How far? or It’s just up ahead…

The hike down into the Grand Canyon was more than I could ever have imagined. In more ways than one… The whole idea of it had struck me with awe and wonderment from the start. But still I could not have prepared my mind and heart for what I would experience, physically, mentally, and spiritually…

Physically speaking, I’m working on my fiftieth year. Have a somewhat bad back, and terrible shoulder from years ago. Bad knees… Other than that, I’m in fine shape… As I just heard my knee crack just now… :)

Mentally, well, that would come to the test…

As far as my spirit goes, it would be broken many times over… and rebuilt even stronger…

We started off from the South Kiabab Trail head at about 10;30 in the am. The temperature was quite brisk and there was snow and ice at the top and about a half a mile or so an the trail. It was funny how when we stepped out off the pavement and onto the trail proper, my mind immediately raced with thoughts of slipping into the canyon… so we put on our ”tire chains”  and went down, down and down even further… The weight I was carrying was around 65 or 70 lbs. Not overly heavy but heavy enough… Turns out I was carrying more than the weight of my pack. But also the weight of all my fears and expectations and all that kind of junk you don’t want to carry on a long hike… Or at least for more than half of it.

There were going to be three hurdles that I was going to have to get over before I could get down and back out of there. The first was the physical strength… Just the act of walking down stairs can sometimes make my knees hurt with a dull ache. Seven and a half miles of down hill, with steps as high as two feet at times, poor Gaelyn, she wished her legs were a lot longer by the time we were done. So with all that, inclimate weather, old bones, heavy pack, I was ripe for disaster.

All three hurdles would combine at times into what would seem imposable to overcome, but like Winston Churchill once said, “… when all seems lost and defeat seems certain, just take one more step forward, for that then is when the enemy is most tired”… so I did… One more step, and new strength would be found when my mind would be distracted by some amazing beauty that took my breath away…

There are places one can go that require deep strength to go there… Down into the depths of the earth in the canyon, or deep into the depths of ones own heart and soul… Both, I think were achieved on this trip…

I learned that I can be physically exhausted and not die from it… I’m not talking about the tired after a workout. I’m talking about the tired you get from feeling your femur bones bending  and wondering when…

I learned that my spirit, that has been given by my creator God, can and will bring me through any physical “discomfort” I may encounter.

And I also learned that if you don’t drink enough water, the one you love the most will irritate you. Or visa versa… Gaelyn was a wonderful guide and companion. She has stolen my heart and I don’t have any intention of trying to get it back :)

We even argued about little things that didn’t mean anything… Like where we were on the trail… “How far is Phantom Ranch baby?” “I don’t know…” “You been here three times and you don’t know where we are? Common, you gotta know!”    You can see the point… Drink enough water and everyone gets along! Hahahaha!  Valuable stuff!

We spent two days at Phantom Ranch, camped not more than fifty feet from the most beautiful creek I’ve ever seen! Bright Angel Creek is it’s name. The water was like streams of living water, pure… It was cold at night, and during the day. But it was worth it! Then we went up to Indian Gardens for another night. Even colder than down at Phantom and a lot of deer all around, it was great…

It was all “fun and games” until I discovered that the hike out, just from Indian gardens would be the best test yet of my cardio vascular system to date. Mind you, I hit a wall at every destination, but was able to work through it successfully. Here, all three hurdles would try to gain up on me. The strongest opponent would be my own eyes and brain. At what would be interpreted as the rim from a certain point of view would only be on more layers of rock, or “liars of rock”  I called them and now wish to apologize for…  But we made it in one piece, and have an entirely new understanding of ourselves and one another.

I am home now, a little sore in the back but much stronger in the heart! It was an honor to be able to see and feel our Mother Earth’s “natural wounds”, compared to seeing and feeling her “un natural wounds” inflicted by mankind… She opened herself up to us and took us into her bosom and comforted us in our struggles…  She showed us how really beautiful she is and just how powerfully venerable she really is…

I have had some awesome experiences in my life and they just keep getting better. I thought I would save the pictures for last… Nothing I could say could do them justice… so here goes…

He is what He is…

I Am  the storm…

I Am  the rainbow…

I Am  the canyons…

I Am , who takes wing to move Heaven and Earth…

I Am  the high places…

I Am  the valleys…

I Am a single drop of dew…

I Am the tree…

I Am to be seen… 

Walk in Beauty, for all around is beauty…

I am what I am…

The many “Faces” of Creation

There are places one can go that will make one feel small… Really small. But at the same time, part of something really huge. And all the while, being watched, and reassured…

There are “People” that have been around for a long time… Gaining eons of wisdom…

As a whole crowd gathers to watch the humans, inviting one to stand among them and tarry awhile…

So beautiful are these “faces”, I couldn’t help but feel it was all for me… and you…

Just the Creator showing off a bit, saying… “Here I am”!!!

