28 April – Icewater Spring to Cosby Knob Campsite. (20.3 miles)

Put up some big numbers today!

This is what early morning breakfast disarray looks like:

     We then (traveling with Doodge and Forest Gump) came to Charlie’s Bunion, a well known lookout and fun precipice.  Here’s a short movie, and a picture of me on top (where I’m practicing my Mt. Katahdin pose.  Perhaps a bit premature.) 

     We talked about falling.  We traded stories about parts of the trail that had steep drop-offs.  I read a book last year called ‘Death In [the] Grand Canyon’.  (Thanks for the perfect Christmas present Memory!). In it, they’ve documented that most of the sudden falls from great heights occurred while a person was rising from a sitting to a standing position:  a fact I’ve since reminded a few people of when I saw them sitting precariously!  And I guess it makes sense: we are hard-wired to get up carelessly from the kitchen table, from sitting on the grass in the backyard.  

What has changed in these Grand Canyon death scenarios is that the consequences of a fluke stumble have gone from minimal to maximal the second one sits down on a precipice. It reminds me of the time I was working a cod-fishing trip on George’s Bank; a guy was reeling in a 40+ lb. codfish and had him on the surface and almost to the boat where I was waiting with a 14’ gaff. All was happiness, amazement and celebration. Suddenly, a huge long dark shape rose up underneath the fish; everybody went cold as a 180 degree arc of razor sharp teeth appeared behind the fish, slid up it, and closed cleanly and soundlessly at the shoulders of the 40 lb. cod! The guy reeled in the head, red blood spurting from the hatchet-clean slice, and the fish’s eyes were darting wildly about. Quite a sight in the sunlight!

     Death lurks just below.

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