09.22.09
Canyoning is cool
Off to Utah
Tuesday morning we got up early and made our way to Moab, Utah – the outdoor mecca of .. well everything outdoorsy! We opted to find a hotel first and as luck would have it they had a computer with a printer in the lobby. With the weather being wonderfully comfortable in the high 60s and low 70s we had to change some of our plans a bit. We had planned to do some canyoning in nearby Arches NP but many of them had wet portions and we were not dressed for that. With our new routes in hand we made our way into Arches. After the obligatory stop at the visitor center (yes i had to get my stamp) we stopped fairly quickly and parked at the Park Avenue Trailhead to begin our first adventure – “U-Turn”.
This canyoning route took us up onto the mesa which required some scrambling and included all of our vertical rise in one fell swoop. The boys of course scampered up like they were walking on flat land, while Neely and i shared a bit of sense and took our time. The hot morning sun started beating down on us and we all stripped down to bare essentials – ok so i had leg warmers at one point – whatever it was easier than taking my shoes off! We had spectacular views from the top of the mesa. We could see for miles and got some great views that most visitors to the park will never get.
The boys were leading us and found our path to the first rappel. We had to cross a small path with drops on each side and even scramble up a bit more before we came to a canyon. We all got our gear on and rapped down – Neely even did it no handed 
! just kidding – we thought we’d give her parent’s a small heart attack just for fun and it was only like 10′ from the lip of the cliff – she would have lived
We continue exploring the area quickly come to our 2nd rappel, which is an open space rappel so it was kind of fun…. you pop over the lip and just swing!
We landed on a fairly flat area that just had to be explored for a while. Now the whole time during this adventure, we’d all been commenting on the “balanced rock” which the route description had called Wile E Coyote Rock which we assumed was one in the same… only once we were walking towards it (after about 5-6 different mentions during the day til that point) Andy finally realizes what we’re talking about – we weren’t really sure what he thought we were referring to the whole time but it was like a bulb went off and he went off running towards it. sketchy bouldering followed as well as all of us taking our turns standing underneath it. no comment on getting down from the precarious stance (NEELY) haha! the boys had their fun as we were working our way back to our 3rd rappel. Andy spontaneously attempted head stands, while bela really took the grand prize by doing multiple hand stands on a rock outcropping. (oddly i wasn’t too freaked out, even with the drop-off 10 ft away)
One of my fave pics was on our return walk when andy’s hat flew off and i happened to catch it mid flight!
so our last rappel was the longest of the day at 75′ and i got to be the first one down, which was kind of exciting as the boys tend to take charge a lot. we enjoyed the short hike to the car at the trailhead and truly enjoyed the fact that we got to see a few of the features up close and personal. A great intro to canyoning – 2 hrs short and sweet!
After a yummy lunch and a few quick stops at the local climbing shop and hotel for a quick nap – we were on our way again. this time I’d put my request in to hike to Delicate Arch – one of the most famous arches of the park or possibly anywhere. Andy decided that he needed to get a good bike in so we parted ways at the trailhead and he went off for some real mountain biking fun. We had plenty of time before sunset and I wanted to see the petraglyphs near the trailhead. I’d only read a quick description and had all of us looking around in the brush trying to find them. We finally gave up and wandered upon a big sign just a 100 yards down the trail pointing the way to the glyphs. After the side trek to see them we started the 1 1/2 mile trek to the arch. It was mostly uphill but luckily included many pretty views and cairns to lead the way. There were quite a few people doing the hike as well but many of them were coming down (and miss sunset?!). We got to the top and basked in the view – getting the “i’m in an arch” picture and making many of the photographers anxious. Now being a photographer i can kind of understand some of the anxiousness but come on people – do you really need to freak out every time? Ok so the people camped out at the base of the arch were mildly annoying but they stayed in the shadows so it could have been worse. I decided to camp out to get ready for the nice light right before sunset and I was glad I did – many more people kept coming and ideal spots got more precarious as it got closer and closer.
We were entertained though – there was 1 woman who just had to keep checking to see where the sun was – this included her leaning very carelesly to keep peeking around the corner – 1 time almost falling – we held our breath on that one. There was this other couple as well- the woman kept forcing the man to pose for pictures with the arch in the background. What was awesome about it is that she made him do it at least 3-4 times and each time he wouldn’t smile at all – even the 1 time they did a timer and took a pic togther he wouldn’t smile then either.. we started making jokes regarding smiley man, maybe you had to be there But the best part was that we were just watching the sunlight on the arch and in 1 moment the shadow was gone – which is also when Andy popped up and joined us! He’d finished his bike ride and thought just maybe he could make it in time. He had people cheering for him, some saying “you can make it, hurry!” or some who never thought he would, but he ran and ran (and didn’t kill himself)… we think he just missed the sweet light but he did get to see it with a cool twilight sky and got a pic under it with neely – so we all thought it was well worth it and were so happy when he surprised us 
We finished the night with a dinner in town followed quickly but all of us passing out almost immediately back at the hotel.
