In the Slots

There really wasn’t any feeling like that I had ever experienced.  I was completely alone.  I was excited and I was scared.  It was 2011 and I had taken a trip to Northern Arizona to see the famous slot canyons that were carved by millions of years of water erosion.  The canyons would basically dump into the Grand Canyon 100 miles away or so.

I had chosen to go at a time that was not popular – Winter time.  Most people like to go when the sun is directly overhead to take beautiful pictures of sunlight cascading on the walls.  I had gone when no one else was there.   A couple of Navajo Indian guys gave me a pass and told me which way to walk.  I did but nearly got lost in the barren desert landscape.

I found the slots and took a ladder down, way down about 50-60 feet.  It was utterly silent and I was alone.  They warned me that a sudden storm would fill up the canyon in minutes and people often drowned down there.  So I was careful but I wondered how I would know when a sudden storm occurred since I could barely see the skies above.

I had the whole canyon, about a half mile of tunnels to myself.   Every step and every turn revealed walls and colors more beautiful than the one before.  At one point I came across this lighted opening a couple of hundred feet above me.  That’s when I snapped one of the few selfies I have ever taken of myself.  The one above.