Seven-Down-Seventy-Seven Up

The trail down into the Canyon winds and twists and turns. But educated mules know their business and you are as safe as you would be at home in your old rocking chair.

WITH curiosity and a dash of imagination, there's a rare experience awaiting you in northern Arizona at a place called Grand Canyon. Perhaps you've heard of it. The thing for you to do is to go down one of the trails into that fascinating abyss. While imagination will add to the pleasure of your trip, you won't need as much as the blind man who rode into the canyon. He said he wanted to get the "feel" of depth and he got it.

At the foot of Bright Angel Trail is the turbulent Colorado river, the second longest, and the fourth largest by volume in North America. It is now wearing its way through the Archean formation estimated to be one billion, five hundred million years old the oldest known to man. The boat in the upper, left portion of the picture is one of the few that have successfully navigated this dangerous stream.

If you're a beginner, you'd better stick to the two main trails. One is the Bright Angel and the other is the Kai-bab. It makes little difference which one you go down. They're both about the same. Either one carries a wallop and it doesn't pull its punches.

Bright Angel is the most historical and the trail most commonly used. Construction was begun when Nature lost her grip and a scissor-like movement set up that shifted the earth's structure and caused a displacement called Bright An-gel fault. This fault is one of the first things you'll see when you start down the trail. After the fault was started, erosion lent a hand and a natural trail route was formed. It is believed that most of the trails into the canyon were blazed by game animals and that probably made it easier for the Supai Indians when they went down the Bright Angel trail and settled at Indian Gardens to escape their warlike brethren to the south.

Some nervous persons have been de-prived of this enjoyable experience by listening to tall tales of adventure on the trails that are the result of an over-dose of imagination. A lot has been said about the mules being evenly balanced-half on the trail and half hanging diz-zily over sheer cliffs. This, of course, is fiction. The mules are graduates of a "School for mules," where they learned their trade of carrying dudes into the canyon, and what's more important-carrying them safely out again. The mules are as anxious to stay on the trail as you are and a lot more apt to do it. All you need is as much intelligence as the mule, and your chances for a safe trip are 100 per cent safer than driving your car on one of the modern highways.

"Watch Gertie roll!" cried a visitor in a trail party going into the canyon. He referred to a plump lady member of his group who rolled in unison with the mo-tion of her mule. "Brother, I'm relax-ed!" the plump one retorted. So forget your mule and enjoy the fascinating story of the earth's formation as it un-folds beneath you. Even though you're not plump like Gertie relax!

It might be well to mention that if you're expecting to find technical data about geology, erosion, and the like in this article, you might as well stop now. If that's what you want, it isn't in here. You'd better look up one of the many volumes of scientific discussions avail-able in any up-to-date library. If you want your geology the easy way, go to a library where you can get it in the (Turn to Page 30)

All around you tower the walls of the