Weekend Essay: What Would Edward Abbey Do?

High Country News:

One crisp, blue day late last fall I dodged work in order to climb my home mountain with three friends who were also shirking their adult responsibilities that day. My Silver Hills buddy Steve was with us, a guy who has not only a huge heart and a thousand skills but, more importantly, a farting donkey named Flapjack. "Flappy," who also goes by "Flatchy" (as in "flatulence"), has the unique ability to fart loudly, be spooked by it, which in turn causes him to fart, and...well, if you sit on Steve's corral fence on a sunny day with a beer you'll discover the true meaning of the term "quality entertainment." Also with us was a French visitor to the Great Basin, a scholar of environmental literature whom I'll call "Francois," not only because that's the ideal name for a Frenchman but also because, by happy accident, that's also his real name.

flickr photo via John W. Schell

Read the whole story: High Country News

Comments

[rick raton]

06:41 PM on 10/02/2011

I don't know what Ed would have said. I think he would have thought you were jerks.

[notdarkyet]

03:25 PM on 10/02/2011

I think you should look at it like you actually removed a disaster waiting to happen for other hikers. My son worked in Zion for many years. I took the tram tour and one of the stories told was that the NA refused to live in zion because they said it was the home of the gods. The god's were always throwing rocks down to prove they owned it. One of the earliest Mormon settlers in the canyon came home with his family from church one day to find a huge boulder sitting on top of their house.