Posted by Elizabeth

The signs were there.  Over the course of three days, the following occurred:

1. PBS aired a special on our National Parks, featuring the Grand Canyon
2. Jennifer at Mothers of Brothers wrote a post on her hike to the belly of the Grand Canyon
3. I read In the Heart of the Canyon by Elisabeth Hyde at lightning speed

For the first time in a long time, I rocketed through In the Heart of the Canyon over a weekend, only able to put it down when droopy lids beckoned me to sleep.  The novel traces the journey of a group of strangers who embark on a 13-day river rafting trip down the Colorado River at the base of the Grand Canyon, a 225-mile trip through all manner of treacherous obstacles, including rapids that will swallow a person whole.  Each character is on a journey of self-discovery, the circumstances of facing not only a wall of icy water but the group dynamics of fellow strangers pushing them to change their lives.  And by the end of the book, everyone emerges a different person, as they each, in their own way, learn to let go and really live life.  It is the ultimate “life in pencil” tale.

I admit:  I am a sucker for journeys of self-discovery, especially when they involve epic trips into nature.  There’s something about being dropped in the middle of nowhere amongst a group of strangers that gives you permission to be a different person.  When I hiked four days into the wilds of New Zealand on the Milford Track, I found myself opening up to my fellow hikers in a way that I would have never done at home.  I shook myself from my routine, much like the characters of In the Heart of the Canyon do.  The whole affair was thrilling, a version of what I like to call “Big Kids Summer Camp.”  When I reached the end of the book, I was interested to read in the Acknowledgments section that Hyde was inspired to write the book after her own rafting adventure down the Colorado River, where she experienced a sort of rebirth.  A year later she was still thinking about the trip, and her husband suggested she write a novel about it.  A similar obsession overtook me as I read the book, and I soon found myself pouring over websites for Flagstaff-based rafting companies.

“I want to raft down the Colorado River,” I blurted out to Maikael one evening over dinner.  He shot me a look that said, “WHAT?!?!”  It was understandable.  The first – and last – time I had been river rafting was in 2001, when we navigated the Rio Pacuare in Costa Rica.  Five minutes into our trip, our boat was greeted by a frothy wall of latte-colored water that crashed over our boat, sending everyone scattering.  Except me.  I was stuck under a blue canopy of death, the boat having flipped on top of me as I bobbed helplessly in the rapids.  For a period of 10 seconds, as the water plunged me down further and further, I thought, “This is it.  This is how I am going to die.”  Suddenly, the sky came into view, as Tim, our guide and Maikael’s friend, righted the raft and pulled me to safety.  I was terrified for the rest of the journey down the river, and the moment my feet hit terra firma I vowed, “Never again.”

Now here I am, eight years later, drooling over photos of flimsy rafts careening over angry waves.  Never underestimate the powers of changing one’s mind – or one’s life.  I’m certainly more of a risk-taker than I was at 23, and I find myself pushing the boundaries of my comfort zones these days.  I am crashing through my fears with an iron fist.  And I owe my inspiration to face my river rafting fears to In the Heart of the Canyon.

So what do you say, folks?  A Life in Pencil rafting trip down the Colorado next spring?  Anne, you can bring your pole to go fly-fishing – I already checked.  Read the book:  you’ll be ready to jump on board, too.