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Show PAGE 3 THE ZEPHYROCTOBER 1994 territorial about something you love. In another way, however, it is a meeting place for everyone who has climbed the peak. The summit provides a solitary opportunity to share thoughts and feelings during the moments spent in the brilliant isolation of 12000 feet Wedged between a pile of ancient rocks is an old mailbox. Inside the box, hikers have been carried entries that "signing in on the summit register far years. In fact, until 1991, the old went back almost three decades. In June of that year, however, my heart sank as I readied the summit and saw the front lid of the mailbox wide open and fluttering in the yvind. I peered warily inside and saw my worst fears realized. Varmints had taken 30 years of history and chewed it into a fine mulch. A year later, I made the same hike, and discovered that no one had replaced file register. But I came prepared with a blank spiral sketch book of my own. And so I made the first entry, noting my disappointment that the BLM had not been up there to replace it themselves and waxed melancholy about the 'bunny slopes of long ago. Last week, Jessica and I wen happy to find die log in dace and intact, although almost full of entries after just two years. As we flipped through the pages, we were both struck by the extraordinary variety of people who find their way up this isolated Utah mountain. The entries are poignant and idiotic; serious and whimsical, compassionate and bitter. Yet we're all drawn to this high windy spot For instance... A young guy, I guess, had this exuberant observation to make on August 18, 1992: bp "This is what it's all about. To experience the adventure. Not to experience it vkariousfy through the pages of a magazine. Or through the screen of a cathode ray hypnotixer. I can't stop & I won't stop looking..! dont know what TU find. But I know its waiting for me...Keep on searching. "RAVE ONI" ' I hope that enthusiasm never leaves him and I hope that someday he won't end his entries with "RAVE ON!" But his heart is sure in the right place. I wasn't so sure about this next kid, part of a high school outdoor course from Aspen. On August 27, 1992, Marty left this bit of brilliance in file log. "FUNNY QUOTES..." Ftt show you hormones. Hey, just look at the sunny side of the egg. Scratch the Lonesome Beaver Where is the east coast? Marty.don't come back up here. Stay home and watch TV. Don't leave the house...weTl bring conservationists wouldn't get you food and beer. On the other hand, I wish other HAYDUKE LIVES! Death to the Machines! The Second Coming of the Monkey Yfrench Gang Followed by this addendum.-"G- et a life. It was only a novel..jheesh. Ed Abbey put fus pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us. Drove cars too." I think Abbey would have enjoyed both comments, and agreed with both sentiments as welL After a couple of hours on top, we dnched up our packs and headed back down the mountain. It's a difficult place to leave; but a place that gives me comfort, even when I'm not there. May it always be the windswept solitary summit for those who seek and understand the true morning of Solitude. The Zephyr is extremely honored to publish excerpts from the personal journals of Edward Abbey. Confessions of a Barbarian is published by Little Brown and will be available at both of Moatf s bookstores around October 20- This month's selection includes most of Abbey's 1956 entries at Arches, during his first year as a seasonal ranger. In the November issue, the Zephyr will print a random collection of entries to early 1989, just prior to his death on March 14. that spans a 35 year period from the mid-50- s Ed Abbey confounded all those who tried to categorize him when he was alive and he continues to do so now with the publication of his most private thoughts and feelings (printed with his permission, granted years before he died). I knew Ed for almost 15 years and parts of the journals surprised me. For while he has been idolized by many, he struggled with his life like the rest of us, haunted by private demons, embittered at times by disappointment, tantalized and terrified by the prospect of his own mortality. He was and is an extraordinary man who connected in a special way with ordinary people. Thanks again to Clarke Abbey for this opportunity to print Confessions of a Barbarian, Dave Peterson, who edited the journals. and to wdl-meani- ng so intense... "American Vfildemess..laoe it or leave it! No compromise in defense of Mother Earth! Support Biodiversity! Love your Mother I Don't become one! Return the predators (This does not mean the white man!). "Have a nice day. Peace." Too many damn quotation marks if you ask me! And why is the Earth always assumed to be a Mother? What kind of sexist crap is that anyway? Next on my list is Mr. Mayer, from the Front Range of Colorado, who arrived on file summit just a few days before my return in 1993. He had a bone to pick with me... "Mr. Stiles, Thanks for the register. However, as to your whining shout the BLM not dong anything about replacing the old register, grow up and shut up. I dont believe summit registers have ever been within that agency's jurisdiction." I get yelled at, no matter where I go. Later, I found this entry which made me fed better... BLM PATROL..Juty 3, 1994 "We see no register is 'necessary since Mr. StQes provided one. " Bruce Babbitt It was nice of Bruce to take time out from being pummeled by ranchers and WHERE'S FULGHUM7 Robert Fulghum is putting the finishing touches on his next book and is hiding out somewhere in the Pacific Northwest If sanity returns; hell be bade next month. To those who sent letters to Fulghum co the Zephyr, I will hold on to them for his return to Moab. environmentalists to climb a mountain. But while "Bruce" came up here to get away from people and others come looking for solitude; some come to meet people. This man left his phone number... "My name is Bob. 1 am from Easton, Mass. I am 35 years old. Call: (215) 262-"(I deleted the number) And tell me your Utah experiences. I like to jaw about it." te to me. I hope he found true love awaiting him at the end of Sounded a little like a collect phone call. By October, the reasons for being in the high country had changed for some. This fellow, a local, was looking for something to shoot at when he spotted the register box... "lam up here deer hunting. Saw the mail box. Opened it to find this notebook. WOWI This is one crazy place for a moil box but what the hell. We are all crazy. Well got to get hunting. "life's Great!" Yes it is, Shawn. But right on his heels was this genius. "life is great. Utah sucks. California is the best!" Another member of an "outdoor education" group, this one from California, but from the same state of mind as our friend Marty who left his "funny quotes" for us. Yes I agree with you completely. It does suck. I advise you and your friends to return to California immediately if not sooner. Said us a card from time to time. The only disappointment I ever find on this mountain from year to year is the way these outdoor leadership schools insist on bringing Nintendo Nerds to the top of an otherwise lonely lovely spot Start them out with a trip to Disneyland. Send them down our water slide. Winnow A place like this should be the ultimate reward, not some kind out the permanently of punishment Half the register is filled with complaints from high school kids who wish they were at the arcade. I wish they were at the arcade too. If it were only possible, I also wish the previous writer could have been a witness to the next observation. Does the word "abduction" come to mind? "I am a witness to a UFO sighting. My uncle Mark and Aunt Robin wake me up about 5:20 AM and saw a bright light on the mountain east of camp. Mark ran over to tent, woke me up, end 1 djd see the light. It was flashing red end green lights. Now I'm a firm believer in the extraterrestrials....Jason, 22 yrs. "" Dial-a-Da- Subscribe to the Write to: The Zephyr P.O. Box 327 Moab, UT 84532 One year (11 issues).M$15 Two years (22 issues)..J$28 Three years (33 issues).. $40 old" He had to be a fairly intelligent person because he spelled "extraterrestrials" without Spellcheck. My favorite entry was this one, recorded on May 28, 1994... will have many more chances. Its beautiful! 1 brought "My first time up here and since Im only 8, 1 I believe this guy. con-ectl- my y parents. Amanda, 8 Linda, 45 Alan,g 48" Apparently Alan was not quite as old as Amanda thought. Despite his "middle age," he has the strength to make the climb a few more times as welL Name middle-age-d hope Address let's And finally, on the last page, the familiar slogan, Abbey's prophesy, fiery words for the American West... Renewal ! New Subscription, |