The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

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

Not to be confused with "Little Wild Horse" Canyon. I chose a campsite overlooking the narrows of this canyon. Here's my view at sunrise.  On my first day here, I hiked down into the canyon, in search of an arch. The arch required some off-trail hiking. I never did find it, but I certainly enjoyed traipsing around all over the slickrock.  On my way out of the canyon, I encountered a group of men around my dad's age. They were on their way to see some pictographs and invited me to join them. They were excited that I would significantly lower the median age of the group. I was excited because they led me to some really amazing pictographs! And there's no way I would have found these on my own.  I was amazed at the detail; I've never seen anything like it. I've seen plenty of petroglyphs (shapes carved into rock) from the Fremont culture. But these were Barrier style pictographs (paintings) that could possibly date back to 2000 B.C. My pastor mention

Fall Break was exactly what I needed. I remembered how to breathe. I hardly thought about work. I watched Disney movies and read a romance novel and fell asleep looking at the Milky Way each night. I didn't straighten my hair or wear makeup and slipped easily into the vagabond lifestyle.  I took my time getting to Utah, stopping for a leisurely lunch with Allison in Flagstaff and camping at Goosenecks State Park, just over the Utah border. I arrived just in time for sunset, which was spectacular.  But even more spectacular was the moon rising. It was huge and bright and moved so fast across the sky. I abandoned what I was doing and just sat and watched. All of the anxiety from work disappeared, and I left the city version of myself behind.  The next day I drove up through Moab, guiltily searching for a bar to watch the Bears game. Luckily, they didn't play until later, giving me time to stop at my favorite bookstore and go for a quick hike at Arches National Park.  Moa

My mom’s piano student Molly just moved out here for college, and my mom asked me to look out for her. During Friday night dinner at The Main Ingredient, she shared her hiking adventures over the course of her month in Arizona: Camelback and Fossil Creek. “What should I do next?” she asked. “What are you up to tomorrow? Want to do the Grand Canyon? Or Humphrey’s Peak?” Go big or go home, I was thinking. (There may have been a cocktail in my hand during this conversation.) “Really?” Molly squealed. She was delighted. She reminds me of Taylor Swift and is absolutely adorable. And that is how I found myself headed north the next morning, despite all the things I really needed to be doing at home. We decided en route to tackle Humphrey’s Peak in hopes of seeing fall color. There were some golden aspens at the beginning, but most of the hike was a steady climb through the forest. Molly was convinced we were making great time. “I think we’re almost there!” she kept saying. “