Summary of the creation-evolution debate "Does evolution or intelligent design better explain life's diversity?" Walter ReMine vs. Massimo Pigliucci Held at the University of Minnesota, August 12, 2000 Pigliucci's presentation: I found Professor Pigliucci, (pronounced Pill-ü'-chi) personable and reasonable, his delivery smooth and polished. His 45 minute presentation was the usual angles, though rather less than I expected and aimed more toward a high-school audience. I was braced for more, and was surprised when a bigger salvo did not come. He began by defining evolution as " change in gene frequencies ", and spent too much of his time working this old saw. He later merged in the notion of evolution as common descent. He also tried to define evolution to leave out the origin of life . All very common moves: An attempt to win the debate by mis-defining its key term. He argued that eyes are not well designed. ¹ He says natural selection could not explain perfect design (which is a direct contradiction to Stephen Gould's claim). He spent time with micro-evolutionary issues - but his examples tended to have the 'evil god' angle (not his words) that he used many times that night. It seems an angle he relishes. For example, he discussed changes in gene frequency in the HIV virus. Also parasites. Also the "terrible waste that 99.9 percent of species went extinct." ² He also displayed a slide that specifically mentioned the problem of evil. He gave examples of 'bad design' in humans (which is yet another version of the evil god argument) - human backaches, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, (I suggest these are more likely due to lack of exercise and bad diet), and the fact that it takes a baby a year to learn to walk (I say, So what! A human baby is learning far more important things during that time). He says these support the idea that humans had to learn to walk upright, unlike our distant ancestors. He is especially pleased with this argument as he used it at a lecture the previous day and on his website. His arguments here were poorly formed and sketchy, they are mere bald assertions unsupported anywhere in the literature by a serious analysis of the design itself. That is a common practice today among evolutionists, and must be challenged. It is sobering to remember that evolutionists once claimed numerous organs were completely "functionless" vestiges . Since those were abundantly mistaken, we ought be even more skeptical about claims that are more difficult to establish, such as claims about imperfect design. We ought be especially skeptical when those claims are unsupported by serious analysis, as is the case these days. He showed the triceratops family (a slide from his website), that looks reminiscent of the horse situation (i.e. bushy), and a new slide on whales. He discussed the evolution of the whales, including a hypothetical drawing of the mesonychids that looks somewhat like a weird-faced tiger with bear claws. He showed a bear grasping fish in a river, and suggested such an existence for the forerunners of the whales. At one stage in his storytelling he showed a drawing (I suspect hypothetical soft-body tissues) that looked fat-belly-alligator-like. He had a lot of just-so story-telling about how whales would evolve. He said the Hippo is the closest living terrestrial relative of the whales: because of the DNA data (I presume he is referring to DNA cladograms, which never identify real ancestors); because the Hippo baby swims before it can walk (therefore like a whale?); because the Hippo nurses its young underwater (like a whale); and because the Hippo's testicles are internal (like a whale). That was the meatiest part of his presentation, yet full of notoriously flexible Darwinian storytelling. Most notably, there was no serious demonstration that a large-scale pattern of clear-cut ancestors actually exists. This is a key point, a central issue. My approach: My book, The Biotic Message , quotes abundantly, and only from my opponents - evolutionists. That approach avoids the fringe issues and keeps my material within mainstream science. My debate used that same material, though I referred listeners to my book for documentation, rather my debate focused on getting the key concepts across. I address only the scientific issues, while avoiding religion. There is an abundance of science that favors creation, and I sought to demonstrate this by example . I chose a number of these topics that are known to leading evolutionists, but generally UN-known to the public. This made my topics relevant and interesting, even new and startling to many people. These are especially juicy topics previously thought the strongest evidences for evolution. To date, I have not heard anything from anyone (creationist or evolutionist) that shows any serious error in my facts presented that evening. Rather, the criticism has been of a different kind. One of my goals was to press a lot of key material into the videotape, where people (friend and foe alike) can rewind and review at leisure. Toward this end, I streamlined my material to hit the main points, and read the first 30 minutes at an elevated pace. This is unlike my other public lectures that move at a leisurely pace, aimed at a more pedestrian audience. Especially as the debate was at the University of Minnesota, a high level of material was called for. This turned out to be the most controversial aspect of my presentation. Some people felt my pace was too fast (especially younger students or those new to the origins debate). Other people (such as biology professors, etc.) said my pace was fine. I understood this tradeoff, but felt it worth the risk at the time. My opponent could easily skate on evolutionary illusions thoroughly ingrained in our culture, he hardly had to teach the audience anything new. I, on the other hand, had to undo old illusions and teach new concepts, an ambitious undertaking. At this stage