Canyon Connections with Amy Martin

Behind the Scenery

Each person connects in different ways to special places in their life. Photographer Amy Martin’s connection to Grand Canyon started before she was even born. Her parents hiked to the bottom of the Canyon when her mom was six months pregnant with her, and again when she was six months old. She’s continued that tradition of going to the canyon with her daughter Sunny.

What’s a special place in your life that you hope to share with past and future generations?

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TRANSCRIPT:

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Sunny: I know there’s a river down there. Amy: There is. Sunny: I know there are different kind of places there. Amy: There are. Sunny: I know there, there is very fish down there. That trout. Amy: Yeah Sunny: that's rainbow trout. Amy: There are rainbow trout. Behind the Scenery Intro: Grand Canyon. Where hidden forces shape. Our ideas, beliefs and experience and experiences. Join us as we uncover the stories between the Canyon’s colorful walls. Probe the depths. And add your voice, add your voice. For what happens next to Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon. Hello and welcome. Kate. This is Jesse. This is Grace. This is Emily. And this is, this is Behind the Scenery. Hannah: To quote one of my favorite little humans, Sunny. Hello, everybody. I'm Ranger Hannah, and I'm excited to share this conversation I had with Amy Martin. I met Amy in my second season here at Grand Canyon summer of 2022, where she presented a photography project she did during COVID, where she talked about her connection to the canyon and how she uses photography to display that. That program is where I fell in love with her work and got to meet her cute kid, Sunny. I was ecstatic to learn this year Amy was coming back to present more of her work and that I could chat with her about all of it. I started writing questions I wanted to ask her and Sunny because Amy’s connection to the canyon started with her family, and I was curious what Sunny thoughts were about coming to Grand Canyon and being out in nature. So, without further ado, I'll let Amy introduce herself with my first question. Hannah: What are a few things people should know when meeting Amy Martin for the first time? Amy: I think a few things they should know. One is that I have a deep love for Grand Canyon, and I feel very lucky that I have been able to spend so much of my time here over my lifetime doing many different things and getting to know it and strengthening that connection of place. The second thing is that I'm a mom. I have a beautiful, spunky three-year-old daughter named Sunny, who I wish was here today. She was supposed to be, but things didn't work out. And so, yeah, I think those are two things about me. Hannah: Yes! So, what draws you to Grand Canyon? Amy: What draws me to Grand Canyon? Well, I think there are so many things. And I think that it's really that, like, combination of all those different things that really draws me and some of them, you know, it's such a challenging place. It is challenging physically and mentally. And I think that keeps drawing me back because you couldn’t explore it in ten lifetimes. There's always something to come back to that draws you back. And it's a place for growth because when you're challenge, you're always growing. And so I feel that pull. Another thing is that the space, right? So I think we're getting less of that open, quiet space where you feel small and humbled. You know, in our fast contemporary society. Hannah: Yes! Amy: And so it's that place that you can go to and you know, and have that connection to everything else. You know, you see that you're just a small piece of this. You know, greater landscape and greater world. And I think that brings out mystery and intrigue, also that sense of who we are, you know, in this universe. And so that brings me back as well. Hannah: What is your family's story of why they started coming to Grand Canyon? Amy: So my family, my dad grew up in Arizona. He was outside a lot. Adventured a bunch growing up. And his brother actually was a ranger at Phantom ranch and he was a boatman as well, a guide. And so my dad started coming to Grand Canyon with my mom, actually, they hiked me down when my mom was six months pregnant with me. Actually, my mom hiked me down, they didn’t. But then they hiked me down again when I was 6 months old and with my sister who came with me. So there's pictures of us feeding the mules and, you know, exploring Phantom Ranch and that just kind of yeah, that just kind of had that staying power. And I think that they were drawn there for the same reasons that I am. You know, it's of course, the adventure, the challenge, the place of growth, the place of peace, you know, all of these things all wrapped into one. Hannah: So and having that connection of having a family member formerly working at Phantom Ranch, do you think that influenced you to become a canyon ranger here? Amy: I think it did. You know, I never yeah, I never saw my trajectory this way. I always was going to go to medical school. And so.. Hannah: Oh dang Amy: Yeah I know and so I have a, you know, I have a pre-med degree. I always was thinking that. And so when I graduated, I was like, I just want a little bit of time. So I got my EMT still in the line of medical. Yeah. I worked PSAR for three years, doing a lot of medical work, both in the ambulance and on the trails and doing all the heat related illness. And so I never yeah, it never was the plan. It just kind of happened that way. And that's the same with my photography career too, really. But yeah, there was never a plan to become a ranger. It just, it just kind of happened and then I fell so much more in love with Grand Canyon, and it kept drawing me back season after season. And then there was the opportunity to work in the canyon. To work at Manzanita Ranger Station. Hannah: Yes! Amy: Used to be called Roaring Springs, so it’s hard for me to say Manzanita, but yes, at Manzanita I was there for three seasons, April to October and yeah, so that I think it was just my draw to place even more than it was to you know career. Hannah: Yeah. Amy: That brought me. Yeah. I think that had the staying power here. Hannah: Mm hmm. So came back every season because the canyon kept drawing you back. Do you think that affected your relationship with the canyon of how it kept bringing you back and how you were planning on doing a medical career instead? Amy: Oh, absolutely. It I mean, it's like getting to know the canyon more and more. You know, you realize that there's, that you could never like I said, you can never explore it like ten lifetimes. There's so many teachings that it has for us in all these different facets of life. It just kept getting deeper and deeper with the canyon, but then deeper and deeper with myself and when I went away, so I actually did leave. I was here for five seasons and I was like, okay, like I have an adventurous spirit. I never thought I would be in the same place for so long. Hannah: Yeah. Amy: And it's, you know, the Grand Canyon is what really kept me here. And I was like, I need to I need to get out. I need to do these other things. Still thinking in the line of medical work. So I went into the Peace Corps, got very far away from the Grand Canyon. I left for two years. During that time, I had dreams, like dreams almost every night. These reoccurring dreams about Grand Canyon, about the river, about coming back. And so when I was done with the two years, I was like, I need to figure out, like, what this is that's talking to me and see what it is that, you know what, like part of my relationship with the canyon, I need more of to be fulfilled. So what there was left for me? Amy and Hannah: Yeah. Hannah: So sounds like even after leaving, you kept coming back. And I know this next question is going to jump probably further in the future, but last year during your program, you talked about how you had lost part of your connection with COVID. So I'm curious how that affected you not being able to be at the canyon. Amy: Yeah. So, you know, that was really interesting. It was kind of very surprising too. So, you know, after I'd went to the Peace Corps, I'll just do a quick. Yeah, like catch up. So I came back, you know, I started working again. I worked another season down at Manzanita and I started doing a lot of other work too. Doing a lot of, like conservation work, doing fisheries work, and working on the river. And the year after my mom passed away and she was just a really she loved Grand Canyon so much and it was just a very, you know, hard like tumultuous time. Right. And the Grand Canyon had been this place of healing for me. So I felt this even stronger draw to be here. And so the year after she died, I spent I think 155 days or something like that down at the bottom of the canyon. Doing different things, mostly working. But also I was down with my dad fishing, and just hiking, and on the river and all sorts of things. But that really helped me. It helped me in so many ways to kind of grieve my mother, like to come to terms with, you know, her death. You know, I think a lot of it is that like, you know, finding our place in this in this greater, you know, world. And I never, I wasn't brought up with religion at all, like kind of structured religion. And so there weren't a lot of, you know, like readily available answers to me about that. And we in our society, we don't talk about death and dying, you know, and I think still grieving is very lonesome, you know. It's like, yeah, it's very, you know, kind of push it a little bit to the side of society. And so the canyon, like, just gave me that space to be able to really heal. And I will forever be grateful to it for that opportunity. And so that kind of brings me to COVID. So it was kind of crazy times for me. I was pregnant. I had my daughter, so I had a newborn during like when COVID started. Hannah: Yeah Amy: A lot of stuff, you know, there was so much just universal uncertainty and universal anxiety everywhere in the world, right? Like these times, none of us knew how to navigate them correctly, right? Lots of stress. And so I had planned to bring my daughter down in March of 2020 and into the canyon to be with our friend Della Yurcik who is just an amazing ranger Hannah: Yes! Amy: I've known her for, she and I and yeah, have been really good friends for a long time. She's just amazing. But so I was going to be her down even, you know, COVID happens. I couldn't get down into the canyon and the canyon was closed, you know, for a while. And so I was feeling all these like these things that I couldn't really deal with, you know? And so I took Sunny, my daughter, up to the south rim, you know, where I could go. We actually camped out at the Rainbow Rim, you know. Hannah: Yes! Amy: So we could at least look into the canyon and have that. But it really, I really knew that I needed to be like down in the canyon, especially during this time. So I was really fortunate to get a couple of trips over the winter of 2020 and the spring of 2021 to get back in to the canyon and that just, just walking down like I, I could feel like, you know, kind of that anxiety lifting. Like there was a sense that everything was going to, you know, that there's this these laws of nature. Hannah: yeah, Amy: And everything has an order to a certain extent. I really didn't feel like that at all, you know? Hannah: Yeah. Amy: During yeah, the anxiety of COVID. So yeah, and during that time I did a, a project, the photography project that kind of reflected what I was like going through. Everything was, you know, kind of foggy also as that, you know, as a new mom so wasn't getting much sleep too. There's like that fog, like all the change that was happening there, the worry about my daughter, like coming into this world where, you know, everything was totally a mess. Hannah: Yeah. Amy: And so my photograph project from those from those few trips was reflected that by being kind of crazy and dark and dreamy and blurry. Yeah. So it really did. What COVID did for my relationship in the Canyon was it really just like secured the fact that it is this place of healing, even in these the craziest times you can imagine, you know. Hannah: Yeah. Amy: That it still is this place and we need it. Like all of humanity needs it to be able to go to, you know, to help us get through some of these challenges. Hannah: Absolutely. Amy: Yeah. Hannah: So after the canyon being closed with COVID, how did it feel to bring Sunny to the canyon finally? Amy: Yeah. So that was so wonderful that experience. As I said, I had taken her to the south rim, you know, just looking when she was real little. And then we took her out over that summer, 2020, out to the rainbow Rim in the forest. And finally we were able to hike her down to Phantom Ranch. And it was just amazing to see her, you know, interacting with the space. I think the couple of the things I remember, she was able to feed the mules and that was so sweet. The other thing is she had just learned how to walk and I put her down on boat beach, you know, down at Phantom. Hannah: Yeah. Amy: And she just, like, walked as fast as her, like tiny little one year old feet could get her, like, towards the river. And part of me was like, oh, my gosh, you know, there's so much of me in her and like, I'm so drawn to water. And water is so important in this environment. And the other part of it was like, oh my gosh water so dangerous, cold and quick and everything. So yeah, it was like all those different realities all at once. But yeah, it was, it was beautiful. I feel so lucky. I feel so fortunate that my parents exposed me to these spaces when I was growing up that really created the space that I could go back to time after time, you know, for all of these different needs, you know, that I had, you know, that we have as humans. And I hope that I can give her, you know, a space to go to as well, because I feel, yeah, everything is just seems like it's speeding up, you know, in our society. And there really aren't a lot of spaces. And just to be quiet and reflect. Hannah: I'm excited that you have this space because I know we're really lucky to be in a space where we get to work here at the park or enjoy these spaces where a lot of people don't know these spaces exist. And I'm excited that your parents and now you're passing this on the Sunny, and I'm looking forward to hearing Sunny's answers and her experience while exploring Grand Canyon and other places with you. And I want to thank you for your time. Amy: Thank you so much. Thank you. Hannah: yeah Hannah: Now, after hearing Amy connection to the canyon, let's listen to some of Sunny's thoughts about Grand Canyon and what she likes about being in nature. Sunny: Hey, everybody. Amy: Okay can you tell me your name? Sunny: Sunny. Amy: Sunny, and how old are you? Sunny: There and three fourths Amy: You're three and three fourths. Is your birthday coming up? Sunny: It's tomorrow. Amy: It’s tomorrow, That's pretty exciting. We're going to talk a little bit about Grand Canyon today. Can you tell me a little bit about what you know? Sunny: I know they have different kind of layers and there's a river down there and is this kind of humpback trout in and there’s rainbow trout too. Amy: Yeah. Well, that's awesome. Do you like going to Grand Canyon? Sunny: I like see the humpback chub. Amy: Yeah. Sunny: When you go in the forest to be quiet. Amy: Why? Why do we be quiet, Sunny? Sunny: You can hear the nature. Amy: You can hear the nature out there. What are some of the things that you hear? Sunny: Birds. Amy: Yeah. Sunny: And the wind. Hannah: I want to express my appreciation to Amy for taking the time to sit down and chat with me. And thank you, Amy, for recording Sunny's audio, because her voice adds to her story and your story of how you both are connected to the canyon. We gratefully acknowledge the native peoples on his ancestral homelands we gather, as well as by diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today.