I
formulate a rough structure for where I am going: somehow to complete
the so-called Grand Staircase - a region in Utah and Arizona, by car,
by foot and by water, in no particular order. This is a series of steps
that begin in the north at nine thousand feet, and drop slowly, in a collection
of vast twisting drainages that eventually become the Grand Canyon.
Each
step of the Staircase is suitably different, getting weirder on the way
south. Kind of like Dante's Inferno - each step gets hotter, until the
lowest elevations, where the heat bakes above a cold, gray canyon bottom,
and the flies are unbearable.
The
first step, the high plains of Bryce Canyon ('Helluva place to lose a
cow,' noted Ebenezer Bryce), is filled with German tourists, marching
in long single columns. Some are curious about my camera, sniffing at
it, and putting their eye against the lens. This is Dante's Limbo, I thought,
because I like German tourists.
Calf Creek, Escalante NM, Utah
