“Boy, I didn’t realize we had come down so far,” I said to the others.
We stood there, silent for a moment. “Looks like quite a long way to get back up,” Tim added.
“Yeah,” we all chimed in without moving.
Another few moments passed. “The people on the top look so small,” Sunday offered.
“Yeah,” we all replied, again, not moving, our eyes focused upward.
With a surrendering sigh, Beth relented, “I guess we have to walk back up there.”
“Yeah,” we all said, reluctantly giving in to the long task that lie ahead of us.
As we started back up the trail we were passed by a young couple continuing downward with camping gear, back packs and plenty of water. After a quick inspection by the Ranger, they were allowed to pass and head toward the Oasis.
My legs, already overused from balancing on the decline down the trail, were starting to spasm as I slowly trudged my way back up the intimidating path. As I avoided a green, leafy mule dropping I was, for the first time, envious of those who had rented a beast of burden for the hike.
It was obvious that my unbridled youth had not yet conquered the concept of long term thinking. In my eagerness to experience the canyon, I didn’t contemplate the ramifications of those impulses. Now, only after my thigh muscles began to burn did I realize that a little less excitement and a little more thought would have come in real handy right about now.
"Ants" on the repeating ZMy introspection was interrupted, however, by two small Asian children running past me. “Ah, youth!” I said to myself. The children ran up to the end of a stretch of the repeating Z and collapsed onto the ground, panting. I looked behind me and spotted their Asian Father, his face beat red and not carrying any water, struggling up the path.
I waved to the children still sitting on the path as I turned and headed up the next stretch. The Father, with a deliberate and steady pace, continued passed them as well, his face relaying the feeling that if he stopped, he’d never be able to get his legs moving again. About half way up this stretch the children zoomed passed and again collapsed, exhausted at the end of the stretch, awaiting for their father to catch up to them.
I slowed slightly so the Father could catch up. His pained expression was so intense that it contorted his face. The only time I would ever see such constant pain and determination would be decades later, on my wife’s face, while she gave birth to our first child. I looked with great empathy on this poor gentleman and held out my half-emptied bottled water.
“Do you want some water?” I asked with such compassion that it came across as if I was pleading for him to take it.
The Asian Father simply smiled and nodded “No thank you,” without actually speaking, as if verbalizing any words would zap him of what little energy reserves he had within him.
The same routine would repeat itself up the canyon trail. I’d pass the exhausted kids, who would eventually race by me, collapsing at the top of the next level, totally spent, their father pacing himself behind me. Stretch after stretch after stretch.
At the end of each repeating Z I would, again, take a moment and look out at the breath taking landscape the Canyon offered, but I’ll admit that the pain of hiking back up greatly diminished the soothing effect of the view. The intricate colors of red and brown and orange intermixed over millions of years did little to sooth my throbbing legs. At this point I, like Tim, Beth and Sunday, all just wanted to be up on the top of the hill.
After more than over an hour of methodically walking, step by step, up the massive canyon wall path, we eventually made it to the parking lot at the top. We sat their, exhausted and silent, too tired to speak. As we sucked down the rest of our water the Asian Father nodded as he passed, his kids in tow, barely able to walk. In some odd way, we had bonded through the shared experience of suffering the journey. It was a short lived bond, but we exchanged a “we made it!” expression and went our separate ways.
After a few minutes we decided to head over to some picnic tables to eat a snack and rest up further. On our way toward the tables I passed by a Middle Eastern man with his son nipping behind him. The son was looking at his father with a great sense of curiosity, while his father, just having surfaced from hiking up the trail, was apparently at the end of his mental rope.
He stopped, exasperated and motioned out toward the canyon with great urgency, then turned to his son, angered and said, “What do you think, they cut it out with a knife???”
I couldn’t imagine how the conversation ended up with that one sentence, but it seemed to capture his moment in time perfectly.
I chuckled to myself and collapsed, along with my travel companions, at the picnic tables overlooking the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, resting my weary and aching legs.
********
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 28, (Text, Audio) Upward ImmobilityGoin' 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
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