Canyoneering

Garrick and I are pretty much canyoneerers (I think that's a new word) after a trip we took last weekend. We left Friday after work and drove down to Zion National Park. It was after 10 pm when we arrived, but we still pitched our tents and called it a night. We got up early the next morning so we could get started on our first slot canyon.

When Sharon & Trent first invited us to go hiking, I thought, "Yeah, that could be fun. We'll see." It wasn't until later that I realized that the hiking would be way more than just hiking. We would be swimming through mucky water, rapelling down very steep cliffs, and climbing over rock after rock. Garrick and I decided we'd give it a try. (Just between you and me...I was in it for the camping. I needed to see if Garrick could survive a night in a tent.)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun, but we were scared, too. (See picture #2) We knew that the last rapel would be a "free fall" rapel of 90 ft, and that had both of us nervous for the entire second hike. In the end, it was pretty fun and not as scary as we thought it'd be (or maybe that's just my take looking back a week later.)

Luckily, Sharon & Trent have a waterproof camera, so we were able to get some "proof" of what we actually did. ENJOY!

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

It's all about trusting the equipment!

Garrick's having fun!

The 90 ft. "freefall" rapel. It really wasn't as bad as I thought.

But, I was too scared to look down the whole time.

Garrick getting started on the same rapel.

A view of the last rapel from the bottom of the canyon floor.