~Memphis, Saqqara and the Pyramids of Giza~

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EGYPT, NARROW SHAFT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

With my heart in my throat, pounding and choking me, I made my way down the steep, narrow shaft.  It was an unendingly long effort that further strained the already torn muscles in my legs and back.  It was many days before they healed and the pain subsided.  I've never known my body to sweat so profusely, not even in the desert heat of my Sedona home.  My body was totally bathed in perspiration that felt more wet than salty.  Even my knee caps seemed to be sweating.

When we reached the fairly level area that we had started from, I believe that I was in shock.  The intense fear had subsided, yet my body trembled slightly.  The shaft that continued downward off to our left eventually reached the subterranean chambers of the pyramid another 240 feet below us.  We were not able to enter this shaft to the chamber that eventually led to the pit, and considering that this section of the shaft was 2 1/2 times longer than the length of the shaft we had just traversed, I may not have survived it.  The Queen’s chamber was also off-limits to us.  The guards gave no explanation other than to say that there was no oxygen in the lower chambers, though I have met many people who have visited it, as well as the Queen's chamber, and lived to tell about it.

We were guided back toward the entrance and then into another narrow, ascending shaft. I was still too stunned to think to ask where this shaft led, or what its length was.  It proved to be 124 feet long and again angled at nearly 30°.  The footing and rails were fairly secure, though there seemed to be less airflow than was within the first shaft.  I made the climb on my exhausted legs without much thought as though my mind had shut down.  I was exquisitely grateful to climb out of the shaft into the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid.  I knew what lay ahead.

The Grand Gallery is nearly 30 feet high and 150 feet long.  The width is 7 feet though the ceiling narrows as the walls angle in.  It felt glorious to walk upright on the narrow ramp of the gallery, still ascending with a pounding heart at a nearly 30° angle.  A low antechamber precedes the King's Chamber, and contains grooves that indicate large blocks could have been lowered to close off the chamber from this point.  We ducked down to enter the low door of the King's Chamber.

My body was so wet with perspiration that I felt as though I had just been soaked with a hose.  It mercifully helped to cool me off as I began to get my bearings in the 34 x 17 foot chamber with its 20 foot-high ceiling.  The only item in the room is what is purported to be Khufu's granite coffin, missing a piece of its left corner, as well as any obvious lid.