Excerpt, The Power of Love

8:06 pm. The gnats are back.

Still Awake. Yes. Awake and philosophical here. On this solo trip. This endlessly analyzed and second guessed experience. An experience very different from the one most people are having on this river right now. Just now- a small and menacing scorpion was found crawling among the ledges, among the drying clothes and dishes. My enjoyment of ledgy camps, I suspect, has now permanently been altered in favor of beaches. Larger beaches, if possible. Preferably islands. Or at least, peninsulas.

I have been reading more of the tome of Canyon literature. There is certainly some good stuff in there. Ah, but the damn literary fluff! Fluff in general that I have little patience for. This place breeds it like the Tamarisk!

Am I becoming a grumpy old man?

Down here in this canyon, my thoughts drift to what I am fleeing from. What I have left behind. The world has lately been a very disenchanting and difficult place for most people. How nice it is to have a river. How grounding to surround oneself with the solidity of rock. In the grand scheme of things, very few of our contemporary problems really do matter. This river will keep on flowing, these mountains will keep on eroding, and eventually some other formations will be deposited over these ones. These thoughts do not tonight inspire terror or fear. Rather, coming to terms with just how trivial most things we attach so much importance on to is a tremendously liberating thing...

Excerpts

From the introduction of an upcoming book I wrote about the Grand Canyon...

"...The trip was marvelous for me not just because the rapids were fun or the people were friendly, or that camp time provided me a much needed rest and relaxation. The trip was marvelous because it was the first time I had ever been here. The first time you ever go down any river section, there is a sense of mystery and anticipation that can be experienced only once. It is the thrill of going somewhere new, somewhere unexplored. Having this feeling all to myself in such an imposing and inspirational environment allowed me to reflect on my own life, the joys and hardships of guiding, and being a worker in the Inter-Mountain tourist industry. If I survive the rapids, what sort of life, and what sort of society is waiting for me to return to? What would another year of the same habits and lifestyle look like?"

"I am not the world's foremost Grand Canyon expert. I do not know as much about its history and rocks as many other people. But I have been able to preserve the thrill of experiencing it for the first time in a rather unique way. I also do not intend to impress you with being the most reckless and “extreme” aquatic dare devil on the Colorado River. There are others who do this far better than me, and there are already enough worried mammas in this world."