Nina has been one of my best friends for 18 years. We are SO different, but I think of her as my sister at this point. We have been with each other through addiction, pregnancy, and suicide. We know each other's stories in a way that no one else can understand. As much as we irritate each other sometimes, she's not going anywhere. At this point, we're in it for life.
Our friend Rachel also lives here in Phoenix, so we shared Nina for the week she was here. Our first excursion was an attempt at El Capitan. This should have been a walk in the park, but it followed the recent pattern of things going awry. We got to the first rappel and the anchor had been removed. I had webbing, but I'd forgotten rap rings and my knife. I could still build the anchor and leave 30 feet of webbing behind, but what if the next anchor was gone, too? Then we'd be stranded in between rappels.
"Erin, you came into this canyon with two friends. But if you get us in some kind of trouble... Well, you might leave this canyon with zero friends," Nina said.
We turned around.
It sucked.
The next day, we took Rachel's daughter, Carmen, for a hike on South Mountain. Carmen is four, and her current catch phrase is, "Why you not know that?" As we crossed a wash, I told Carmen about how it turns into a river when it rains. "I did not know that," Carmen said.
"Why you not know that?" Nina turned the tables, and the look on Carmen's face was priceless as she attempted to process and answer that question.
The best part of the trip was Thursday, when Nina gave me another chance to introduce her to the world of canyoneering. I wasn't sure if she'd like it. It can be cold and uncomfortable and dirty and hard work. And things got off to a shaky start when we got to this first drop. I wanted a rope. Jason said no. And then had the nerve to jump and leave us standing there with the option of going back to the car or following. I was so mad. And scared, because I know this drop doesn't look very big, but it was straight down, not a slide. And then Nina got scared because I was scared.
I'm glad I was able to suck it up and do this. I'm talking a big game about all these Class C canyons I want to do in the Northwest this summer, so I need to get over some of these fears. But I still wasn't happy with how Jason handled that moment.
The rest of the canyon was smooth sailing. Nina acted like the badass I know her to be, calmly lowering herself over waterfalls like it's something she does every day.
She didn't complain about the cold, and it was REALLY cold; Jason thinks the water was below 50 degrees.
And whenever a plant poked her, she cursed at it. We'd be hiking along, and all of a sudden I'd hear her yell, "You son of a bitch!" It was like hiking with someone with Tourette's.
It was so sweet of Jason to come out with us on his day off and do a canyon he's done a thousand times. The best part is that he's always excited to be there; it never gets old for him. My face hurt from smiling by the end. I was just so happy to be in this beautiful place with two of my favorite people.
*Photos courtesy of Jason Marshall
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