Finally getting a chance to revisit the talklist on an icy day between sending out Christmas
cards and going out to see our annual production of Christmas Carol! Yes, I'm back from
the canyon again, but this time it's from Frijoles Canyon in New Mexico, where I had a
great time last month visiting places like Bandelier, etc. My "heartsong" is still with the
Grand Canyon, however, so I just wanted to add a few words of warning, so that
letterboxers and other folks would be sure to understand that what I accomplished out
there should definitely NOT be attempted by the faint of heart, or probably anyone else in
their right mind either, for that matter!!!

Yes, it 's probably true that close to 5 million people a year visit the Grand Canyon, so
that in itself is certainly not a "big deal", over 99% of them merely viewing it from above!
Of the small fraction of a percent that actually gets to experience looking up to the rim
from below, most are only going a short distance, taking mule trips, or taking overnight
backpacking trips, like Pete and I did 15 years ago, before camping fees and pay permits
were even required! Even of those folks that do make it to the bottom, almost all come
back up to the same rim, and only the tiniest fraction continue on climbing up to the
other side. These folks generally plan well in advance, train for months, and take several
days to complete their journeys, but it certainly can be done even by people getting on in
age, as my old folkdancing friends in their 80's showed last year, so I would definitely
encourage anyone in reasonably good shape to go for that type of adventure, no matter
what their age!

What I would heartily discourage, however, is having anyone not in training even think
about attempting to hike the entire canyon from South Rim to North RIm in less than half
a day as I did! Even trying to do rim-river-rim in one full day on just the south side of the
canyon is severely frowned upon by the rangers, although I had done that many years ago
in less than 6 hours, but my getting to cross the entire canyon south to north, over 22
miles with over 11,000 feet of elevation change in less than 10 hours, out of shape and on
a sprained ankle, certainly exceeded my expectations! All I can say is that it had been my
dream for almost 40 years, ever since I first saw the GC in my teens, and my past training
of backpacking 25 miles a day for months on end must have held me in good stead, even
though I haven't been able to do anything like that for years now! That day it seems I just
happened to catch a "breeze", perhaps inspired by my old trail name, so thanks for your
congrats and for understanding just how special getting to do this was for me - truly a
one in a million opportunity and not something I'm advocating as a challenge for any other
letterboxers!

As for the "old-timer" who was asking about walking around Meteor Crater, well... I guess
he really has been out of touch with things for quite a while, too! It's been over a dozen
years now that the Barrenger family has been leasing out interests to a private company to
charge for tours (currently $15 per person) that only allow you to go 1/4 mile away from
the visitor center! Our particular tour guide told us that nowadays only once a year were
people with certain scientific backgrounds allowed to take the full hike around the crater,
so we felt especially privileged that not only did we get to do that, but we didn't even have
to pay the $30 fee - just because I had happened to ask the ranger at Sunset Crater about
the Flagstaff Science Festival a few days before and he had given me his very last science
fair passport! So, once in a while things just seem to work out, and no icy dementor's
breath can blow out the warm little joys that life occasionally throws our way!

And speaking of icy conditions, yup - we're still out in them boxing away! In fact, we
recently found over 100 boxes, all either buried under snow or needing to be pried out of
ice, in just 4 short afternoons in Berlin,CT, Portsmouth,NH, Gloucester/Lynn and
Sudbury,MA, including my 16,0000th find followed by a wonderful holiday late lunch
celebration at the historic Wayside Inn! So, while folks in some parts of the country may
be fattening their counts with stamps from indoor games, gatherings, pub crawls and
such, we can assure all of you out there that we here in RI continue to work hard in the
traditional North American manner for most all of our finds, and that there is no "fudge" in
OUR counts! (Yes, we've made our lists, checked them twice, and definitely know who's
naughty or nice!:-) So, thanks for giving us such a good gentle chuckle over those
occasional "psychological underpinnings" we sometimes get to see, and a jolly "Ho, Ho,
Ho", Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc, to everyone out there in Letterboxland!
Cheers,

Wanda from RI
P232 F16,099 X1576