The Monkey Wrench Gang

Hayduke awakens at dusk in a foul mood. He hurries Bonnie to fix supper so they can discuss their plan. The plan is for Hayduke and Smith to use explosive chemicals to take out one or two bridges, access bridges to the larger one over Lake Powell. Bonnie and Doc will stand guard at either end of the project. Bonnie will also paint road signs that say "Road closed: Bridge out" (313) to keep tourists, and others, from driving off the ruined bridges into the canyons below. Bonnie protests her limited role. Hayduke says Bonnie has to do it because she's a woman.

Bonnie gets to work painting the signs; Smith and Hayduke pack up their camp and wipe away any trace with juniper boughs. Hayduke and Smith then dig out "the thermite materials from the cache under the trees" (314). Ready for the job, Smith and Doc lead in Smith's truck. Bonnie and Hayduke follow behind in his jeep. Bonnie feels "the heavy fatalism coming on again" (315). She worries that she forgot to take her birth control pill, and that no one has told Hayduke they "plan to suspend operations after tonight's assault on the Power Complex" (316).

As they approach the bridges in the twilight, Hayduke spots two bulldozers on the side of the road. He flashes his headlights at Smith, giving the signal to halt. Hayduke pulls over and Bonnie tells him they better not. Hayduke says "it's our duty" (317) to mess with them. Bonnie watches Hayduke and Smith each get into a bulldozer, then drive them forward, taking out a tanker, a billboard, and "a sort of metal shed mounted on a sledge" (318). They push them over the canyon rim. A "bright explosion flares" (318). Bonnie worries it will attract attention. Hayduke assures her that it will be a good distraction.

At the first bridge, Hayduke and Smith mix their thermite powders. Hayduke plans to blast away some of the bridge's concrete then set the "thermite crucibles" (320) above the exposed steel. Then he'll ignite the explosives and let the molten liquid flow over the steel, hoping to melt through them. Bonnie and Doc set up their road signs a quarter-mile before the bridge. They hear Hayduke's initial blast of the bridge's concrete then they drive back across the bridge before Hayduke sets off the thermite crucibles.

Hayduke sets off the final fuses, igniting the thermite mixture into "an intense white light fierce as a welder's arc" (323). The gang watches as "gobs and gouts of burning slag fall through space" (323) and into the canyon below. After the heat dies down, Hayduke walks out onto the bridge to check his handiwork. He doesn't think it's worked; in fact, he thinks the molten mixture made "the sombitch stronger than it was before" (325). Suddenly, the gang hears Smith's warning owl hoots from his lookout post. They see three pairs of headlights coming towards them.

Hayduke drives them to Smith's post. Smith gives them two options for escape: stay together or split up. Bonnie says she doesn't want to split up and Doc agrees. Smith takes over Hayduke's jeep and Hayduke takes Smith's truck, following behind. They drive without headlights and Doc snuffs out his ever-present cigar. The first two cars pass them without noticing but the third loops around and heads straight towards them. Smith says they'll drive straight at the vehicle and shine a spotlight right into the passenger's face because "he's the one that'll be doing the shooting" (328). From the backseat, Doc cries, "Caltrops!" (328) and asks to be let into the back of the truck.

The gang charges towards the oncoming vehicle, which is driven by Bishop Love. The spotlight works; Love stops his vehicle. Just then, though, Hayduke hears the familiar sound of a gun being cocked. He yells for the gang to get down, just as "something hot, heavy and vicious, magnum and hollow-pointed" (329) blasts through the truck's cab. It cracks the windshield and back window. A second shot wizzes closer to Hayduke's ear. As Smith turns around, Love begins to give chase.

