of sandwiches and dirty boots

my first hiking trip yesterday. I am in Atlanta, Georgia visiting friends. We left early,at about 8.00 in the morning for a three hours drive. Throughout the drive, Radhika was talkative and kept us all in cheerful spirits. Providence Canyon, a small canyon here in Georgia was a quiet and pretty little place. We got the directions around the hike and started our journey. It was a beautiful morning, soft sunshine, trickling streams at the bed of the canyon, creeks..it was amazing. Surpringly, as we headed towards the bed of the canyon, all of us became extremely silent. We hiked a good 2 miles, in complete silence!!! It was as though nature decided to speak and it was those moments when the entire auditorium becomes silent to listen to a key speaker, waiting for him/her to impart all those learned values, waiting for a good humor, announcement of a award..yeah, that kind of silence. And the silence prevailed, as the canyons spoke to us. The bed of the canyons was really soft, soft mud. Rivulets running through, which looked as if it was changing its course as we stepped on them to pass through. Trees on the either sides, joined hands above our heads, leaves ruslted as we walked through. It seemed far away, away from this elections, results, emails, faxes, microwave, frozen foods..anything that we live on these days. As we climbed up, it got warmer, we continued hiking through the maze of trees and shrubs. We finally reached our viewspot and got a top view of the canyons, it was stunning..made me realize how small human being is actually against these huge forces of nature. We traced our way back and went to get a close look at the canyons, squish squashing through the moist terrain and coloring our boots with mud of color ranging from mud(?) to orange. Surprisingly, they were just moist mud, held together..suggesting the presence of a sea in this region millions of years ago. It was like hearing an extinct language being spoken and trying to understand it using cognates. Radhika kept talking to us about the Grand Canyons which made me resolve to head to see them soon. The traveler in me was awaken and hopefully, I see more of this USA as I loved seeing Europe. Finally wound up after a good 4.5 hours of hiking across a varied landscape and a tiring drive back home. Akila and Karthik, thanks so much guys for that fantastic dinner. I ate like I was starving 2 weeks! And the dessert after that..God!so much for the sandwiches and dirty boots.