If There are Angels – A Story for the Oregonian

If There are Angels – A Story for the Oregonian

N. Rakha, Colorado River Mile 134.5. Tapeats Creek. On Sunday, April 14th, the Oregonian will publish an article I wrote about Kaitlin Kenny, the young woman who drowned in the Colorado River while on a 29-day river trip though the Grand Canyon. I first wrote about Kaitlin on January 16th,… Read More

This Porous World

This Porous World

 My experiences related to the canyon have been on the order of a spiritual awakening which has left me as porous as the canyon’s sedimentary strata, where rain water cleaves and carves and emerges later as beautiful clear springs. I take power naps. Total shutdowns that last twenty minutes—max. I… Read More

Remember to Live – Kaitlin Kenney

Remember to Live – Kaitlin Kenney

“It’s a steep learning curve out here in the Grand Canyon. The elements are fast teachers that can be very unforgiving.” Kaitlin Kenney, Day 8-River Journal Newspapers reported this week that the body retrieved recently from the Colorado River was Kaitlin Kenney. She was found by rafters 30 miles downstream… Read More

Homesick

Homesick

I am in a train going south from Seattle, Washington to Oregon, and this is what I see.  Stacks of lumber and lines of trucks.  Piles of rebar and blocks of concrete.  Downed trees and over-grown blackberries.  Water slick roads. Break lights. Trash. Rain. It was sunny in Seattle when… Read More

For the People Who Love Kaitlin Kenney

For the People Who Love Kaitlin Kenney

Kaitlin Kenney prior to running Hermit on her birthday, January 6, 2013. © Sophie Danison 2013 The night before I hiked into the Grand Canyon I was contacted by a friend of Kaitlin Kenney’s. He had read an essay I had written about Kaitlin entitled The Way We Die. Kaitlin had gone… Read More