A Public Service Announcement
With the season upon us, I speak the unsaid to tourists that visit our community sans social nicety. I act alone with no affiliation as I recently felt the sting of being stiffed after an eight-hour tour. Over the years as a guide, these slights have festered in silence. We raft, hike, bike, canyoneer, skydive in tandem, 4x4, fly, and drive you safely to each National Park highlight. We are the guides of Moab. For a moment, I will release the Kracken and serve up a piece of my mind. These sentiments quietly reverberate throughout the guide community as we bite our tongues and smile. At least now guests can’t claim they didn’t know about tipping. Guides are masters of ceremony! Show us some Benjamins baby!
Will We Repeat the Past?
Ah yes, but you have everything you need. There is nothing to see over here. Enjoy your cell phones with endless live stream data, McDonalds, Pepsi, Facebook, sports, entertainment, recreation, and travel. You are not happy? Take this pill, you will be fine. This is freedom, right? You need more money, no problem. The shackles get fitted yet no one seems to notice they are in perfect lockstep. Sovereignty usurped, none the wiser. Dead pool status.
Rock Art Living...
With all rock art there is an element of mystery. There is a creation myth of the Hopi that the Ant People saved them from the floods of the third world by taking them underground to safety. They re-emerged though a sipapu (hole in the Earth) on the Little Colorado into the fourth world. Is this intervention explained through rock art depicted by spirit beings without feet, alien looking characters, or figures with antenna? Or is it a vision of the sacred Datura and magic mushrooms by the shamans? This is pure speculation on my part and one of the reasons I enjoy exploring canyon country.
Exodus...
Leaving Keet Seel, I felt the mix of emotions that the Anasazi may have felt as they left their home behind. The land and their lifestyle was unable to sustain the bands of tribes that populated the alcove and surrounding areas. I can only imagine the feeling of defeat as they walked away with only what they could carry on their backs. They may have felt desperation for their fate yet hopeful for survival as they walked into the unknown. This is pure speculation. I honor the gravity of their choice to make an exit and survive against all odds.
A Sol Journey…
Many questions lingered within my mind as we filled our packs with our food for the trip, cinching our loads to our backs. I had never spent the night in the backcountry, with all of the essentials on my back within the desert landscape. Snakes, spiders, and scorpions breaching my sleeping bag was a real fear while the test of enduring a long-distance was another palatable weakness. One of the truths I live by: the only way out is through. I knew I would meet challenges, I knew I had enough grit to get through, yet ultimately I knew there would be some pain and suffering as part of the process.