"It's like trying to describe what you feel when you're standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or remembering your first love or the birth of your child. You have to be there to really know what it's like." ~ Jack Schmitt

Before departing on my 8-day, 188-mile adventure down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, I heard many descriptions about the experience from those who had gone before me. While the stories were grand, the geology well described, the feelings well related, the truth of the matter is that describing this journey to someone who has never done it, is similar to trying to describe the taste of salt to someone who has never tasted it. Which it can be described and you can get a sense of it, that is all you can get without the experience -- A sense of it.

After making camp on Day 5 of our journey, as the evening began to set, I soaked in the day's memories, replacing my preconceived senses of the journey to that of rich experience; all the while allowing my senses to be replaced by the smell of dinner nearby.