The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon

By: Sara Bogle Period 6 HLA

The Grand Canyon had been wonderful during the day, if you looked out at it, it looked like a painted stage set. Hiking down it had been fun, you could look over the edge and see all the winding turns far below. Occasionally a mule line would pass and the people riding them could go all the way to the bottom. That’s how it was when the sun was out. But now it was getting dark. Grey, a 17 year old boy, was lying on his back looking up out of the Grand Canyon. His leg burned with a fiery pain. Only a few hours before, him and his dad had been happily hiking down the Grand Canyon's craggy ravines, trying to reach Phantom Ranch. But he had slipped and broken his leg. He should be grateful though, at least his bone was still in his body. A flash of pain shot through his body, he had moved his leg. His stormy blue eyes looked down the trail, searching for his dad who had gone all the way down to Phantom Ranch to get help.

The moon was out now, unusually it gave a great amount of light. Grey shifted his head, hid dirty blond hair made tracks in sand like snakes. The air was cool now, so different than today where it had been heavy and hot. Earlier Grey had seen a condor circling him, it had made him feel uneasy. Like, because he couldn't walk he was prey for anything.

A movement about a yard away from him snapped him into reality. Grey sat up, then winced from the terrible pain. He looked around. A pang of horror echoed through his body. Gila Monsters. About 16 of them were in a knot together.

"Oh no." Grey said out loud into the night. Almost at the same time every monster's head snapped to look at him. Claws dug into the hard packed dirt and a chill ran through Grey as they started coming toward him.

"Help!" Grey shouted into the cold air. The Gila Monsters crept closer and Grey needed a way to defend himself. There was a rather sturdy looking branch lying past the little devils, but how to get at it? He slowly sassed himself up on his good leg, wincing because of his bad one, ad waited for them to get closer. Once they were only about a foot away from him he summoned up all his courage and hopped. He handed on his good leg, but twisted and fell flat on his face. He lunged for the stick and grabbed it firmly, ready to defend himself. Bt the creatures just kept going forward as if nothing at all had happened.

"Wow." said Grey, pushing up his hat and wiping his forehead. "Never wanna do that again." And he rested his head on a rocky wall. The wall was full of crevices that made it look like Swiss chess. Grey looked at the stars, everything was ok now, except his leg, that he slowly started to dose.

Just as he was about to enter true sleep a rattling startled him. Grey nervously looked into the closest hole.

"Ahhhhhh!" in the hole, was a rattle snake. Grey lurched back and grabbed the stick. He jabbed it into the wall and a crack appeared. He repeated this until a good sized rock fell out. Grey grabbed the rock and just as the poisonous snake was about to slither out, he blocked the hole.

He was feeling drowsy now, slowly he fell onto his back and immediately fell asleep.

a a a

Grey awoke to a bright morning sun. He was in a bed with a heavy splint on his leg.

"So, your up." Grey recognized the voice as his father's.

"Dad!" he started in a happy voice, "You won't believe what happened!"

Hey, so, this is a little blip of a story i had to write for school. hope you enjoyed reading it and have a good day. (Please Review!!)