bridge was once among the most remote

and inaccessible areas in North America.

Today, a man-made reservoir

floods the surrounding streams and canyons

and gives access to the bridge by way of water.

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Lake Powell.

Stretching across 186 miles

of Northern Arizona to Southern Utah.

It is the second largest man-made reservoir

in the United States.

Lake Powell and its flooded canyons

are fringed by more than 2,000 miles of shoreline,

a distance longer than the entire west coast

of the United States.

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The lake was formed by the construction

of Glen Canyon Dam more than half a century ago.

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The building of the dam began with the pouring

of damp concrete.

Each bucket of concrete weighed 24 tons:

As heavy as 12 cars.

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Construction lasted three years

and required more than 400,000 buckets of concrete,

enough to lay a four-lane highway

through all of Italy and Spain.

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Lake Powell stretches across 13% of Glen Canyon

and holds up to 27 million acre-feet of water,

enough to flood the entire landmass of Cuba

in a foot of water.

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It is a reservoir

storing the waters of the Colorado River

to be used in times of drought.

Its waters flow through a hydro-powerplant

at the toe of Glen Canyon Dam.

Eight massive turbines fueled by generators

convert water to electricity.

Operating at full capacity,

more than 15 million gallons of water

pass through the power plant each minute

providing electricity to 6 million Americans.

But some wonder, at what cost?

Calm...

Still...

Serene...

Lake Powell is one of the world's

most scenic places.

But it is also one of the most controversial.

In the desert sun of Canyon Country

nearly 3% of the lake's volume evaporates each year.

A white line along the flooded canyon walls

indicates the level of water that once occupied this lake.

It is referred to as a "bathtub ring."

Calcium carbonate and other minerals in the water

attach to sandstone and leave behind a chalky streak

as they evaporate.

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The Colorado River once zigzagged

through Glen Canyon...

Muddy and savage.

Today, it is one of the most

highly controlled rivers in the world

with 15 dams installed along its path.

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The waters of the Colorado,

not controlled by Glen Canyon Dam

blush in the south-western sun.

Dirt and sand carried by the river

color its waters red.

When Spanish explorers first caught sight

of the silty river they were astounded

by its striking hue, naming it Rio Colorado:

Red River.

Today, the silt stays trapped behind the dam

and with it, its red color.

Native fish dependent on the silty, life-giving minerals

of the Colorado's muddy waters

are unable to survive beyond the dam.

Unnaturally cold waters

released from the bottom of Glen Canyon Dam

pose another problem.

River temperatures once as high as 85° Fahrenheit

plunge to lows of 44, too cold for the fish to spawn.

These environmental changes

threaten the populations of many native species

in the river corridor

between Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam.

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The natural landscape of Glen Canyon

shaped by the Colorado River and its tributaries

is always changing.

Over millions of years plateaus turn into mesas

flat-topped landmasses wider than they are tall.

These mesas worn down by erosion

become narrower rocks, known as buttes.

Eventually these buttes will erode away to pinnacles.

Until they too surrender to erosion

and crumble to the valley floor.

The stages in which the landscape of Glen Canyon

was sculpted are locked in stone.

Formed during the age of dinosaurs

Glen Canyon's sandstone walls

date back to the Jurassic period.

We're sitting and standing on rocks

that go back about 160 million years,

180 million years.

And we're looking at landscapes

that have been carved out of those rocks.

We end up with shapes and sculptures

that you just don't see anywhere else.

And then having a lake water lapping up

against these beautiful rocks

and the combination of blue water and red rocks

is all also pretty hard to beat.

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The landscapes that we see today are just a snapshot

of what's going on here over a long period of time.

More than 160 million years ago

the sandstone castles of Glen Canyon

were massive, wind-blown desert dunes.

And the mahogany rock layer

that lines the foothills of its canyons

an inland sea.

As the ground rose and fell the landscape changed

transforming inland seas into desert dunes.

Over time, these environments deposited in sedimentary layers

were preserved in stone.

Like the chapters of a history book

each layer tells the story of a geological past.

Certain periods of time within the rock layers

are completely missing

referred to by geologists as unconformities:

eras when the environment did not deposit enough sediment

to create a layer.

With no record in the rocks

entire chapters in the geological history

of Canyon Country remain a mystery.

West of Glen Canyon an ancient ocean floor

provides clues to a mysterious past.

Dark...

Dry...

Desolate...

Deserted.

A place the locals call "the moon"

for its otherworldly form and color.

The Tropic Shale.

A stark graveyard of prehistoric bones

that once teemed with marine life.

I've been fossil hunting in the southwest for a long time

and I have training as a geologist

and I've found a lot of significant fossil sites

in this formation of The Tropic Shale.

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The fossils that we find here tell us a lot about the biology

and the history of what the earth was like here

so long ago.

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These are little pieces of the puzzle,

the window that brings us back in time

to what the Earth must have been like back then.

And every single discovery that's made out here

is an extremely important piece of that puzzle

that helps us see exactly what was going on.

Rich in marine fossils

the Tropic Shale reveals the 90-million-year-old secrets

of an ancient ocean.

The remnants found here are from the Cretaceous period:

The age of dinosaurs.

If you were here 90 million years ago

you would be in the middle of an inland sea called

the Western Interior Seaway

that covered most of western North America.

And you would see fish swimming around in this ocean.

You would see giant turtles

that were the size of vehicles swimming around.

A vast array of different types of sharks

some of which are now extinct.

There were seagoing marine reptiles

that were also swimming around in this ocean.

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The colors of the Tropic Shale

help tell the story of these fossils.

Deep grey coloration indicates

there was a lot of carbon and little oxygen

on the bottom of this ocean:

What is called an anoxic environment.

A lack of oxygen decreased the number

of microbial and other smaller life forms

that typically consume the bones collected on an ocean floor

making the tropic shale an ideal environment

for preserving the fossils of the marine life

that once swam in these waters.

It's interesting that you can go to a desert

in the southwest and hike around in a very remote location

and find a shark tooth at 4,000-feet elevation

when it's 104° outside.

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This is a Cretaceous shark tooth that we just found close by here

in the tropic shale.

You have part of the root here has been snapped off.

This is what's known as an eyetooth,

which is one of the side teeth from the main tooth,

which is also snapped on the top.

It's broken but still beautifully preserved.

Along the Tropic Shale

deposited in shallower, beach waters

are millions of fossilized oysters

embedded in the sandstone as far as the eye can see.

Their shells, tightly packed together

protected by the stone.

Oysters live in shallow, salt-water environments.

These fossilized oysters provide a window

into an oceanic past.

So this entire area behind me here

was a beach 90 million years ago.

Right on the oceanfront,

which is the darker sediment right above the beach.

This beach is just caked in oysters,

which is one of the indications why we know it was a beach.

When you look at the rocks here,

there are actually so many oysters

packed together here,

you can hardly even tell one oyster from the next.

Here's one of these oysters,

beautifully preserved for 90 million years.

It's really fascinating to go walk along

this ancient beach

and you can almost imagine being there

90 million years ago.

There would be oysters living in the sand

underneath your feet

and it would be like a tropical paradise

as opposed to what you see today,

a very dry, desolate desert.

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From an ancient ocean floor

to one of the world's largest sand-dune deserts

the rocks of Canyon Country reveal a rich geological history

layer by layer.

South of the Tropic Shale

along the deep meander of the Colorado River

its tributary, the Paria River

carves through the narrow, twisting canyons

of the Paria Plateau.

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Above the valley lies a barren stretch

of pristine desert brimming with geologic wonders.

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Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area:

More than 250 acres of rugged, unspoiled beauty.

A remote expanse of desert atop the towering Paria Plateau

girded by 2,000-feet of soaring, crimson cliffs

stretches across more than 30 miles of Northern Arizona.

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It's the most beautiful country I've ever seen.

To me it is a place that looks like

it's touched by the divine.

In the scorching desert sun

the Vermillion Cliffs burn with a fiery, red glow.

The ground sweats

releasing shimmering waves of heat.

A blooming flower alone among the desert shrubs

sways in the summer wind.

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Wildlife is nowhere to be seen.

High up in the cliffs

the largest land birds in North America

California Condors wait out the desert sun

in the shelter of a shaded cave.

Few creatures can survive the desert's extreme conditions.

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Summer temperatures can spike to 115° Fahrenheit.

But that's not the start of it.

What you need to worry about is the fact that from the ground

and from the rocks the heat is reverberating back to you.

So it is like a pressure cooker.

Sandstone dominates the landscape

of the Vermillion Cliffs

trapping the scorching rays of sun

deep inside the ground.

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There is no water and little vegetation

to relieve the heat.

Plants cool the landscape through a process

called transpiration.

As the surrounding air heats up

plants release excess water into the atmosphere

cooling both themselves and the surrounding air.

Junipers, sprinkled across the barren land

offer little relief in the way of shade.

The fleeting shadow from an overhang

on the escarpment provides a moment of reprieve.

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At night, as the sun retreats

and heat escapes the rocks

temperatures can drop to lows of 60°

as much as a 30° difference from the daytime.

You really need to bring as much as you can

as far as layering: long-sleeve shirts, hats,

things that will protect you.

You know you wouldn't go out into the Sahara Desert

ill-prepared.

The landscape of Vermillion Cliffs

was, in fact, once an ancient desert

as vast as the Sahara.

A remote and isolated patch of sandstone

hidden in the Northwest corner of Vermillion

exposes its ancient past.

The Coyote Buttes,

a landscape of colorful, swirling sandstone

that must be seen to be believed.

You won't see anything else like it in the world.

I've travelled pretty extensively myself

and I've never seen formations

that are this inspiring and mind boggling and moving.

The journey out to the Coyote Buttes

is no easy feat.

There are no signs, no maps.

Just desert.

It's an area that can be really unforgiving.

Mother Nature's learning curve here is very harsh

if you're not prepared.

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You need your maps, you need to study them.

You need to be prepared with a cache of food.

And you need to hydrate.

I can't say enough that you have need to hydrate

before you head out.

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Folks will head out and be unfamiliar with the area,

get totally turned around or get dehydrated

because they haven't had enough water.

There's no signs

and they start hiking another way

and they're lost.

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I feel like out here,

we're on a bit of a tenuous thread

that if someone were to pull that tiny little thread,

everything is unravelled in a moment.

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One little thing goes wrong you may not make it out.

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The South Coyote Buttes

tucked away in the northwest corner

of the Vermillion Wilderness Area.

A billowing landscape stained white, orange and red.

Isolated sandstone peaks emerge from level ground

like tents pitched in the middle of a desert.

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More than 200 million years ago

these summits were massive, wind-blown sand dunes

that spanned what is now the stretch

from Wyoming to Las Vegas.

It was one of the world's largest deserts.

Water filled with minerals filtered through the desert

binding sand particles together like cement.

Over millions of years

desert sands turned to sandstone.

As ancient winds blew across the desert

sand dunes were stacked one on top of the other

creating a rippled pattern.

Hardened over time to rock these ripples were preserved

as smooth, colored ribbons of sandstone.

Each color represents a different chemical reaction

between sand, minerals, and water.

Over millions of years

the landscape is bleached and stained band by band

in perfectly aligned horizontal stripes.

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Pockets of the North Coyote Buttes

give way to a chaotic landscape

of tangled reds, whites, and creams...

and bunches of rock robbed of color.

You will come to places that feel like

it's out of this world.

And they are magically unspoiled.

A place where you can really be close to nature

and have that connection.

And it feels like being on another planet.

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Curious swells and weaving twists of color

paint the desert landscape.

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You're seeing cream splashed

against these brilliant oranges and reds and grey

and then the strata, the formations kind of you know

there's places where it undulates and swirls

and it kind of smears together

almost like a really luscious ice cream cone.

It is a different interpretation that everyone walks away with.

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To see all of those

mind-boggling formations and colors

just kind of smeared and mixed together

and mashed together

and kind of wonder how the earth did this,

how the elements pushed all of these things together

and molded them and melted them together.

It's really beautiful.

The processes that yielded these bizarre formations

have stumped geologists for years.

The contortions, twists and grooves

are thought to have occurred in the Jurassic period

more than 100 million years ago

when this was an ancient desert.

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Some geologists believe this unusual landscape

is the product of a process called soft sediment formation.

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A sand-slide triggered by an earthquake

mixed different layers of sand.

Over millions of years these sands solidified to stone

shaping one of nature's most miraculously painted landscapes.

North of the Vermillion Cliffs,

high above the Colorado River and its string of canyons

smoke dances in the evening glow of the setting sun

exhaled from the mouth of a blackened fissure

that peers deep into the earth.

Smokey Mountain.

Overlooking the rugged peaks and valley plains

of Canyon Country

a mountain range that hints at fires burning deep within.

A build-up of black tar lines fissures

scattered on the mountaintop.

The pungent odor of an old, coal-burning furnace

is evidence of a fire burning miles below the ground.

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Millions of years ago

a coal deposit, deep below the earth

was set ablaze.

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The source that sparked the flame

remains a mystery.

Geologists suggest the fire was ignited

either by spontaneous combustion

or a strike of lightning.

A seemingly endless supply of coal fuels the fire.

Oxygen entering through the fissures

keeps it burning like a natural chimney.

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The crimson color of the cliff face

indicates the age and power of the fire deep within.

The coal oxidizes iron minerals trapped within the rock

changing the coloration of the cliffs from brown to red.

Similar to the ruddy bricks of an aging furnace.

An indication that this fire has been burning

for millions of years.

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With so much valuable coal going up in smoke

government agencies and coal companies

tried to extinguish the fire in the 1960s.

Their efforts failed.

In 1996, a proposed coal mine in the area was quashed

when US President Bill Clinton designated this area

a national park.

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As the sun descends on Canyon Country

smoke clouds billow from the fissures.

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The inner fires of Smokey Mountain

will stay ablaze through the night

and for countless nights to come.

From the winding sandstone labyrinth

of Glen Canyon...

to the swirling sands of The Vermillion Cliffs...

The Canyon Country of the American south-west

is a land of raw and rugged beauty.

It's unlike anything else that you see anywhere else on Earth.

A barren landscape that once teemed

with prehistoric life.

Every fossil is a little window back into that past.

A place to connect with nature.

Today, we are running way too fast.

Need to slow down and just listen

and sometimes the only thing that we hear is nothing at all.

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In the outback of Canyon Country

water slowly deepen canyons...

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And winds sculpt desert plains

as they have for millions of years.

Eroded by the elements and by time

this land writes the story of its creation

line by line.

Sometimes revealing a surprising geological past.

Other times keeping its origins

a secret.

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