Here’s the best part…

ALL THIS BEAUTY PALES IN COMPARRISON TO THE BEAUTY THAT WAS CREATED IN THE HUMAN HEART!!!

 

                                        “ If God has made all things beautiful… then what does that make you?”

 

                                                                  I am what I am

A “Riddle” for You

What has four legs, and two heads, and one heart?

 

Here’s a clue…

               Us…

                                            I am what I am

Standing in Awe and Wonderment

There is a point where nothing exists… Save awe and wonderment… 

          I am what I am

“We live by faith… not by sight”

This photo was taken on Hwy. 89, heading north, just past the junction of Hwy. 160… Flying by at 60 mph…

It’s a corn field on the Navajo reservation. Sorry it’s so blurry… But it is clear enough that you can see the individual clusters of corn plants growing.

There are no water lines to the field… no way to irrigate. Hauling water is, at best, not worth the effort. All the tender of the garden has to rely on is rainfall… In the middle of the desert.

One has to believe that when the seeds are planted, they will break through the earth and grow. There can be no doubt, or it would be pointless endeavor. Then after the tender shoots appear, one must truly believe that life giving water will be given to sustain the growth of the corn.

It may not look like much now, but in a month or so it will be providing nourishing sustenance for the ones who walked by faith all summer to see it through.

It is no easy thing to do, this walking by faith and not by sight… We always want to see the end result before the beginning of something we attempt to do. It is hard to begin an unknown… something that we can’t see… We tend to be frozen in time while we stand to the side and idle. 

There are certain promises that have been made to the people of the earth by the Long Life Happiness One that can make the journey a lot more relaxing…

“A seed cannot become a ear of corn until it first dies and is buried, then it returns a hundred fold”

This promise tells me many things. First of all, it is an action phrase. Meaning that something has to be done. And if those things are done, the other things will occur.

Planting… Watering… Harvesting… Two out of the three are the things that we do. The third  is where the faith thing comes into be.

See it is the Long Life Happiness One Whose Ways Are Beautiful that brings the water, and causes the sun to shine… That’s the hard part… having faith enough to put into action something that you have no idea about the result…

Dry land farming in my mind has got to be the most faith testing endeavor that one could do… Faith to last you through the winter…

Just a little further down the road, this little house… Nothing to do with the cornfield… Just thought it was another lesson about building your house of stone… but that’s another day…

These photos depict a way of life that says a lot about the people that live it… Your whole existence depends upon faith in action… Easy to see that if you don’t work you don’t eat… but that work is done with faith and beauty… And the whole process brings to fruition the circle of life…

Live, love, work, play, and walk in beauty…

 

                                                 I am what I am

The adventures of a Gypsy and a Garbage Man…

Another weekend arrived and that was our queue… Loaded up the truck and headed down the hill for another adventure and get some shopping done while we were at it.

We got to the Visitors Center, Picked up my jr ranger book, of course, and headed out side to look around…

The first person I met was this guy… He was pretty silent but it was obvious he liked the attention…

Here he is getting his head scratched… He stood there real still while I scratched behind his horns…

The next was this little pony in disguise… maybe he was wanted for something… I didn’t ask… We then looked around a bit at the bunk houses

This is one of them, east I believe…

Then we went to the “Fortress” proper… This was built directly over a natural spring…

Inside view of the front door… “Windsor Castle” is it’s name… Established in 1870 as a Mormon Tithing Ranch. Butter, cheese, and cattle were taken to St. George, UT. Also it was used for the protection of the polygamists from the federal marshals…

Out of everything in the house, the coolest thing was this cup made so you wouldn’t dip your mustache in your hot tea…

The next person we ran across was this duck… All he said was that his name was not “Daffy”…

Here is a reconstruction of a Piute dwelling… Almost looks like a sweat lodge…

Oh yea, getting sworn in for the third time as a jr ranger… This time they snuck in the part about eating all my veggies and cleaning my room…

The badge is what sets it off, don’t you think?

On the way home we had some tricky driving… But we got through it all just fine…

And so the sun set on yet another adventure for our fearless duo… Gaelyn took all the pictures and I did all the driving…Check out the video she took of us crossing an over flowing wash. So I think on our next days off we’ll spin the wheel… Round, round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows!

I am what I am