Doc pushes his way into the truck's crawlspace leading to the camper. He asks Bonnie for a flashlight. Hayduke tells Doc that whatever caltrops are, "he better find 'em quick" (331). Hayduke also tells Bonnie to keep the spotlight shining on the lead car, which is Bishop Love's and now pursuing them from behind. If they get too close, Hayduke says, Bonnie should use his revolver. He hands it to her and she says she doesn't want to kill anybody. Hayduke says she should shoot out their lights or tires. Bonnie aims the revolver out the window and tries to shoot. The gun won't fire because she doesn't know to pull the hammer back first.

Going over a bump in the rocks, Hayduke slams the truck into his own jeep, driven by Smith. The bumpers lock. The gang lands on the pavement leading to the bridge over the  Colorado River. Out the truck's back window, Doc sees Hayduke open the camper door and begin throwing out handfuls of something, "like a man feeding pigeons in the park" (333). Doc closes the camper door and reemerges in the cab. He says he thinks he's stopped them. Soon, the vehicles in pursuit begin stopping. Hayduke and Smith continue driving for a few miles until they reach the turnoff for the Maze, where the gang plans to hide out.

Doc explains that Caltrops are objects "the size of a golf ball with four projecting spikes" (334). However they land, a single spike stands up, ready to puncture the tires of any vehicle. Hence, Love and his crew's halt. The gang unhitches the truck from the jeep and regroups: Hayduke and Bonnie in the jeep, Smith and a relieved Doc in the truck. Doc admits to Smith that Hayduke makes him nervous sometimes. Smith says he's "kind of crazy" (335) and is glad Hayduke's on their side.

Driving without their headlights again, the gang proceeds on the familiar dirt road, where they led Bishop Love on the previous chase. Hayduke drops into a pothole and the gang stops. Smith tells Hayduke he thinks Love went down to the marina to get patches for his crew's tires. Smith says Love knows they're up there because he's "stupid, but he ain't near as stupid" (335) as the gang. Hayduke wonders if Love doesn't have state troopers, deputies, and park rangers waiting for them ahead. Smith says they can't know but they can "beat 'em to the Maze junction" (336) easily, unless Love has helicopters.

The gang starts driving again. Doc dozes; when he wakes up, he sees two of Love's cars a few miles behind them. Smith says he thinks they're just trying to keep them in their sight, not catch them. He explains that Love's men don't know the gang's heading to the Maze because "nobody ever goes to the Maze" (338). It's a desolate land without gas, roads, people, food, water, or a way out. Doc worries about hiding out there "for the next ten years" (338), as Smith had proposed. Smith assures him that they have some food cached out there and if it rains, as Smith thinks it will, they'll have enough water for a few days. The only other water source is the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below them, with no path down.

Doc sees a "streak of green fire" (339) glide upwards in the sky. The gang stops again. Smith says the green streak was a flare, sent up by Love's team. In the sky, the gang also sees the single red light of an aircraft. Hayduke, feeling "the vibrations" (339), confirms it's a helicopter. They decide to head out on foot. They each grab a preloaded pack from the truck's camper. Hayduke says they need to hide their vehicles because they have "all [their] shit in there" (341), which they'll need later.

The gang gets back into their trucks, noticing the helicopter circling a few miles north. There are headlights on the road "now less than two or three miles away" (341). Smith leads them off the road and onto the rocks, to hide their tracks. They stop when Smith spots a ravine in the slickrock. They decide to get the vehicles down without the motors running, smashing the brake lights first. They unfold Hayduke's camouflage net and stretch it over the trees. Hayduke says they'll be "shit out of luck if this place gets flooded" (343). Again, Smith says it's going to rain based on the “ring around the moon" (343).

Doc, on lookout, gives a call meaning that it's safe to come out. Hayduke straps himself with his rifle and pack to keep his "hands free to scramble up the sandstone" (344). Coming up the hill, they see three more pairs of headlights. Smith tells the gang to follow him in single file, leaving no tracks. Bonnie asks how far it is to the Maze. Smith, evasive, says it's not far. Bonnie keeps asking until he says that with the terrain "mostly stood on edge" (345), it's thirty-five miles to Lizard Rock, where they've cached some water.

