Chapter 22 Summary

Inside the slot canyon, Bernie reflects that it wasn't a cave as she first thought. The slot is one of hundreds of routes that rainwater takes on its way to the Colorado River, and eventually to the Pacific Ocean. Over many years, these slots have been cut a full mile down from the surface by relentless storms. At first, she looks straight up to see a narrow strip of blue sky more than 5,000 feet above, but the view becomes obscured by thunderheads. She had looked up to avoid seeing again the mummified remains of the old shaman that she had just stumbled over, but her neck muscles cramp in pain, and she is forced to look at him. The old Hopi had rolled off a ledge that he used as a bed and died, perhaps the victim of a stroke or heart attack...