Nose to Nose with Fear, Heart to Heart with Each Other
Next Monday , my 19 th annual all-women river odyssey embarks, the rafts launching into the Colorado River at the Westwater put-in. Each trip brings something new, but the river always gets the creative juices flowing. We play. We hike. We swim. We journal. We run rapids. We talk about process. We share. We get wonderfully silly. Profoundly serious. We get silly all over again, in and out of the water, up and down the canyon walls, in and out of each others stories. From sun to shade, dark to light—in every metaphorical way imaginable. Wilderness landscapes stir our souls in life-changing ways. We become lost in their grandeur and in the getting lost rediscover a vital part of ourselves. Nowhere else besides the river is this transformation so enabled. Each time, the joy of living simply is rediscovered as we journey down t he river together —a cool drink of water, a playful mud bath, quiet conversation, the taste of a fresh tomato, sliced avocado,