This canyon was fabulous for so many reasons.
I went with my friend Sia, who previously was just a friend
of a friend. We are at about the same ability level. As we planned for the two rappels, Sia said, “I know how to
do the clove hitch thingy” and I said, “I know how to set up a double strand
rappel” so we figured between the two of us, we’d be able to handle it. It also
helped that Sia had done the canyon before, so she knew the entry and exit.
We had such a great time because usually, we are with bigger
groups where everyone knows more than us and just kind of does everything for
us. It was nice to problem-solve and make our own mistakes. I think the
funniest was on the first rappel, when I started going down and realized the
rope was taking me right into the deepest part of the pool and I’d be swimming.
“This is happening! This is happening!” I yelled as I swam as fast as I could
through the icy water. We laughed and laughed. We thought we’d only be wading a
little at the most.
(Sia pulling the rope after the first rappel.)
We also made the exit more difficult than it needed to be.
This is considered to be a really easy canyon. (I think a lot of canyoneers
won’t even bother with it because they feel it’s beneath them). On the climb
out, there were definitely a few moments with a lot of exposure and climbing.
In canyoneering, you have to stop and think about what makes sense. And it did
not make sense that the exit (at least that part) would be that difficult. But
we found an easier route and all of that was good because no one was leading
us; we had to figure it out on our own. And it was pretty equal. We worked
really well together.
We also discovered that we hike at the same pace! There was
this moment where Sia stopped and said, “Hey, are you hiking faster than usual
to keep up with me?”
“No…”
“Are you hiking slower than usual because you think I can’t
keep up?”
“No…”
“Do you realize what this means? We hike at the same
pace!!!”
Since we are both slow hikers and usually at the back of the
group, that was pretty exciting. We really need to do more canyons together.
I don’t care if this canyon is considered super easy, I
thought it was really beautiful. There are these MASSIVE boulders. I mean like,
the size of… I don’t know, my apartment? And they form narrows to walk through
and this really dark creepy tunnel that was my favorite part. There were just
enough downclimbs to keep things interesting, but nothing really difficult.
After being sick for almost a month, this was exactly what I needed.
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