in the creation/evolution debate, I wanted even the casual observer to see the creationist has no shortage of cool, meaty scientific issues to discuss. If even this minor point could be achieved, then this oral debate must be viewed as a successful creationist step forward into the mainstream scientific arena. My presentation: Any of these topics can be an entire lecture of cutting-edge material in creation-evolution. Many evolutionists would gladly tie-up the entire debate with issues about the philosophy of science, as this tactic prevents ever getting to the meat. Then they would proudly conclude that creationist views are mere philosophy. I opened by rapidly de-complicating the philosophy of science by giving simple examples that catch everyone's common sense. Philosophy of science - We execute murderers: That's not flimsy! Even though the murder is not repeatable, and there were no eye-witnesses, the data often shows an intelligent being caused it. The idea of intelligent design can carry serious weight, it is not inherently flimsy. It all depends on the data. Then I marched straight into the serious science topics: Vestigial "functionless" organs - now virtually barren as evidence of evolution, according to evolutionists themselves The famous Miller-Urey Experiment - is now largely irrelevant, according to evolutionists themselves "Biochemical universals" - Dobzhansky (in his famous paper "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution") claimed biochemical universals as a central, potent evidence for evolution. His claim contradicts the origin-of-life theorists, but this contradiction went unnoticed so long as evolutionists portrayed the origin-of-life as separate from its subsequent evolution - as Pigliucci was attempting to do. Once you understand this contradiction, you see why biochemical universals (and Dobzhansky's famous saying) do not support evolution. (Note: My debate spent virtually no time on the origin-of-life, even though creationists can score big points there. Rather, I focused on those areas of biology where evolution is said to have its strongest case.) Embryology - Haeckle's fudged drawings; the non-existent "gill-slits"; the hour-glass shape of ontogeny - the contradictions between Darwinism and the patterns displayed in embryology, and the inability of evolutionists to resolve it. Natural selection theory - a quick review of its key problems - it does not coherently predict its central claims about the origin of higher adaptations. I mentioned Michael Behe's irreducible complexity concept, and the evolutionists' current attempts to counter it. Darwinism - I discuss the twin expectations of Classic Darwinism: gradual inter-gradations, and clear-cut ancestors and lineage. I clarify these concepts, and that they are systematically absent on a large-scale. I cannot emphasize these issues enough. I describe many methods Darwinians use to create the illusion of lineage, the illusion that ancestors exist and are known. One of these methods is what Gould called, "linearizing the data with a steamroller". I showed Pigliucci's diagram of human evolution (from his website) which depicts a classic Darwinian-style straight-line lineage to man. I pointed out that evolutionist experts would vehemently disagree with Pigliucci's diagram. I challenged Pigliucci to get his diagram past leading paleoanthropologists. He later responded by describing what he had done to his diagram - it fit exactly with my description of linearizing the data with a steamroller . It was satisfying to see Pigliucci shoot down his own diagram in precisely my terms. Interbreeding - I discussed the emerging pattern of interbreeding, showing that the interbreeding groups are somewhat larger than most people had heretofore realized, and that these groups tend to correspond to coherent morphological boundaries. Punctuated equilibria - I illuminated the punctuationists' deep contradictions with the Classic Darwinists; the structure of punk ek theory; and the little known reason for its emphasis on random speciation. Evolutionists would never have advanced this far-fetched theory if Darwinian theory had support from the fossil record. All this further shows the anti-Darwinian patterns are real. The cladists - Darwinian systematists artficially created "ancestors" out of thin air by creating un-natural groupings, called "paraphyletic groups". The cladists saw this error, and sought to dismantle these groups. Thus began the subterranean struggle over paraphyletic groups; and their role in the downfall of Darwinian systematics. In truth, the issue was how to sell evolution to the public, and the two factions of evolutionists had contradictory solutions to the problem. The rise of cladistics, (and the fall of Darwinian Systematics) shows, in yet another way, that the anti-Darwinian patterns are real. The domino effect - Darwinism failed, in large measure, because evolutionists could not identify ancestors - identifiable ancestors are systematically absent. With this keystone removed, the various Darwinian towers collapse. I discuss this domino effect in the fields of: fossil sequence, and biogeography. The fall of Darwinism turned these fields on their heads. The Cambrian Explosion - a breathtaking pattern, quite awkward for evolution to justify. "Disparity precedes diversity" - Gould's statement about fossil sequence, another pattern that contradicts Darwinism. All that in 30 minutes. Yes, a rapid pace, though all those are key issues. I spent much of my time there for several reasons. First, one must remove the prevailing Darwinian illusions before people can even see the data clearly. It is awkward to give a new theory (message theory) until after the Darwinian illusions are removed. Second, the debate was not primarily about my theory (message theory), because Prof. Pigliucci had not read my book (though I had offered it to him for that purpose). Third, because I was, in some