American Idyll

yes, the river knows

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Go There. Be There.




Beyond the wall of the unreal city, beyond the security fences topped with barbed wire and razor wire, beyond the asphalt beltings of the superhighways, beyond the cemented banksides of our temporarily stopped and mutilated rivers, beyond the lies that poison the air, there is another world waiting for you. It is the old true world of the deserts, the mountains, the forests, the islands, the shores, the open plains.
Go there. Be there.
Walk gently and quietly deep within it.
And then -- may your trails be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow, winding and only slightly uphill. May the wind bring rain for the slickrock potholes fourteen miles on the other side of yonder blue ridge. May God's dog serenade your campfire, may the rattlesnake and the screech owl amuse your reverie, may the Great Sun dazzle your eyes by day and the Great Bear watch over you by night.
--Edward Abbey (from "Beyond The Wall")

coconino sandstone, Grandview Trail (top)
Shinumo Rapids (middle)
view west from between Salt and Horn Canyons (below)

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