Medieval Canyon Rules
Wednesday morning we chose another canyoning route that promised to be dry with a few longer rappels. The Medieval Canyon route started up at the Sand Flats where many of the mountain bikers go for the classic slick rock. We opted to leave the car at the “put in” (beginning) and left Andy’s bike at the “take out” for our shuttle back to the car. We weren’t entirely sure where the hiking began but apparently all of the drainages lead to the same general area .
We follow a series of canyons and most included small scrambles or small jumps to get around any puddles or brush (Neely had an awesome jump!). We come upon a slot with a steep rise on each side and we weren’t sure we could scramble up them – so bela started doing this crab crawl between the too walls and Neely and I followed suit. It was kind of fun, but as we found out shortly thereafter really not needed as Andy just hiked on up and took pics of us from the one wall top. Shortly after we come upon a cliff on one side and a slot with a dropoff into a pool of water. We didn’t think we needed to swim anything but we also weren’t sure just how deep this pool was or if there was any way to make it up or around. So Andy is well… Andy and he decided to scramble on down to see if he could determine the depth – let’s just say 1 whole leg was a bit soggy and we ended up scrambling (the most precarious scrambling we’d done so far) and ended up finding a rappell down into another canyon bottom that seemed passable and led us to a view of the pool and cliffs that we opted to go around.
Just a short hike further we come to our first major rappel into Medieval Chamber, a 100′ rappel into a slot canyon with 2 levels. The boys set up our ropes and Bela decides to head down first. We can’t see much from the top except a pool of water at the bottom, but we got updates from Bela as he made his way down. He yells up for clarification (is there another rappel? No, keep going! slosh slosh, whoah, hmmmmm, cool!, slosh slosh). Neely and I had heard all that sloshing around and Bela would only tell us that it wasn’t THAT wet. We both opted to go shoeless. I took the camera down with me and got views of the 2 pools of stagnant water, and the awesome view in general. I made my way down the first section and this is where the first sloshing came into play. The ropes led right into the pool – no way around it. I think all of us attempted some kind of pendulum to try to get to the opening to the second drop. The boys made valiant attempts, but still all of us ended up getting wet working our way over to the lip for the 2nd drop. Neely made some of the awesomest sounds during this section – hilarious laughing and squeaking – i don’t think i got all of it on video but i did catch some of her excited squeaks.
The 2nd section also went straight into a pool of water, but luckily Bela helped us gals not get too deep once we landed. Once down we could take in the sights – a small slot canyon leading out the back while the chamber itself was dark and cool- quite the opposite from the desert on top and out the back. Now none of us are rappel fans, but we all agreed that that had to be one of the coolest rappels ever. We could almost understand why people might only go rappeling if they were all like that – but of course we know that they aren’t all that awesome
So we literally walk out the slot into the sunshine and within just a few moments we’re at the top of Morning Glory Arch (which we’re told is really a bridge). We didn’t argue as we went to explore and walked on top of the arch and all around to scope out our rappel. We’d hoped to have 2 ropes so we could do a simul-rappel off the arch (one person on each side of the arch rappelling at the same time) but we didn’t so the boys set up our rappel from the side which meant we got a really cool view looking over at the arch.
While we were checking things out Andy’s hat blew off yet again, but this time went all the way down to the canyon floor – 100′ down. We hadn’t realized but there were hikers down there that had come from the Negro Bill Trailhead (where we’d left the bike) – they were quite confused when a hat came floating down! They yelled up to us and were concerned about how we’d get the hat back – but once our rope came down they figured out what was going on and were a tad bit jealous. We didn’t blame them as this was one cool rappel as well. Once you get over the lip it’s about a 90′+ drop in open space, we all took our time coming down to enjoy the view. Once down we retrieved Andy’s hat and rinsed our hands in a small natural spring that came out of the canyon wall (the ropes were a bit messy having just been in the water and mud from the chamber). Andy decided that since he had to the shuttle back to the car still that he’d get a head start and run the 2 miles back to the bike and power book it back to the car. We took our time knowing it might take him a little while, and enjoyed the hike back to the trailhead. We lost official count but we believe we crossed that creek at least 5-6 times and the trail seemed to be in every direction – a little confusing but quite green despite the desert setting. We decided to continue hiking along the road in the hopes of saving a little time on the shuttle run. Andy made great time and even hit the slickrock a little on the way back to the car – it seemed wrong not to!
Bela and I convinced Andy and Neely to try to do a geocache or two in the area as we started to head home- so we ended up doing a quickie one in town. I’m sure there are some cool ones in the area, maybe next time we’ll get some off the beaten path. We spent the afternoon driving back to CO, already reminiscing about our excellent canyoning adventures.