sense, representing creationists at large, and therefore felt obligated to press issues of general interest to them, rather than my specific theory. Nonetheless, some creationists were disappointed that I did not spend more time introducing message theory. In my view, the above topics do that, however implicitly. In many ways they are important in order to 'see' message theory. Biotic Message Theory - I then spoke slower, without notes, and introduced biotic message theory for fifteen minutes. The central claims of the theory, its structure. It explains the major patterns of biology (I identify them). It answers Darwin's Riddle - Why are similar traits sometimes used for different purposes? And why are different traits sometimes used for similar purposes? It solves the Argument from Imperfection in a new way. It explains the abundance of "convergence". It is a scientifically testable theory. My rebuttal: After an intermission, my 15 minute rebuttal was next. I moved through each of Pigliucci's remaining points, noting that he had not identified any clear ancestors. This is the hollow shell of Darwinism that must be repeatedly exposed. I soon ran out of material from his presentation, so I moved on to rebut his website. For example, I noted that Pigliucci (like many evolutionists) misuses the term "intermediate form" in a manner different from the public, and that is ideal for creating the illusion of ancestry in the public mind. Here is what his website says: "If there are no intermediate forms, what are these? [The picture shows living sea otters and a living Hippo] You can see lots of other intermediate evolutionary forms just by going to the zoo. Otters and sea lions, for example, are clear instances of once terrestrial animals that are evolving a more aquatic life style. So is the hippopotamus, which is a very goofy animal on both land and water, but which nevertheless makes its living pretty well." (Massimo Pigliucci, quotation accurate as of Aug 16, 2000, slide #12 May no longer be on line as of May 2010) He is using living animals as "intermediate forms"!!! (Presumably because they are 'intermediate' between land & sea ?!!) That is a misleading use of the term, I pointed out. He is creating intermediate forms out of thin air. Pigliucci responded, claiming that is not what his website says, rather he claims his website shows what intermediate forms "would look like". I cannot remotely square that with what his website actually says (above). I mention the point here, because within months the matter may be lost in the mists of time. That's the difficulty with quoting material from the Internet - it is transitory, and they can erase or change what they said. I also discussed the cellulose problem for evolution, and why it makes good system -design from an intelligent designer. Natural selection cannot do system -design, that is, it cannot withhold advantageous traits from individuals in order to benefit the system . As noted earlier, Pigliucci overlooked many traditional evidences for evolution, in favor of weaker ones, yet his choices had a common thread - the evil god argument, the problem of evil. This is the subtext he hammered much of the evening. However, Pigliucci does not believe in the very concept of evil! That makes his focus on the matter both curious and self-contradictory, which I pointed out. Why does he repeatedly bring up examples of moral culpability, when he does not believe such a thing exists? I pointed out his website article, where he argues against the death penalty. Forget about the death penalty and notice his "real reason" for halting it. He places a good man and a cop-killer on precisely the same moral level, separated only by random "luck", "nothing else": "Well, I am an atheist, and I still reject the death penalty. .... The real reason for halting the practice of the death penalty is that we should understand once and for all that human beings are the product of their genes and of the environment in which they grow up - nothing else. Therefore, while it makes perfect sense for society to restrain dangerous individuals from causing more harm, it doesn't make any sense to *punish* them beyond that point. Mr. [XXX] is able to attend college and pontificate about other people's death for exactly the same reasons - but different circumstances - that lead Philip Workman to kill a policeman in Memphis: his nature and the nurture he received . Fortunately for [Mr. XXX], his was luckier than Workman on both counts." (Massimo Pigliucci, accurate quotation as of Oct. 25, 2000, my emphasis added) His words speak for themselves. Ponder them. They're staggering. They are the underside he was none-too-eager for our audience to appreciate. [NOTE: Though Pigliucci's view is seldom seen so nakedly, it is not uncommon. It comes from the same mold as the evolutionary sociobiologists, who believe that ethics, morality, love, altruism, truth, and free-will, are all illusions fobbed off on us by our genes to get us to go along with existence. (No, I'm not making that up.) Many evolutionists (such as Stephen Gould, Philip Kitcher, and others) find sociobiology repulsive and attack it. Remarkably, they use the same logical arguments the creationists use against evolution, nearly word for word! That practice validates the creationist arguments as substantial. This situation is documented in my book.] Pigliucci's rebuttal: Pigliucci came hunting bear. And when he didn't find bear, he just kept shooting at imaginary bears. He scarcely altered his comments to fit his actual opponent at hand. It was as though he was debating an "Inherit the Wind" stereotype of a creationist, and didn't know what to make of this different creature (me). His main punch at message theory was this: If the designer wanted to send a message, why not use a better method, such as write it in the sky, or use e-mail. I answered this at my earliest opportunity. Also remember, message theory claims