Goin' Out To Cally – Part 27, The Long And Winding Road

The four of us arrived at the Grand Canyon in the early morning, ready to go into the belly of the beast. We had heard of a trail that tourists could take down the side of the canyon where you could either walk the path or ride mules. We all got our mandatory bottles of water and tightened our shoelaces. We looked down at the steep brown, red and orange rock face and noticed the small path varying in width from about six to ten feet weaving its way down the side of the canyon.

From this perspective, it was really hard to judge distance and size because of the massive nature of the canyon itself. For example, what looked like a ten minute walk down the trail was actually an hour away. Another major stop on the path was almost eight hours away.

The path eventually spilled onto a level plateau and traveled out to a bundle of trees, like a little oasis. To get there would take you an entire day. There was water there and you could camp overnight. From that bundle of trees there was a path to the edge of the plateau, where you could look directly down on the river below. To get there and back would take an entire day by itself. Then you’d have to camp at the oasis and start the next day, trudging up the narrow path to the top of the canyon.

The Plateau

So, we decided to head down the path by foot for a while and enjoy the experience. We considered using mules, but the idea of balancing on a mule on a ten foot wide path where you could simply fall to your death if Eeyore was having a bad day… well, that didn’t sit very well with us.

A Mule Ride Down The Canyon

As we started down the trail, my fear of heights immediately kicked in again. I hugged the canyon wall for the first section of the path that weaved backward and forward like a repeating letter Z. The back of my shirt was dotted with patches of orange dust from the canyon wall as I would intermittently push myself against it as I walked.

As we completed the first section we found ourselves avoiding small nuggets of waste left by a previous mule tour. At this point I was so afraid I could have left a little package there myself, but the experience and the view was too intoxicating, so I continued on.

It was odd… as we walked down the trail I began to understand the canyon in some way… as if I became a part of it somehow. The tactile experience of placing one foot after the other down the sloping path connected me to this dangerous, yet beautiful landscape.

After a few more stretches of the trail I found myself more comfortable with approaching the edge of the path and looking down at the ground hundreds of feet below. It was then that I realized I’m not so much afraid of heights as I am of the pain associated with surviving a fall.

Peering over a five hundred foot precipice? No problem. One slip and I’m outside the pearly gates. Looking down from the third story of a parking garage? I could survive that fall with broken bones, damaged organs, selective long term memory loss and potential dietary changes. Now THAT was scary.

Since falling to my death was the only practical outcome of slipping over the edge of the path, well, my fear dissipated and Tim and I would often look over, the tips of our feet leaning over the trail’s border.

As we continued on the hike down the trail became relatively easy and eventually routine. There were many other tourists and hikers taking the same trek as us, so how dangerous could it really be? For the first ten minutes of our hike I didn’t hear one single earth shattering shriek of someone who just lost a loved one from an unexpected fall, so with each step, each foot down the sandy path, did my comfort level rise.

At the end of each stretch, before turning and heading down the next section of the repeating Z, we would stop and take another look at the view, trying yet again to absorb it all in.

Our sight seeing was eventually interrupted as we approached a Park Ranger standing next to a sign.

“You can’t go any farther,” he said with a “don’t test me” attitude.

Next to him was a sign that read “No one can pass without a gallon of water for each person.”

Apparently, dehydration was a serious problem. We glanced at our half-empty bottles of water and realized we had suddenly reached the end of our path down the canyon.

No bother. It only took us about twenty minutes or so to get down this far. We’ll be back up to the car in no time.

We blithely turned around and found ourselves facing an unexpected challenge. In unison did our necks begin to bend slowly and continuously backwards as we looked farther and farther up the canyon wall. Our eyes squinted into the morning sun as we were now looking almost straight up. In the far distance, at the top of the canyon wall, we could see people exiting the parking lot and entering the path where we had started this trip down.

Well, I guess they were people. They looked more like ants.

I had a distinct fear that climbing up the narrow, weaving path was going to be substantially more difficult than our hike down.

It would turned out, I was right.

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Goin' Out To Cally - Part 27, (Text, Audio) The Long And Winding Road
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 26, (Text, Audio) Waste Not, Arrest Not
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 25, (Text, Audio) Nightlife At The BC
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 24, (Text, Audio) Bedless In Bedrock
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 23, (Text, Audio) Desert Rain
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 22, (Text, Audio) Bedrock City
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 21, (Text, Audio) The Outhouse
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 20, (Text, Audio) Riding The Hump
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 19, (Text, Audio) Bob Hope, Lil’ Debbie And Restless Gods
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 18, (Text, Audio) Unlevel Headed
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 17, (Text, Audio) Starry Night, Confusing Night
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 16, (Text, Audio) Three Beds + Four People = Oh Crap
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 15, (Text, Audio) Masculinity At Stake
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 14, (Text, Audio) Texas: Latin For Shoot Me Now
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 13, (Text, Audio) Cars, Crossroads and Cosmic Convergence
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 12, (Text, Audio) Tumbleweed Dreams
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 11, (Text, Audio) Wet, Rinse, Repeat
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 10, (Text, Audio) Divine Misdirection
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 09, (Text, Audio) Getting Nowhere Fast
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 08, (Text, Audio) The Cock Crows Nine
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 07, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 06, (Text, Audio) Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 05, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 04, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 03, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 02, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 01, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted