We were walking in the air, actually floating, but it was the most amazing and disorienting experience. A much as you can dream of flying, this is the closest you can come without leaving the surface of the earth. With an exact copy of the hills and cliffs below your kayak, you lost the normal perspective of up and down and literally felt like you were in the air. This once in a lifetime experience happened on a perfectly calm day when Blue Ridge Reservoir was almost full. Since calm days in the Arizona high country are rare and a full reservoir is even rarer, this combination will not likely happen again.
The reference to "Walking in the Air" comes from a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs' 1976 children's book The Snowman. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy, and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. In the film the song was performed by St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty. For the subsequent single release, which reached number five in the UK pop charts in 1985, the vocals were sung by Welsh chorister Aled Jones, who became a popular celebrity on the strength of his performance. Jones' version was not an official The Snowman tie-in though it was authorised by Howard Blake.
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