A Child of the Canyon

“You are a child of canyon, no?” Alfredo asked me with his delightful Italian lilt. Alfredo has worked at the snack window at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for more than 30 years. “Well, I said, sipping the best lemonade I have ever tasted in my entire life after hiking all day in the hot desert sun, “I started hiking the canyon when I was about nine with my dad, and have hiked many of these trails over the years.”

“Oh, then you are definitely a child of the Canyon!” I admit I liked that idea.

It felt like home there. And it was emotionally hard to leave the canyon and get back on the trail. I spent 3 days hiking with a new AZT friend, even spent an afternoon at the beach. Yeah, there’s a sandy beach on the Colorado River. Took a dip, even.

I had my first feeling of AWE here in the canyon as a kid “I am inside the Grand Canyon!” It was kind of a nine year old’s religious experience. I felt big, I felt small. I felt my place in the Univese. I knew that what I was doing was hard, and that I was able to do it!

I felt like that little girl again this week.