Punakha

A number of years ago, my son and I went to the Grand Canyon for a bit of an adventure. We had arrived at the campground at the south rim of the canyon at about midnight, and it was chilly. It was the first week of June, and the rim is about 7000 feet above sea level. That’s actually higher than the highest point in all but 15 states, and we don’t even call it a mountain.

The next day, we hiked down into the canyon about 3000 feet, to Plateau Point. As it turns out, between the mid-day sun and the 3000 foot loss of elevation, there was a drastic difference in temperature. I’m not sure how hot it was at the rim when we got to the plateau, but at the plateau it was almost 120 degrees. A normal person would probably try to find shade, rather than walk another 3 miles (round trip) to the point, completely exposed to the sun. But it was only the two of us; no normal people on the team.

When we finally got back to the first shade, we sat down and fell very asleep for 45 minutes. Then we had to walk back up. Thus we arrive at the biggest challenge of hiking a canyon instead of a mountain: with a mountain, the return trip is literally “down hill”, but a canyon does that first, saving the uphill part for the end. Our 12 mile round trip didn’t end until almost 10 pm. Again, arriving at the cooler elevation at a cooler time of day.

The nation of Bhutan (just south of Tibet) is located in the subtropics, but includes part of the Himalayas, with peaks over 23,000 feet with permanent glaciers. So, the temperature differences we’d experienced at the Grand Canyon might be more like a trip to the grocery store in Bhutan. In fact, the nation moved its capital from Punakha to Thimphu in 1955, and although it’s only about 45 miles away, there is about a 7000 foot difference in elevation.

Punakha is hot in the winter and really hot in the summer, while Thimphu is cool in the winter and warm in the summer. Maybe that’s why they moved the capital. They even get a little snow in the winter. And monsoons in the summer (the monsoons hit Punakha, as well). Monsoon rains and high, steep mountains don’t mix well, but the people seem fine with it. In fact, they have something called “Gross National Happiness” that they try to measure and maintain as more important than Gross National Product.

I’m not sure that could take root here in the US, as we have mostly abandoned any attempts at decency and propriety in the press and social media. Many of us would have to live by the Golden Rule that we say we believe. The folks with the “Coexist” bumper stickers would have to actually mean it for themselves. Or the ones with the “War is not an option” stickers would have to decide that maybe arguing isn’t, either. What is best for the nation would have to come before what is best for the political parties. Truth would be embraced rather than whatever agrees with what we already think…. Oops. As we say in the South, now I’m meddlin’.