Rafting the canyon part 3

Rafting the Colorado through the Grand Canyon is, if nothing else, a way of defining who you are... a way of intuiting some sort of sense of yourself as you exist in the interconnected Universe.

The sheer power of the river and the evidence of it's timeless trajectory is overwhelming, and cannot bring, to a contemplative soul, less than a sense of abject humility coupled with an exultation at simply existing...in this time..in this place..in the now of life.

In a way, the river itself is like life, miles of peaceful meandering existence, broken by turbulent passages that must be traversed with care if one is to emerge unscathed.


Redwall Cavern didn't look like much as we rounded a bend of peaceful, green water, but it has been calculated to hold as many as four thousand people. It can also hold thirty fun loving people.



I love this picture because it illustrates not only the fun of being one of those silhouettes, but the enormity of the relentless passage of the river as it rounds a bend, seeking the most accommodating route to the sea. Oh sure, man has had his way with this river in the last seventy-five (and I'm being generous here) years, but in the eons prior to that, the river ruled. Just look at those canyon walls ...