life was designed (in part) to resist evolutionary explanation. This claim is like poking an evolutionist between the eyes with a stick.. Yet it drew no specific counter-evidence from him! That was noteworthy. Q & A Session: The Q&A session was exciting and the audience seemed to especially like it. The questions were written and fast paced, though tended to be much simpler than I would like. There were several interesting uses of rhetoric. Great fun was had by all. - Walter ReMine The Biotic Message www.SaintPaulScience.com ¹ - Pigliucci argued that eyes are not well designed. That is not an argument for evolution, instead it attempts to argue against a designer. In other words, Pigliucci uses the two-model approach , an approach Darwin invented. Evolutionists often bitterly complain when creationists likewise use a two-model approach! ² - Pigliucci used the often heard argument about the "terrible waste that 99.9 percent of species went extinct." That figure is inaccurate, because it is based on evolutionary assumptions rather than actual fossils. That is, evolution requires a lot more fossils than are actually found, so by evolutionary assumptions they must have once existed - and hence they must have later gone extinct. Also, the argument focuses on "species" rather than created kinds (or holobaramin), which exaggerates the figure even further. The unit of concern in creation theory is the created kind (or holobaramin ) and the size of these vary somewhat throughout the system of life. Sometimes they correspond to species, and sometimes they correspond to groups as high as a Linnean family.

Mount St. Helens (Washington) Video: Awesome Science Explore Mount St. Helens with Noah Justice

Yellowstone National Park, Part 1: A Flood Super volcano https://www.icr.org/article/yellowstone-national-park-part-1-supervolcano/ Yellowstone National Park, Part 2: Canyons and Catastrophe https://www.icr.org/article/yellowstone-part-2-canyons-cata Petrified Forests in Yellowstone https://answersingenesis.org/fossils/types-of-fossils/petrified-forests-in-yellowstone/

Creation Vacation Each year millions of people from around the world come to see these national park’s beauty and wonder! Secular scientists attribute this to natural process over millions of years. Yet, if we go beyond the beauty we will see these parks show the Genesis Flood and subsequent Ice Age. Come and look with our biblical glasses and give glory to God. Be sure to purchase Your guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks by Hergenrather, Vail, Oard, Bokovoy. This book views the parks from a biblical perspective; there was a worldwide Genesis flood which produced the one and only Ice Age. The notes below are a supplement to the guide book. So, use both and have a great creation vacation! On the way to Yellowstone you may want to stop at: Ashfall Fossil Beds, Royal, Nebraska : 86930 517th Ave, Royal, NE 68773 Volcanic ash preserved rhinoceroses, horses, camels, dogs, saber-toothed deer, giant tortoises. This is an active paleontology dig being conducted by the University of Nebraska State Museum. This state park is located in NE Nebraska, about 7 hours from Twin Cities. Closed some Sundays and Mondays. Open May through mid-October. Requires an $8.00 vehicle permit and $7.00 per person entrance fee. http://ashfall.unl.edu/visit.html Thermopolis, Wyoming has two places 1. Dinosaur museum -(one of the best dinosaur museum I have seen! Worth the stop) Have you considered ..........how a fossil is made. A fossil is a rock. It takes very special conditions to make a rock or fossil. Think about this, what happens to a dead animal? Scavengers eat it; bugs and bacteria cause it to rot and decay, eventually leaving no remains behind. It takes very special conditions in order to make a fossil. Here is the general fossil recipe: Fast coverage by sediment. So, scavengers and bacteria don’t eat it. Deep coverage by sediment so no oxygen is present to start decay. Lots and lots of water so the minerals can be dissolved and seep into the bone and turn it into stone. What event in history had fast, deep coverage with lots of water? The Flood of Noah’s time. Every time a fossil is dug up, it is a reminder of the Genesis Flood. Fossils remind us of God’s judgment and God’s mercy. God’s judgment in that He destroyed the entire world with a worldwide flood because it was so wicked. “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. Genesis 6:5. God’s mercy in that He saved Noah and his family on the Ark. 2. Hot Springs State Park (no fee) Just a quick stop to see: How long does it take for large mineral formations to form? In 1903, in the town of Thermopolis, Wyoming, USA, someone drove an iron pipe into the ground, allowing the underground mineral-rich waters to escape. As the warm mineral waters flowed out the top of the pipe, the water evaporated leaving behind the minerals, depositing travertine. Now the travertine rock mound is about 24 feet tall. Why does this rock formation, called Teepee Fountain surprise visitors? It did not take millions of years to produce. It just took the right chemical environment to make this monstrous mound. The 104°F State Bathhouse is free. 168 Tepee Street, Thermopolis, WY. Flip-flops, bathing suit, and towel needed. Sulfur smell. Limited to 20 minutes. Buffalo and swinging bridge. http://creation.com/a-monstrous-mound-of-minerals Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite, Greybull, WY : See dinosaur tracks (free) on BLM land. Located west of the Big Horn Mountains in the Bighorn basin. Travel approximately eight miles east of Greybull WY (or four miles west of Shell) on US Highway 14 to the Red Gulch/Alkali National Back Country Byway turnoff. Head south on the Byway approximately five miles. Bring water to pour on the tracks so you will get better pictures. 