I was just thinking about how little has changed there in thirty years. One of the
BIG changes, of course, is the permit system. I could go anywhere I wanted without having to tell anybody. Once
when the permit system was just being considered, they wanted to examine our backpacks before they issued the permit,
so we had to empty our backpacks.
Quinn: That's amazing! I remember you used to have to write down every hike that you've done.
Steck: Yeah.
Quinn: And then they would decide, if via this experience, you could go on the hike you wanted...
Steck: Yeah, they don't bother about that anymore. I write about this story: coming back to Clear Creek from Vishnu,
this fourteen-year-old kid kind of pops out of the bushes and asks me if I could help him. "Well, sure, what
kind of help do you need?" It boiled down to he was with these two guys who were taking him on this hard hike,
and he didn't know if they knew what they were doing. You know, that kind of thing. He was worried about his ultimate
safety. So I said, "I'll go talk to them and see if I can get a clue." So I did.
They were down over the edge of the Tapeats in the shade, and the one that talked had the most piercing blue eyes
that I've ever noticed on anybody, like they were powered from inside and were spearing you. He was kind of a spooky
guy to talk to for that reason. I think they were on pot, too, at that time. It sort of smelled potish around where
they were. They weren't smoking at that moment, but I think they had been. "Well, where are you going?"
"Well, we're going to go out to the highway by Nankoweap." That was a long way, they were only by Vishnu
at the moment. "Well, that's good, how are you going to go? Are you going to go this way or that way?"
"Oh, we don't know, but the ranger drew a line on the map for us. We're going to go that way." "Let
me see what the line was he drew on the map." And they showed me the permit had been written by Tom Davison.
I didn't think Tom would give permits to people who didn't know what they were doing, but yet it appeared that
they DIDN'T know what they were doing exactly. They may have been capable but they had never been there before
and had not done much, if any, hiking in the Canyon before. I don't know, I didn't speak to the kid alone again,
but I decided what they were doing was certainly possible, and not all that difficult. I had no authority to stop
them in the first place. I wondered about that kid, he seemed sort of out of place.
Quinn: Some people seem to have an immediate connection with the Canyon, and for some, it's like it's beyond their
senses, and they don't see it as actually being there. It's like a picture on a post card. They just don't have
any sense of it and they just don't like it, they're afraid of it.
Steck: Well, he was afraid of it. When I got back to the rim, or some other time perhaps, I went in to see Davison
and I asked him, "Did they ever complete their hike?" Davison said, "No." The day after I had
spoken to them, going to Vishnu over the saddle to Asbestos, one of them rolled a big rock on this kid and broke
his leg.
Quinn: By accident?
Steck: Yeah. I have no reason to think otherwise. I said, "Well, how come you gave them a permit?" He
said, "Well, you know, don't tell anybody, but I can't legally refuse them a permit. If it's not full, if
there's no administrative reason to refuse them, I can't refuse them on the grounds that I don't think that they
can do it." I thought that was very interesting. Maybe that's something that somebody will want edited out
of this tape. |
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