The Lava Falls trail at the edge of the Grand Canyon begins like an amusement ride; flat, gentle, unassuming. In the time it takes to realize there is no escaping the ride picks up steam and before you know it, all hell breaks loose, your life feels like it is in the sweating grip of gravity, the devil and fate.
The trail is the steepest in the canyon. A 39 year old man died last year when the sun cooked the rubber on the soles of his boots till they melted, turned the glob to glue, he lost his balance, fell and died. In 2000 twelve people were over-come with heat stoke and had to be helicoptered off the wicked mountain.
I made it to the Colorado River but at quite an expense. Sloughing out of my pack, i slouched back into the rock that tried to grind and sell me to a burger chain. My exhaustion, complete, primal, extensive. Lava Falls a couple hundred yards down river roared as if the voice from the canyon itself, pounding the message into my brain, love me, but you better respect me.
ken
No comments:
Post a Comment