Multiple park rangers and local police were surrounding the area and eyed our approaching van with great suspicion. Entering the visitor's center we learned that we happened upon the dam right as they were about to release water, in response to a flood warning. Visitor's from all over were crowding the windows, anxious to see this rare event.
As a nearby cousin to the Hoover Dam on the eastern side of AZ, controlling the Colorado River, Glen Canyon dam acts as a storage facility keeping flood waters at bay. One terrible flood came in 1983, devastating a huge tract of land. The dam was running at the time but the engineers had been surprised and miscalculated and the dam overflowed. When floods returned the next year the engineers had learned from their mistakes and were able to drain water in advance of the flood. In the end the damage was negligible especially considering the second flood was larger than the first.
After a long wait, torrents of water finally spewed from four huge pipes. It is difficult to fathom or describe the amount of water we saw released but we could have stayed all day to watch. Instead we got, finally, for at least part of the day, to relax.
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