Salvation Canyon: A True Story of Desert Survival in Joshua Tree

Sixty-four-year-old Ed Rosenthal went for a Friday afternoon hike in the desert in California’s Joshua Tree National Park. He took a wrong turn, followed the wrong path on the trail, and got lost. He was miraculously rescued seven days later. Maybe he should have ignored a friend’s suggestion to tell no one where he was going if he took off sometimes. Maybe, if he left his car for five minutes, he still should have taken his water supply. And was his cell phone loaded to the max? Mistakes happen, and a fairly humdrum hike became a harrowing experience. Despite the hostile, intensely lonely environment, Ed looked back with clarity on childhood and later memories that enabled him to stay emotionally, if not physically, cool. Besides his thoughts, his only companion was a large fly, persistently following him from one to another shaded spot, escaping the worst of the sun’s intense heat.

Persistent search parties hunted for footprints near the parked car but there were no clues. Then, on the seventh morning, Ed awoke from a deep sleep to the whirr of a helicopter hovering nearby and the voice of deliverance, ‘Are you the Rosenthal that’s out here?’

The writing is marvelous, the language wholly appropriate, with snatches of humor defying the reality. Salvation Canyon is a wondrous cautionary tale, enjoyable because of what can only be termed ‘a happy ending.’