Monday morning, we hiked out to see something called the Volcano, or as locals call it, the Cosmic Ashtray. There was a lot of soft sand, and after a few miles of hiking, we realized that it was actually a lot further away than we thought. We were all just kind of over it at that point, so this is as close as we got:
We did still manage to have fun, though. Jason explained moqui balls to us, and moqui skeeball was invented. These round little rocks of iron are lying around everywhere in Escalante.
That afternoon, we hiked through two non technical canyons that I was really excited to see: Spooky and Peek-a-Boo. Jason definitely had a too-cool-for-school attitude about them, but I thought they were gorgeous and enjoyed the easier hike. I also fulfilled my dream of canyoneering in a skirt. Sadly, I don’t think this is something I’ll do very often. Even though it was a heavy duty dress from REI that was made for outdoorsy stuff, it was no match for the sandstone walls. Also, wearing Spanx on a hike when it’s like, 95 degrees out was no fun. It’s funny, because if you look at what I’m wearing by the end of the trip, my clothes don’t match, I have no makeup on, and my hair isn’t done. I finally stopped caring.
Anyway, Jason and Kristin ended up having a lot of fun in these canyons because Jason decided we should play “Floor is Lava” and try not to touch the ground. I played a little, but not as much as Jason and Kristin. But Jason was right- it was good practice for some of the canyons later in the trip. The other fun thing was that Jason played the 127 Hours soundtrack as we were hiking through the canyon, so that definitely added to the fun time.
I thought these canyons were really beautiful. Spooky definitely felt a little claustrophobic. I asked Kristin to stay where I could see her, which is a request I had never made before.
(Squeezing through the walls in Spooky)
Peekaboo had a beautiful set of arches.
I love that there are canyons out there that are so easy to explore, that even people with non technical skills (like me) can experience.
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