There's no adequate way in a 200 pixel photo to show how far the drop is from the point in the middle of this shot. It's called Angels Landing, and the trail proceeds along the sheer rocky promontory to a 1200-foot drop.
As I stood getting ready for the next leg of the hike, I naturally thought of government dependency and torture.
Government dependency, because the last half mile of the route features chains anchored in the sandstone where the trail gets dicey. You can see them snaking up the rocks at right. It only gets more exciting as the trail narrows and you scan oblivion.
No doubt hikers become dependent on those government chains. In fact, many will cling to them whether they need to or not, convinced that the chains are saving their lives.
A far better system would be to require people to exercise personal responsibility and fall to their deaths naturally, without government interference. That way, the chains could be redeployed to Guantanamo or whatever supermax prison is now holding terrorists, where they could keep all America safe instead of propping up a few candyassed hikers who just make it hard for the rest of us to exercise our freedoms.
As for the torture part, I can see I have lost the appropriate tone, so I will save that discussion for another post.
