Humanity of Nature in Pam Houston's The Vertigo Girls Do the East Tonto Trails

Pam Houston's Grand Canyon is a dichotomy of the beauty and wrath of nature in "The Vertigo Girls Do the East Tonto Trail." This natural wonder comes forth in its unique ability to so aggressively amaze and frighten people. Its sites are as equally breathtaking as its danger alludes to near death. As Houston embarks on her hike of the Tonto trail, she comes face to face with a series of near calamities. Yet, as she manages to clear most of these experiences with sheer luck, Houston comes to the realization that nature is essentially random. The balance between its "gifts" and its "punishments" is independent of humanity (148). While Houston may strive to comprehend the Grand Canyon, she will never truly impact the canyon.

The text clearly delineates between the natural world as the Grand Canyon and humans as Houston. Yet, Houston struggles to place the canyon in a humanized world, personifying it as "a crotchety old man" (141). As she is subjected to its whims, she refers to it as "Old Man Canyon, that tireless comedian" who later told her "'Just kidding,'... [and] laughed above [her]" (144). The last section of her narrative, however is absent of such personifications and additionally, she finally admits that the canyon "could care less about [her]" (148). Its impact on her is undeniable, however, and "no one … leaves [the Grand Canyon] without being variously and sufficiently awed" (141). The alternate "gifts" and punishments" of which Houston experiences are aspects of its natural state (148). Full of such opposing images, the text creates a paradoxical element in nature as it manages to balance both beauty and its wrath. Creating imagery, the canyon is "bright green and fragrant" and abundant with "red, orange, and vermillion… deepened by the low sun and the dark clouds" (143). Yet, it remains "huge and imposing" in the face of such "impossible beauty" (144). This dichotomy of nature is not necessarily meant to be in opposition to each other, as this extreme divergence is colored by human experience.

Houston's understanding of the Grand Canyon is essentially through the eyes of humanity. She separates these seemingly different aspects of the canyon because she is essentially personifying, and thereby humanizing it. Although she ultimately comes to realize that her path is a random stumble through its natural course, it still remains difficult to separate wholly the nature world from man. Ironically, the text continually emphasizes the sheer physical absence of humanity in the Grand Canyon. It essentially remains one of the few natural wonders relatively unscathed by the touch of man.