"MEETING A CLOSE FRIEND"
 |
|
Sunset at Grand View Point
|
 |
| Kaibab Trail |
While enrolled in junior high school in Japan, I had my first encounter with the Grand Canyon. One of my teachers played a recording of the Grand Canyon Suite whose music had been composed by Ferde Grofe (1892-1972). The music stirred my imagination and introduced me to the Grand Canyon. I imagined hearing the canyon’s blowing winds and thunderstorms as well as seeing its colorful skies at sunrise and sunset. These imagined sounds and colors created indelible photographic impressions in my mind. After coming as a photographer to the United States and while driving from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, I saw the real scene that had inspired the music and, in turn,my imagined photographs of a friend.
 |
| Sunset at Yavapai Point |
Grand Canyon is one of America’s best known landmarks. Over four million tourists come annually from aound the world to visit the canyon. Busloads of visitors stop at the observation deck and take photographs before departing. Even visitors wear high heels to walk around the observation deck and enjoyviews of the canyon. But I wanted to do more and visit the bottom of the gorge. Subsequently, I visited the canyon at least four times and took pictures. But my friend remained aloof and somewhat forbidding. I did not really come to know my "friend" until I recently hiked to reach the canyon’s river bottom. I wanted to do more and really see the canyon’s one-mile-deep gorge before completing my project to visit all fifty-six national parks in the United States. (I have visited at least once all of them except two. l expect to visit the last two parks in 2004.)
 |
| Colorado River |
Grand Canyon is divided by the Colorado River into the North and South Rims.
The South Rim lures ninety percent of the tourists because it has more accessible
housing and other facilities. It also has two trails?the almost ten- mile-long
Bright Angel and the nearly seven-mile-long South Kaibab?to reach the canyon
bottom that campsites and the Phantom Lodge. The Lodge provides dormitory with
bunk beds, hot showers, and food service. In addition, mule tours can be arranged
to avoid walking down the trails. But I decided to walk and face the challenge
of meeting my friend at the bottom.
 |
| Desert View |
I followed the South Kaibab Trail. It is shorter than the Bright Angel Trail, but it is steeper and has no drinking water facilities. I carried a backpack with camera equipment and a bottle of water. My muscles were unprepared for the rigorous walk on a stoney footpath.. Even so, I reached the bottom in about four hours. My water bottle was empty before I reached the Lodge where I gulped cold lemonade. The drink helped me to recover. Next I soaked my tired feet in the cold water of the Colorado River. I looked up the canyon walls and began to think of the following day’s walk on the Bright Angel Trail. The psychological pressure on me was enormous. I became more determined to succeed.
Waikng up at 4:30A.M.on the next mrning, I hastened to eat a light breakfast. Soon I was ready before sunrise to begin walking up the Bright Angel Trail. The trail was less steep, but longer, than the one I used on the previous day. After sunrise, tiredness began to overwhelm me. As I continued to walk, an American family caught up with me. The father and his ten-year-old son had shared my dormitory room during the previous night. We were also joined by the mother and daughter. The father walked behind everyone else with a heavy back pack, while watching and advising his family. The children must have been learning the importance of teamwork and the need to conserve water and and other supplies. Another apparent lesson was learning self reliance. The family left me impressed and thinking that the chldren were learning to become responsble adults. I envied the parents.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the heat became more unbearable. Regardless
of the amount of water that I drank, I could not quench my thirst. I fell to
the ground at a rest stop three mile away from my destination, Bright Angel
Lodge. Walking the last stretch, I felt no shame taking a few steps, sipping
water, and laying down to rest. My purpose of visiting the gorge kept me determined
to complete the walk. This tenacity kept me on the trail for eight hours of
walking to reach the lodge.
After reaching the Bright Angel Lodge, I looked back toward the gorge. Suddenly
my heart was filled with deep emotion. Although some might regard my eight-hour-long
walk as foolish, I was fulfilling a promise that I had made to myself. I was
determined to know better a friend who had been introduced in my imagination
long ago. I walked the Grand Canyon trails despite the physical demands on my
body to keep my promise to myself. Now I can see Grand Canyon smiling at me
for not surrendering my purpose. Indeed, I have found in the Canyon a close
friend.
Grand Canyon National Park
P.O. Box129 Grand Canyon, AZ 86023
928-638-7888
http://www.nps.gov/grca/