44.462381, -107.815654 https://www.blm.gov/visit/red-gulch-dinosaur-tracksite Beartooth Mountain highway (Hwy 212) : Recommended: Start at Red Lodge, Montana and go to Cooke City (NE entrance of Yellowstone). This is one of the most beautiful drives with spectacular scenery and several switchbacks. Along the way see glacial valleys, alpine lake, snow, tundra blossoms along with wildlife. The reason you can drive on the top of this mountain is because it is relatively flat. Notice as you drive, the surrounding mountains look to be planed off, and they were. After the mountains rose, the Flood waters eroded the mountains off in sheets (planation surfaces). Sheet erosion would have produced waters moving as freeway speeds and be hundreds of miles across planning the surface flat; that is the reason this “flat” highway is on top of this 13,000 foot mountain. There is one mountain that was eroded by glaciers and it looks like a bear’s tooth, hence the Beartooth Mountains. Be sure to stop at the Rock Creek Vista spectacular, don’t overlook this overlook! It is about 20 miles into the drive and near the top of the first set of switchbacks. It will take 2 1⁄2 -3 hours to drive the 68 miles from Red Lodge to Cooke City. http://beartoothhighway.com/beartooth-highway-maps/ Along the way stop at Beartooth Butte : elevation 10,514 feet. Bands of sandstone, 1,600 feet thick, on this butte give evidence that this area was covered in sedimentary layers and then most were washed off as the mountains rose late in the Flood. These same layers are found across the continent sitting on top of the granite basement rocks. Cody, Wyoming : At East entrance to Yellowstone National Park Heart Mountain Landslide : Imagine a landslide about the size of 1/3 of Rhode Island speeding toward you at 200 mph. How can a mountain move so fast? “The World’s largest landslide floated like a hovercraft” so said the scientific article. This 425 square mile block 1.2 to 2.5 miles thick, slid some 28 miles, in about 8 minutes, from Cooke City, MT, to near Cody, WY where it broke into about 100 pieces, some over 5 miles in length. One of the pieces is now called Heart Mountain. Another is called Sheep Mountain. The slope it was traveling on was 2 degrees or less. How could this happen? Landslides need a 45-degree slope or greater. Laboratory experiments found that when mimicking the speed of the landslide, limestone and dolomite were crushed under high pressure, these rocks then released a gas, carbon dioxide. This gas acted like a frictionless cushion, letting the mountain blocks float over the landscape like a hovercraft. We do not see this type of process happening today. Towards the end of the Genesis Flood, violent earthquakes with a vertical uplift would have likely dislodged this block. The breakaway point can be seen just outside of Cooke City on the way to the northeastern entrance of Yellowstone. (No sign points out the Heart Mountain Detachment site). From this event, we learn that geological changes can occur catastrophically! https://www.livescience.com/49504-heart-mountain-landslide-air-cushion.html Shoshone Water Gap : As you travel west of Cody notice the mountain range ahead. You are driving through a gap in the mountain. The Shoshone River could have easily gone around the mountain range but instead went through it. How could it? Water and wind gaps are common geological features found worldwide, yet they are a mystery to many scientists of how they were formed. A wind or water gap is a shallow notch in the upper part of a mountain ridge. The notch is an erosional notch and not one caused from faulting. Water gaps have rivers running through while wind gaps have wind. In central Wyoming, the Sweetwater River flows through a granite ridge. How did the river cut a channel some 330 feet deep? The deepest water gaps in the world are through the Himalaya Mountains; one of these water gaps is found on the Arun River which carves a water gap 4 miles deep and 13 miles wide. How does a river cut through a mountain ridge? They can’t but, if you put on your Biblical glasses and view these gaps with the Genesis Flood in mind the answer can be found. At the end of the Flood as the mountains rose the flood waters decreased and were channelized. This cut a notch in the ridge. As the waters continued to be channelized the notch became deeper and wider forming a gap. All over the world we find water and wind gaps; but of course we would, the Flood was a worldwide, powerful event. Note: The Appalachian Mountains have 1,700 water gaps i.e. Cumberland gap, Delaware gap. “And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.” ~ Genesis 8:3 Flood by Design , Mike Oard, 2008, p.95-108. https://creation.com/do-rivers-erode-through-mountains Yellowstone National Park www.yellowstonepark.com/park/fees Yellowstone: Mammoth Hot Springs area Mammoth Hot Springs: hot spring terraces During the Flood, lime mud was laid down. It turned to limestone. Today water from snow and rain percolate down and is heated by the magma below. It then begins rising and carbon dioxide gas from the magma dissolves in the hot water forming carbonic acid. This dissolves some of the limestone. The hot water with the dissolved limestone is then brought to the surface and deposited. The carbon dioxide escapes and the limestone forms these terraces. Limestone from hot springs that precipitated out and hardened is called travertine. (One can buy travertine tiles at tile stores). Mammoth hot springs waters travel through limestone, not rhyolite (igneous rock). The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is made of rhyolite which has been chemical altered by hot springs, resulting in the yellow color. River bathing in Boiling River (5 minutes north of Mammoth in Yellowstone on Hwy 89) River bathing area is located about half a mile upstream from the car park. A flat dirt path is an easy scenic walk along the river and can’t even be called a hike; it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes. Most people walk here in their flip