It's almost high noon in the Canyon -- a time, at least before, of intense heat -- tremendous, dangerous heat -- and a time of sun -- bright, unrelenting sun. Heat and sun like you've never experienced . But it's not hot or sunny here. The day is relatively cool and dark. Really dark. So dark, in fact, that we scurry nervously to remove sunglasses and attempt the adjustment of cameras to gain additional exposure. But these efforts are to no avail. It's the landscape of 5000 foot sheer walls, the locale of timelessly polished rock, the Canyon of endless forgotten summers, falls, winters, and springs, the realm of the inner Earth, the enclave of the Zoroaster Granite, the residence of the two billion year old Vishnu schist.

It's the landscape of 5000 foot sheer walls, the locale of timelessly polished rock, the Canyon of endless forgotten summers, falls, winters, and springs, the realm of the inner Earth, the enclave of the Zoroaster Granite, the residence of the two billion year old Vishnu schist.

As we pull into the tight eddy on the left wall just above the rapid called Sockdolager -- as we momentarily interrupt the great roar of this cataract with our mundane bantering -- I, like the others, am troubled by a lack of concentration. This is not a good thing, as down here in this section of the Canyon, all bets are off, all previous experiences are ancient history; it's just you and the power. Among your personal mythologies, included within your spiritualism; indeed, deeply imbedded in your individual religion -- surely there is a presence of great power, of indescribable beauty, something beyond the normal realm -- and also surely it resides here. Later as I search through thousands of ineffectual philosophies for something meaningful; as I scour my sparse vocabulary for something pertinent, I fail. Nothing is really sufficient, nothing tangible accurately describes this truly powerful place. We have entered the Inner Gorge of the Grand Canyon.

. . . Nothing is really sufficient, nothing tangible accurately describes this truly powerful place. We have entered the Inner Gorge of the Grand Canyon.

 

Copyright Willis Greiner, 1994. All rights reserved.