Bonnie continues to ask questions and complain until Smith shushes her. The gang stops. Smith tells them to wait there a minute. From the darkness comes an owl call. Then "from an opposite direction" (346), another owl call. Unsure what to do, the gang remains standing until they see Smith emerge. He tells them Love's team have surrounded them and they've all got shotguns, carbines, and walkie-talkies. Smith says they should find a way across a specific gulch and leads them to it. The gulch leads them up and down a small canyon and Bonnie, out of breath, asks how many more of them they'll cross. Smith says "seventy-five, maybe two hundred" (347).

They stop for a short break. While Hayduke urinates, a beam of light catches Smith and Bonnie. They begin to run and Doc comes, too, "lagging behind" (348). Hayduke fires his revolver at the light, which abruptly turns off. Hayduke runs with "the awkward burden on his back" (348) until he catches up with Doc. They can see Smith and Bonnie running ahead, having shed their packs. Hayduke tells Doc they need to drop their packs but should hide them first. They reach "the rim of another incipient canyon" (349) and stash them. Doc fishes for his medical bag while Hayduke hurries him.

They catch up with Bonnie and Smith as a "hand-carried spotlight flicks on" (350). The gang reaches the edge of a small canyon and Hayduke looks around for "some sort of projection to double the rope around" (350), so the gang can rappel down the cliff face. Finding none, he uses his body as the projection. Hayduke ties the rope around Doc and Bonnie, then lowers them over the edge, guiding them down. Hayduke tells Smith he ought to "crack off one little shot, slow 'em down again" (351), but Smith tells Hayduke not to do it. Smith takes Hayduke's rifle and rappels down. When Smith reaches the bottom, the spotlight sweeps onto Hayduke. He hears someone near him yell through a bullhorn: "You stand right there" (352).

Hayduke drops to his belly with the light still on him. He feels something "cruel, silent, swift as thought" (352) cut through the air and whip at his shirtsleeve, "stinging the flesh beneath" (352). Hayduke draws his revolver as the spotlight goes out. Hayduke calls to the gang below him, asking if there's a juniper beneath him. Smith calls out that there is but Hayduke shouldn't try it. Hayduke maneuvers himself to the cliff's edge and hangs there for a moment, thinking "this is insane" (353) but his sweaty hands cause him to lose his grip. He tries to yell, "Coming down" (353).

The gang, severely dehydrated and hungry, trudges through an area called the Fins. They take a short break in the shade of a canyon alcove. Doc dozes; Bonnie complains about hunger. Doc asks Hayduke to tell them "about the war" (357). Hayduke dismisses him. Bonnie asks how far to water, and Smith says they'll have it once they reach Lizard Rock, which won't be until the next night. Smith gives Bonnie a drink from his canteen. Smith rants about Love, "that crazy sonofabitch" (358), running for governor of Utah.

Suddenly, Hayduke announces he was a POW. Doc rouses from his nap as Hayduke continues. He says he was a "VC prisoner" (359) for fourteen months in Vietnam, "always on the move" (359). They tried to get him to "help plan their raids" (359) but Hayduke refused, so they made him their medic. His captors fed him "moldy rice, snakes, cats, dogs" (359) and more. Once, Hayduke watched them shoot down a helicopter with "one of those twenty-foot steel crossbows" (359) they'd fashioned from helicopter blades. Finally, Hayduke says, they let him go because he was "a burden on them" (359)—constantly homesick and eating too much. During his captivity, Hayduke says, all he thought about were "the mountains, from Flagstaff up to the Wind Rivers" (359).  

After returning to US forces, Hayduke was sent to "Army psycho wards" (359) for six months. His parents and a US senator fought to get him released because the Army said he "wasn't adjusted right for civilian life" (359). Hayduke asks Doc if he's crazy. Doc says Hayduke is a "certifiable psychopath" (360). Hayduke continues, saying he gets a disability pension, which he never uses. When he got released from the Army hospitals, Hayduke "found out they were trying to do the same thing" (360) to his home that the US did to Vietnam and he got made again.