flops. https://fullsuitcase.com/boiling-river-yellowstone/ Tower Falls area Tower Falls : Due to erosion you no longer can hike to the base. View the 132-foot falls from above by the general store. It is a football field length walk from the parking lot. While there look across the river and a bit north of the falls to see basalt columns. This geological feature looks like columns. How are they formed? Flood basalts (lava) poured out on to the earth. Then is cooled. As it cooled it cracked forming these columns. Columnar jointing can be found worldwide. Columns can range from 3 to 8 sided, with 6 being the most common. Lamar Valley : great for viewing wildlife: bison, bear, wolves... For best viewing plan to be in the area a half hour before sunrise to shortly after. a. Pebble Creek Campground in Lamar Valley : The people that camp here know about getting up at 4:30 am and taking a short drive to set up spotting scopes before dawn to see the wolves playing as they begin their day. b. Specimen ridge , hike to see petrified trees, get directions, rigorous hike. 3. Petrified tree : Dr. Harold Coffin did more than 25 years of research to try to understand the petrified trees. Here is a 30-minute interview with him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQcCeF5qlR8 Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone National Park is an area where there are up to 27 rock layers containing vertical petrified trees. Such vertically standing trees are often extending upward through multiple sedimentary rock layers. It has been historically taught that Specimen Ridge is the result of tens of thousands of years of Earth history - as multiple forests grew one on top of another. Yet the facts point to a better explanation. Trees from different levels contain the same growth ring pattern, indicating they grew at the same time No true soil layers between any of the 27 layers There are no root balls at the bottom of any of these trees. Very little bark is on the trees No branches remained, it looks as if they were broken off It appeared that these trees were ripped from the ground and the branches broken off. Dr. Harold Coffin noticed all these things and more about the petrified trees on Specimen Ridge. Then on May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens (Washington state) erupted; that volcanic eruption proved to be the science he needed. What Mt. St. Helens taught us about burial of trees in an upright position. On May 18, 1980 an earthquake caused a landslide on Mt. St. Helens which released a steam blast. Because the north slope of the volcano was now open, the steam blast was direct north over the landscape. The blast moved as a hot ground hugging current at speeds over 650 mph knocking down millions of trees over 200 square miles within 10 minutes. The landslide arrived after the trees were blasted down, it hit Spirit Lake which caused the lake water to be propelled up the mountain side 860 feet. This water scoured the area clean of the trees. As the waters rushed back into its basin it dragged with it the downed trees. An estimated one million large trees were now floating on Spirit Lake. As they became waterlogged, they righted themselves and sank to the bottom of the lake. In 1985, 20,000 were found to be in an upright position at the bottom of the lake. If the lake were drained, it would appear to be like a forest. Sediments at this time were continually draining into the lake, so the trees landed on different levels of the sediment. If this were exposed later, it would appear that there were different ages of forests instead of one time period. Petrified trees as Yellowstone Specimen Ridge has 27 different levels of trees, which evolutionists say are 27 different forests over ten of thousands of years. (The sign stating this has since been removed.) Mt. St. Helens taught us that trees can be buried in an upright position giving the appearance of having grown in that position, be in various layers of soil, yet be from the same time period. The sign at the petrified tree shows a picture of Mt. St. Helens trees being ripped off. Footprints in the Ash by Steve Austin https://www.icr.org/article/mt-st-helens-catastrophism/ Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area Why is Yellowstone called Yellowstone? Hydrothermal (hot waters) altered rhyolite (igneous rock) causing the yellow color. South rim drive: Be sure to see Artist point - breathtaking ! Also, don’t miss Uncle Tom’s trail with a 1⁄2 mile descent to the bottom of the canyon. North Rim drive – one-way: Stop at Red Rock Point, Grand View, Inspiration Point, and the enormous glacial erratic which came from the Beartooth Mountains. Lower, Middle and Upper Geyser Basin 1. Old Faithful and several other geothermal features. See web site for the approximate times of these geyser eruptions. https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/geyser-activity.htm Black Sand Basin: don’t get so excited about Old Faithful that you miss this excellent, nearly flat, .3 mile hike West Thumb: Fishing cone in the lake. Here in the past, fisherman would fish off the cone and once they caught a fish would put it in the cone with its hot spring to cook and eat it. Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser– gorgeous, to see a view from above it looking down, take the Fairy Falls trail, which is located 1 mile south of Grand Prismatic To really appreciate the beauty of Grand Prismatic Spring, you must view it from higher ground—this can be accomplished by hiking a portion of the Fairy Falls Trail. To access the trail, drive to the Fairy Falls parking area, walk across the steel bridge that spans the Firehole River, then continue hiking for about one mile until you see the Midway Geyser Basin on your right. At this point, take the trail on your left to the viewing platform, and you will be rewarded with out of this world views of Grand Prismatic Spring! Firehole Lake Drive – 3-mile, one-way side road- great! Norris Geyser Basin – study before to know what you want to see www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/norris-geyser-basin-tour.htm During the Flood of Noah’s day not only was the earth covered with water but with many volcanoes. In fact, you can travel to the very throat of one these super volcanoes, Yellowstone National Park. That’s right, almost the entire park is a collapsed volcanic cone or caldera. It is 44 miles long and 34 miles wide and cover 1500 square miles in area. Image this super volcano spewing out ash and lava! Evolutionary geology believes in enormous time periods, so it places the eruptions that formed the Yellowstone area at 2.1,1.2, and 0.64 million years ago. Yet these dates are based on dating methods that have been proven to be both inaccurate and subjective. The fact that the collapsed caldera of Yellowstone remains geologically active-with geysers, mud pots, hot springs, and fumaroles -actually testifies to its recent formation during the Flood of Noah’s about 4400 years go. It remains hot and active because the eruption which created this area DID NOT occur millions of years ago . The underground magma remains hot and close to the surface because the entire area was recently created. Grand Teton National Park: Did you notice no foothills here at the Grand Teton National Park? Towards the end of the Flood of Noah’s day there would have been earthquakes and the rising and lowering of land. At the Teton Fault, “The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.” Psalm 104:8, creating the Grand Teton mountain range and Jackson Hole. Hole is just another name for valley. The displacement (uplift of mountains and drop of valley) was about 6 miles. As the Flood waters came off the continents, Jackson Hole was filled with sediments, later the Ice Age sent glacial outwash to cover the valley. The Teton Mountains experienced a tremendous uplift of the basement or creation week rocks (granite and gneisses). On the flanks of the 40-mile-long Teton range are 2,000-foot-thick sedimentary rock layers. These rock layers used to cover the Tetons but were eroded away when the Teton Range rose out of the Flood. Jackson Hole filled with 25,000 feet of sediments. The Ice Age started after the Flood. Yellowstone had an ice cap and the Tetons had valley glaciers. The Ice Age lasted about 500 years. We can see some of the Ice Age glacial runoff terraces in Jackson Hole area; the Snake River overlook is an excellent place to view such. Below is a chronology of the geological event shaping the Grand Tetons: Creation week: formation of the basement rocks of granites. When looking at the Tetons that is what you primarily seeing - the creation week rocks. At the beginning of the Flood there would have been the planing off of the basement rocks then, thousands of feet of sedimentary rock layers were laid down all over the earth. During the second half of the Flood, mountain ranges rose, and basins dropped, including the ocean basins. At this stage the Teton Range uplifted, and Jackson Hole dropped down with a total displacement of 30,000 feet (about 6 miles). The uplifting of the mountains produced strong water currents. Massive erosion and deposition took place, boulders and sediments were swept along for hundreds of miles. Jackson Hole filled with 25,000 feet of sediments. As the mountains continued to rise, water levels dropped, and the water became channelized. Now major valleys were cut. During and after the Flood, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions took place. Yellowstone had three super volcanic eruptions which spewed ash over most of the western USA. The one and only Ice Age was caused by the Genesis Flood, 500 years of extensive snowfall and ash clouded skies for ice buildup and 200 years to melt down. Yellowstone experienced 3,000 feet thick built up of glacial ice which moved south to Jackson Hole. Smaller valley glaciers developed in the mountains carving u-shaped valley and pushed their moraines out onto the glacial outwash terraces. What causes an Ice Age? Have you considered what causes an ice age. First, an ice age is when the winter’s snows do not melt each year but are continually added. It takes very special conditions to make an ice age. So, what are the conditions needed for an ice age to develop? Lots of warm oceans and volcanic ash. What event in history would have lots and lots of warm water and volcanic ash? The Flood of Noah’s time. During the Flood, the fountains of the deep burst opened which brought great quantities of hot water to the oceans. Add to that, volcanoes erupting, of which, 90% of the eruptions are water; again very hot waters were being added to the oceans. These volcanoes also spewed great quantities of volcanic ash into the air; these particles would reflect the sunlight back into space making the continents cooler. These warmer oceans would cause lots of evaporation. Then winds would carry the moisture onto the cold continents. The cold continents would cause the moist air to condense and fall as snow. Snow on the ground would not melt during the summer. Each year the snows would build up. Just after the Flood, ice sheets would have formed quickly around the world in the higher latitudes such as Greenland and North America. As the earth settled down and the volcanoes stopped erupting, the volcanic ash would dissipate out of the air, eventually the sun would shine on those ice sheets and the snow would melt. Creation scientists have calculated the one and only Ice Age to lasted for 700 years, 500 years to build up and 200 years to melt down. What causes an ice age? Very special conditions. An ice age needs lots and lots of warm water and volcanic ash. What event in history would have these two ingredients? The Flood of Noah’s time. Frozen in Time: The Woolly Mammoth, the Ice Age and the Bible , Michael Oard, 2004. What to see: The Grand Tetons are the basement