A Hiker Collapsed at the Bottom of the Grand Canyon, the Helicopter Was Grounded by Wind, and the Only Way Out Was Seven Miles Straight Up on the Back of a Mule Nobody Else Could Ride

We reached the South Rim at 5:52 a.m.

The ambulance was waiting at the trailhead with its lights going. The wind had finally died down enough for the helicopter to come in from Flagstaff, and they flew Gerald straight to the cath lab.

He had a ninety-five percent blockage in his main coronary artery. The cardiologist put in two stents. She told Ellen that another six hours would probably have been too late.

I didn’t know any of that yet.

I was sitting on the stone wall by the mule barn with Delilah’s head over my shoulder, watching the sun come up over the canyon, too tired to stand.

The park’s lawyers did call. They wrote me a formal letter of reprimand for carrying a passenger on a pack animal, which went in my file. The next week, the superintendent wrote a second letter, a commendation, which went in the same file, right on top of the first one.

My boss framed them side by side.

Three months later, a package arrived at the mule barn.

It was from Milwaukee. Inside was a photograph of Gerald, alive and pink-cheeked, standing in front of a hospital with a thumbs-up. A check for the mule rescue fund the park keeps for retired animals, with more zeros than I expected from a retired mail carrier. His daughter later told me he’d cashed in part of his life insurance policy to send it.

And a small velvet bag.

Inside was a pinch of ashes and a note.

*Mr. Kesler,*

*Marion always wanted to ride a mule in the Grand Canyon. Would you let her ride with Delilah, just once, to the bottom and back?*

*Gerald.*

So the next morning, I tied the little bag into Delilah’s mane with a strip of red ribbon.

We walked down the South Kaibab together, seven miles, in the sunshine.

At the bottom, by the river, I let the wind take the ashes.

Delilah stood there watching the water for a long time.

Then she put her nose against my chest and sighed.

And we climbed back up.