The gang goes silent. Suddenly, Smith puts his ear to the ground. He says he felt something and they have to get moving. After a while, Smith spots wet sand. They follow it to a jumble of boulders where a "prime cottonwood tree" (364) stands—the first green thing they've seen since the chase began. Listening, they hear the croak of a bullfrog. Smith says where "there's a frog there's water" (364). The croaking stops, though, and Hayduke says they shouldn't go into the canyon. He thinks Love and his team may have set a trap and spooked the frog with their presence. Despite Bonnie's complaints, Smith agrees with Hayduke and they turn back.

Continuing to walk in the direct sun for a while, Smith halts the group. He hears the sound of "many big feet" (367) coming towards them, though he can't see anyone. He tells the gang to follow his lead and walk backwards, reversing the direction of their tracks. They end up in a kind of cul-de-sac of rock. Surveying the pitch, Hayduke announces he can get up it if only he had a bunch of tools. Bonnie spots a puddle of "what looks like cloudy broth and smells like decay" (370). Smith uses his filter to strain the water for them to drink.

Meanwhile, Hayduke has found a fissure in the canyon's rock face. He jams his fingers and "the toe of his left boot" (370) into the crack and shimmies himself up to where the rock bulges out like a dome. From there, he has "faith in friction" (371) and scrambles up the rock. He then lowers his rope down and, using himself as a belay point, hauls the other three up to his position.

A "disembodied voice" (373) from somewhere below the gang calls out to Dr. Sarvis, saying they need him. Smith uses his binoculars to spot Sam Love, the Bishop's brother, coming down the little canyon, "holding the battery-powered bullhorn" (375) and shouting for Doc. Hayduke and Smith whisper about him and Sam hears their echo. He looks up and spots them. Smith asks Sam what he's doing. Sam says they need Doc Sarvis because Bishop Love is having a heart attack "or some kind of stroke" (375). Bonnie says it must be a trick. Doc, reaching for his medical bag, asks Sam to describe the symptoms. Bonnie tries to hold Doc back, but Doc tells Sam he'll be right down.

Doc asks Hayduke for the rope and ties it around himself. Hayduke, upset but cooperative, tells Doc they can't prove his involvement. Doc says he knows. Bonnie tries to get Doc to stay but he tells her he has an "expensive but very good" (376) lawyer. He also doesn't want to "be a Hippocratic hypocrite" (376), so he rappels down to Sam.

As soon as Doc's down, Bonnie says she's going down, too. She tells Hayduke to give her "a good belay and shut up" (378) when Hayduke protests. Hayduke feebly announces that Bonnie is his woman now but helps her with the belay. Bonnie, amidst Smith and Hayduke's confused dismay, says she doesn't know how they'll survive without her. She calls George a lout and begins rappelling down. Hayduke says he should let the "stubborn little bitch" (379) hang there but doesn't.

Landing on the canyon floor, "eyes sparkling" (379), Bonnie blows Smith a kiss and waves to Hayduke. She laughs and hurries away to join Doc and Sam. Just then, the team's helicopter approaches. Smith takes his canteen, Hayduke his rifle, and the two scramble over the rock, out of the helicopter’s view.

Sam tells Doc he's under arrest before they get to the Bishop. They find him laid out against a tree. He rambles about becoming governor of Utah, then asks about "them other boys" (381). Sam says they have the FBI and "just about everybody else with jurisdiction" (381) looking for them. The Bishop says he doesn't want help catching them. Bonnie takes the Bishop's blood pressure as Doc readies a syringe. Sam says he has pain down his left arm. He tells Bonnie that she doesn't "look Jewish" (382) but rather like a young Liz Taylor. Doc pushes the needle into the Bishop's arm as he continues to ramble about Bonnie and "Rudolf the Red" (382).