A Must Read: Death in Grand Canyon

          My husband said I should blog more. He wants this blog to be all about hiking and backpacking, which I am okay with, but we will see. I did not really know what to blog about until I thought I would share this book with you that I am currently reading:

 Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon

by Michael P. Ghiglieri & Thomas M. Myers

          I came across this book on my last visit to the Grand Canyon in 2010. I had finished a day hike to roaring springs and back with some friends and stopped in the gift shop on the way out. I thought it looked cool, listing all the deaths in the grand canyon and bought it. 

          I finally have had some time to read it and I decided it is not just interesting, but it holds a lot of truth. I love hiking and I always have considered myself safe, but this book has opened my eyes to yet more dangers of hiking. It goes over how important water and food is. It reminds you to tell people where you are going before hand, talks about flash floods, and many other things. 

          Now, the first part of the book goes over some silly but serious accounts of death in the canyon, many of whom simply fell to their death. The authors give some statistics how many of these deaths are male and how men need to think more and yadda yadda yadda. A sentence I enjoyed, being a girl, is the following:  "A possible culprit in many of these fatalities may be the male urge to urinate off high places combined with dizziness."
          Anyways, the book is a little silly and sad at the same time, but I really believe it would be a wise book to read in order to grasp the reality of how dangerous the outdoors can be.
          The following are just some photos of the canyon that I have take in the past. the first three are actually from a geology field trip I attended in 2008 and the last 2 are from 2010. The last two are also examples of places where people have died in the book by slipping while taking photos. I honestly do not think I would have stood that close to the edge if I would have read this book at the beginning of that trip instead of the end.

   

The signs say don't feed the squirrels. Don't worry I didn't, i just taunted him.