Mississippi River Trip: Gimpy at the North Rim

After a couple of days of being lazy both Larisa and I were looking forward to spending a  day hiking the North Rim.  We’d picked a 4 miler with an elevation change of about 800 feet to ease ourselves back into being hikers rather than people who laid around on the shore of a lake for two days.  Unfortunately when I got up in the morning my back decided that laying around was exactly what was on the schedule for the day.  It probably happened because at some point during the night (47 degrees) Larisa and I decided to share the warmth and snuggle together on her mattress.  I wound up half on the mattress and half on the ground and threw something out of whack.

Initially I tried to tough it out – we did a half mile to a place called Angel’s Window to see if I could loosen the back and hip up a little.  Angels’ Window is on the North Rim of the canyon – you see through the window as you drive up to the hike.  When you get to the parking area, the short trail takes you out on topof the window for a staggering view of the canyon itself.  We were there in early morning, so the light was just right to see the layers of geologic formations in all their glorious reds, yellows, and browns. 

The trail continues another ½ mile to a different overlook, and we wandered that way because if anything, my back seemed to be getting worse instead of better.  By the time the sun had climbed enough to wipe out the good morning light I’d given up on the idea of a longer hike.  The pain in the back went into the hip and I was limping along like an old woman, getting looks of concern from several people as we passed.  Guess it looked like I’d hurt myself on the trail or something.

Larisa was still in hiking mode, and both of us were sick of being in the car, so doing the driving loop was out of the question.  I took her over to the trailhead and after much preparation (camera, glasses, sunglasses, water, apple, nuts, do I have an apple? Another apple, lenses) she headed up the trail.

  I spread out one of the tarps on the ground and alternated between reading and stretching, meanwhile drinking copious amounts of water, which always seems to help along with the stretching.  By the time Larisa returned two hours later I was limping like a sprightly young child instead of an old woman, but I’d still missed my hike.

Nice couple from France took  this picture of me

 Since I was in a sour mood from missing the hike Larisa took me up to the Visitor’s Center so that I could get my Junior Ranger book done.  Come on folks, it’s the Grand Canyon; of COURSE I was going to do a Junior Ranger badge here!! Grand Canyon requires that you attend an extra ranger led program, and since I’d missed all of them for that day except the last one, I carefully selected the Zuni Dragonfly exhibition at 7:00pm.  Larisa wanted to go too, but wanted the sunset over the Canyon more, so we parted ways with the plan that I’d come get her after the program.

Interior of the Historic Lodge - North Rim

The program was led by a ranger named Todd, who came to America from japan about twenty years ago.  Though his accent was too thick for a lot of the kids to follow easily, I managed to understand him by paying close attention.  It was worth it.  Todd came to America for a job in Ohio.  He didn’t like the job, or Ohio, so he quit both and hitchhiked to the Grand Canyon because he’d always wanted to see it.  He fell in love with the area and took a low paying job for bills, then spent the rest of the time volunteering at the park.  After a few years of this he applied to become a ranger, and has been at Grand Canyon ever since.  He told us the story of the Zuni Dragonfly, and this is the story he told:

Many years ago the Zuni people left the Canyon and went to raise corn in the desert.  One tribe paid careful attention to the three corn maidens, seeking their blessing every year to ensure strong harvests.  One year the harvest was particularly good, and the tribe had more corn than they could possibly eat. 

Since the Zuni were a subsistence culture, having more corn than you needed was the equivalent of being hugely rich, and the Zuni elders decided that instead of sharing the corn with tribes that had weak harvest, they would grind it and make bread.  The bread would be the center fo a food fight involving the entire village, thus showing the neighboring tribes that they were so wealthy they could throw food on the ground. 

On the day of the food fight the Corn Maidens became curious at the noise of the celebration, and disguised themselves at beggars.  They went into the village and saw the food fight happening.  The Corn Maidens came upon two children, a boy and a girl, and asked them what was happening.  The children explained about the good harvest and the food fight.  One of the Corn Maidens asked the children if she could have some bread.  Certainly, the children replied, take one loaf, or even two or three for yourselves!  But a village elder overheard the conversation and refused the Corn Maidens bread and threw them from the village. 

The next year, the harvest was barely enough to sustain the village.

The year after that, despite all the offerings they gave to the Corn Maidens, the harvest was even worse, and the people of the village knew that they would have to leave for new lands.  They packed their belongings and left, but on the day of their leaving the boy and girl were sleeping, and got left behind.  When they awoke they were frightened that they would starve, and the girl began to cry.  To stop her from crying the boy made her a dragonfly out of corn husks.  As he handed it to the girl the corn dragonfly became real and took off into the air!  It flew to the Corn Maidens and told them that the only two people in the village who were willing to give them bread, the boy and girl, were now in the village and risked starving to death.

The corn maidens took pity on them, and the harvest was enough to keep the two children alive through the winter. 

The next year, the harvest was greater still.

The year after that the harvest was so good that the children had corn to share, and they called back their families to the village to live.  The lesson of course, is to respect the earth and not waste her resources.

After the presentation we learned how to make a Zuni dragonfly out of corn husks.  Cool little program from a great ranger at the park.