The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Monday morning. Jack and Jason get up early to do Middle Leprechaun. Justine, Allison and I hang out at camp. All of a sudden, I remember that it is Monday and, even though I called in to work, I forgot that I was supposed to work night school and hadn't found anyone to cover for me. I freak out and speed into town to get reception. On the way back from taking care of that, I see two guys hitchhiking. They do not look like the hitchhiking type, and after passing them, I have this strong feeling that I should turn around and pick them up. One of them is in the Air Force, a Chicago native, and a Bears fan. Their truck broke down and they left it in Hanksville.  After dropping them off near our camp, Jason, Jack, me, and Justine decide to do a quick run of Shillelagh. We don't start the canyon till 3:00. As usual, the rest of the group is way ahead of me on the hike in, but I'm familiar with this hike. Or so I thought.  I start to get nervous because I haven't

I had SO. MUCH. FUN. in this canyon. "So, Erin, you gonna be a badass today?" Jason asked on the approach hike.  "We'll see..." I said.  The canyon was beautiful from the start. We soon came to a sweet elevator downclimb of about 20 feet. As I scooched my way down the wall, I paused and looked at Jason.  "So, I am being a badass?" "Hell yeah!" We shared grins of perfect understanding and he snapped this picture.  (Brian took this picture when I got to the ground. I was trying to look cute, but I had sweat dripping in my eyes and had just torn out the seat of my pants. It's not easy to look cute in the canyons!) Unfortunately, this is where things went south for Allison. We had 11 people in our group that day, which was ridiculous. Too many personalities in a small space. Jason stayed behind to get a picture of Allison on the downclimb while Brian and I went ahead. Jerry was at the back of the group, and

Our crew: Brian, my friend from Grand Junction. Pothole escape expert. Makes lots of really bad jokes. One of them most experienced canyoneers I know. Darin, a ski instructor from Aspen. Resume includes lots of hiking and outdoors activity, but only two canyons. Really nice guy, except for being a Packers fan. Clay, a mental health professional from Grand Junction. Quietly competent and capable. Laid back and good at telling Jerry to shut the f- up. Jerry, a grouchy, older man who somehow maintains a job as a ski instructor despite being one of the rudest people I’ve ever met.   Experienced canyoneer, but his personality prevents him from being helpful. We left at 11:15. Way too late to start this canyon, but Jerry was in no hurry, and Darin was too new to the scene to realize that this was a problem. Jerry was even slower than me. Such a different experience to not be the slowest member of the group! This canyon had an R rating due to a keeper pothole that

I need to blog about so many things. But first, a public service announcement. Friends, there is a new show on MTV called Slednecks. It is pure entertainment gold.  I think it's supposed to be like Jersey Shore, but in Alaska. But there's only two things to do at the Jersey Shore- drink and get laid. This is definitely not the case in Alaska. The things they do remind me of Jason Marshall antics, except in the arctic instead of the desert. Like the tug of war with their trucks. Partying on a glacier. Stripping and jumping into ice cold water. MTV often displays a thermometer so you're aware that it's 15 degrees and they're only wearing sweatshirts. And then there are the characters. The jealous girl who blows up her ex-boyfriend's clothes. The girl who thinks she's a model and had lighters made with her face on them. And the guy (who I think is supposed the be the heartthrob) who said, "Ironically, I just got out of jail for getting 69 speeding tickets.

I literally lost sleep over this canyon. It is an R slot. The R means “extraordinary risk factors.” The hardest slot I had previously done was Hog 2, a PG slot. I knew I was going to be in way over my head. This canyon earned its R rating for two reasons- the keeper pothole and the high stemming at least 30 feet off the ground. I wasn’t worried about the pothole. I knew the boys could pull me out of there. But the stemming… I’d be on my own for that. Most of the canyon was fun and easy. As Adam observed me on one of the downclimbs, he said, “You know what to do… Looks like you just need practice.” He couldn't have given me a sweeter compliment.  There was one pothole that was slightly awkward to climb over, and I just rappelled right down into it, then let Adam and Brian pull me out. But other than that, it was smooth sailing. Our different approaches to potholes...  We arrived at the witch’s cauldron (the keeper pothol

I decided to spend the next day of my trip exploring the Swell on the north side of I-70. Once again, I ran into really rough roads. They didn’t have a high difficulty rating in my backcountry roads book, but clearly, they have deteriorated. At one point, the road was washed out and I decided to travel off-road around the obstacle. Bad idea. My car was not excited about going up a hill of soft sand, and I had a scary moment where I was stuck. I am trying to be better about using good judgment, so I turned around and took an alternate route. I had lunch overlooking the Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River. Once again, I wanted to be down IN it, not just on top of it. I  saw some really amazing rock art and appreciated the interpretive displays. There was a family there making fun of the art, and I couldn’t help but think that that is some bad karma waiting to happen. There is something extremely eerie about this ancient art… Not something you should mess around with.

This trip was all about exploring the Swell, and I had a bunch of hikes marked in my Kelsey book that I wanted to try. I began the day with a drive down Temple Mountain Road, taking it all the way through the reef to where it hits I-70. On this drive, I was treated to beautiful views of Temple Mountain: The Swazey Cabin (I thought the rock behind it looked like Mox, Jack and Allison’s dog): And some rock art: My next plan was to hike one of the canyons in the Kelsey book, but the road was just too rough. Roads in the the Swell are no joke… After this trip, I started thinking that I need a new car. I consulted my Kelsey book again and decided to hike Forgotten Canyon, a slot canyon that is a tributary of Eagle Canyon. I followed a long, winding dirt road for miles without seeing another car. I parked as soon as the road curved back to the west and headed northeast with just a map and compass. There was no type of trail, and this terrain can be difficult to

Still trying to catch up on blogging... Back to Fall Break! This was the hike I was most excited about on Fall Break. Two nontechnical canyons to explore in the Swell. Right next door to Little Wild Horse and Bell, but just difficult enough to keep the riff raff out (according to the description).  I hiked up Ding, and a few of the climbs were a little challenging for me. This made it hard to enjoy because I knew this was the easier of the two, so I might be in for some trouble in Dang. My nervousness got the better of me at one point- when I couldn't climb a chokestone, I started climbing the ledges on the right and went way too high and got cliffed out. I had to stop, have a snack, calm down, climb down, and try again. Anxiety is the worst thing that can happen when you're hiking, especially alone. It's like your good judgment flies out the window and you start acting out of panic rather than common sense. (Walls in Ding Canyon) With the first canyon be