Day 29: Running on the Wild Side

Day Twenty-Nine: Running on the Wild Side

7/8/11:

I scared up twenty or so long-necked elk during a rainy night run along the Bill Williams back trails. I jumped a small marshy stream, tore my legs up on a brambly bush, and startled at the elks’ quick flight into the dark. The steady sweeps of rain, the shadowed ponderosas, and the twisting and falling of the unsteady ground took me back into a deeper, wilder KNF. Pushing my way onward over barely-there-trails, I was swallowed up by the trees and the rocks and the soft sounds of animal motion.

Back at North House after my run, Joel was preparing fry bread for dinner. A Native American specialty, fry bread is made from dough that has been deep-fried to deliciousness. Toppings, from powdered sugar to honey to taco fixings to cheese, are generally piled on to complement the fry bread.

Very wet, legs a bit bloodied, and ravenous after my run, I tucked into Joel’s fry bread with gusto. He’d added beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese toppings, just the way his mother did for his family back on Second Mesa. Noah joked about opening a fry bread stand at Grinnell for late Saturday night cravings, and Joel let me fry dough to make a few of my own pieces of fry bread.

A few hours later, tired and full and feeling quite content, I curled up in my sleeping bag on my bed and let myself go to the quiet Arizona night.

Photos: 1. View from back trails of Bill Williams 2. Fry bread with toppings (photo credit: Neil)