rocks/creation week rocks. Take the aerial tramway from Teton Village to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. Bring sweatshirt. A. Here you will see the creation rock/basement rock (granite and gneisses) and the Flood rock (sedimentary layers). B. Great place to view uplift and lowering of the valley. The displacement would have been 6 miles (30,000 feet) which is like looking out the window of a commercial jet and seeing the ground. Imagine this as you stand on this mountain top viewing the valley below (remember the valley prior to the infilling would have been 23,000 feet lower). C. Also take note of the sedimentary layer named Madison limestone. This same layer is found in the Grand Canyon. The Redwall limestone  of the Grand Canyon is equivalent to the Grand Tetons Madison limestone,  just different names, but one extensive layer laid down by what would require a world-wide flood. Also, notice how the layers look like they are pancakes stacked on top of each other. The boundaries between the layers are straight showing little erosion. If these had been laid down over millions of years, there should be erosional features on the contact boundary. The limestones have marine fossils. What are sea creatures doing on top of a mountain? Marine creatures were caught in the Flood of Noah’s day and became fossils. Later the mountains roses bringing sea creatures to the top of the mountain. (Every major mountain range in the world has marine fossils.) Teton sequence Grand Canyon Equivalent 1. Madison Limestone 1. Redwall Limestone 2. Darby Fm (limestones, dolomites) 2. Temple Butte (limestones, dolomites) 3. Bighorn Dolomite 3. Unnamed Dolomite 4. Gallatin Limestone 4. Muav Limestone 5. Gros Ventre Fm (incl shales) 5. Bright Angel Shale 6. Flathead Sandstone 6. Tapeats Sandstone Cathedral Group turnout : just north of Jenny Lake A . Mr. Moran has a sandstone cap called Flathead sandstone. This sandstone once covered most of North America and can be found in the Grand Canyon. It goes by the name of Tapeats Sandstone in the Grand Canyon. B . Flathead sandstone on Mt. Moran is also found buried 23,000 feet below in Jackson Hole. Showing us the displacement of 6 miles or 30,000 feet. This is equivalent of flying in commercial jet and looking at the ground. Truly the land was going through great upheavals; the safest place would have been on the Ark with Noah!  Jenny Lake : take the boat ride across the lake to Hidden Falls a 1⁄2 mile hike, if you continue another 1⁄2 mile you arrive at Inspiration Point, another 1 mile you arrive at Cascade Canyon (one of the most spectacular glacier carved u-shaped canyon in the Tetons). Total of 2 miles one way. Walking around Jenny Lake on the moraine (a moraine is the ridge of dirt pushed up by a glacier) created by the Cascade valley glacier. It is about 6 miles round trip, fairly level. https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/jennylakeplan.htm Snake river overlook : GPS 43.751941, -110.625205 a great place to see the glacial outwash terraces left behind by the Ice Age. The size of these terraces testifies to the magnitude of these glaciers. Chapel of Transfiguration (near Moose Junction) this log chapel was built in 1925 to service the dude ranches in the area. It was built to frame the Cathedral group of Tetons. Sunday services are still done. What a beautiful place to worship our LORD. See website: www.stjohnsjackson.org/chapel-of-the-transfiguration/ Mormon Row (near Moose): Has the “most photographed barn in America”. Go to Moose Junction, continue north on 191 about 1 mile to Antelope Flats road go right to Mormon Row about 2 miles. Quartzite rock with percussion marks. Look around for rounded rocks, they are most likely quartzite. Have you considered quartzite boulders speak powerfully of the global Flood? Quartzite rocks were once sedimentary sandstone but become a hard-metamorphic rock under heat and pressure. (Quartzite is not quartz. Quartz is a mineral). Billions of rounded quartzite boulders and cobbles are found scattered throughout the northwestern United States and western Canada. Where did they come from? The nearest source of quartzite rock is near the Continental Divide in Montana, Idaho and British Columbia. Yet we find them scattered eastward and westward some 300 - 600 miles from their source. Many of these hard quartzite rocks have percussion marks indicating violent collisions during transport in deep moving waters. Two geologists asked themselves what sort of current would be needed to carry boulders over 600 miles into Saskatchewan and North Dakota. They calculated that rocks 6 inches across would require currents of at least 65 mph and a water depth of 200 feet. These rates are unbelievable considering that a modern-day flash floods seldom exceed 20 mph. These billions of quartzite boulders distributed 300-600 miles from their source are powerful evidence for the watery catastrophe of the Genesis Flood. Creation Magazine, “Noah’s Long-Distance Travelers”, John Hergenrather, June-August 2006, pp. 30-32. Be sure to purchase Your guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks by Hergenrather, Vail, Oard, Bokovoy AND a copy these notes when going to these parks. Other valuable articles: Yellowstone National Park, Part 2: Canyons and Catastrophe https://www.icr.org/article/yellowstone-part-2-canyons-cata Yellowstone National Park, Part 1: A Flood Supervolcano https://www.icr.org/article/yellowstone-national-park-part-1-supervolcano YouTube: Awesome Science Explore Yellowstone with Noah Justice  30 minutes Alpha Omega Institute.  Yellowstone app are keyed to GPS and features a hands-free voice mode. $1 plus a donation of any amount.   https://www.discovercreation.org/yellowstone-app/ Grand Tetons: Grand Tetons and Great Sand Dunes – Remnants of a Global Flood | The Creation Podcast: Episode 92 https://www.icr.org/article/creation-podcast-episode-92/ Enjoy your creation vacation!