Stars at Noon
"....Canyons so deep you can see the stars at noon,
it's a paradise I'm thinking of.
Feeling complete as I'm held within these walls,
and the river gently sings her lullaby."

Stars at Noon, by Anke Summerhill, from: Slickrock and Sagebrush,
Songs for Utah Wilderness, available from SUWA.
Click here to go to SUWA's site.

Day 1: Driver: Bret, Gloria, Anita and I rendezvous and drive down to Parowan Saturday afternoon, avoiding the laborious Friday highway clog of Labor Day weekend. Arriving in Parowan, we see that Craig M. has been working on dinner, and we complement his efforts with wine, garlic bread, and conversation. During and after dinner, we talk about going to church tomorrow, to the Cathedral of the Zion Narrows. "All rise early for Church tomorrow," we chant in our best monotone.

Day 2: Backpacking The Cathedral of The Narrows: We had scheduled the late (9 a.m.) shuttle, which is so much kinder to my old bones than the early 3 a.m. last year. It is actually daylight when we arrive at the visitor center. Wow! I finally get to see and summarily visit the visitor center, although I have been here two previous times.

    It's warm and getting warmer as we hike to the old homestead cabin and soon after begin sloshing through the low, warm waters of the upper narrows. The water level is considerably lower than it was last year. Yikes, how are all those snails and fish getting enough oxygen?

     I am tiring a bit as the canyon turns South as it intersects with Deep Creek, which doubles the flow and signals the start of the bowling alley, where slimy bowling ball rocks line the drainage. Bret, Gloria, and I forge ahead, looking for the campsite as Anita and Craig enjoy a more leisurely pace. I attempt to capture a twinkle of the glory of this Cathedral, refracted sunglow on coated Navajo Sandstone. Several tries at producing a panorama later, the quest is short of reality. I switch from photography to mindfulness and cruise on down the alley.

     We leapfrog a couple of overnight groups along the course, alternately taking breaks. One group reads scriptures while we read the water, the Wren's song, the enveloping ambience.

     A sinew of bends and Big Springs gushes, while the Virgin River gurgles and burbles. Near here, we stumble into camp after looking farther, not believing that it really could be on that jumbled bump.

     Dark caves in and we are filtering water, cooking dinner, and enjoying the thunderous background Cathedral music when Craig and Anita appear. Sleeping under the slit of stars, water splashing over the edge of the bump, ahh.

Day 3: A second day in Church: Slowly, we stretch out the kinks from yesterday's church cruising. "Chemicals, chemicals! We need chemicals" we chime as the sun goldens the tips of vertical wall far overhead, and the stoves puff steam and the coffee and tea brew in our mini-forest suspended above the restless Virgin River. After breakfast, we roll on down the canyon, into the heart of The Narrows.

     We are mostly alone until we approach Orderville Canyon, where we begin to encounter throngs of upstream hikers. It is Labor Day weekend, after all, and America is out enjoying. Walking the sidewalk back to the road head feels awkward after many hours of dancing the slimers of The Narrows.... and the shuttle ride is hypnotic as I gaze out the skylight across hundreds of feet of twisting, spinning cliff faces.

            and, let's once again sign off with dreams of: Stars at Noon
"....Canyons so deep you can see the stars at noon,
it's a paradise I'm thinking of.
Feeling complete as I'm held within these walls,
and the river gently sings her lullaby."

Stars at Noon, by Anke Summerhill, from: Slickrock and Sagebrush,
Songs for Utah Wilderness, available from SUWA.
Click here to go to SUWA's site, order a CD, contact an agency, etc. Please do lots of somethings every day to preserve what little wildness is left.

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