Paradisical, heavenly, edenic, divine, magical, nirvanic- this is a place that defies even those words. Every view here is more of a feeling than a sight. It is almost too much and I feel unworthy. We hiked from the trailhead across sand dunes and slickrock to the dramatic canyon rim. The view below is a reef of fins, towers, cliffs, alcoves and arches cut by the muddy Escalante river. This place feels a long way away from anything else and it is. The route into the otherwise vertical-walled canyon is serendipidous- a flake of rock just wide enough for a person to pass through cuts diagonally down the cliff face to meet a sand dune high against the buried canyon wall. The Escalante feels divine in the warm evening air. The stars are brighter and more numerous than I have ever seen. We are camped on a sandbar along one of the canyon's deepest and most sinuous stretches directly below the majestic Stevens Arch. A warm breeze blows down the canyon accompanied by crickets, babbling water and the occasional bump in the night. So here I lay in this place unsuitable for words and one of the most remote places in the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment