Wild 4 O'clock: 2010

I haven't blogged lately, but not because I haven't had anything to write about. There have been birthdays, hikes, camping trips, vacations, reunions, school, work, bees, kids, and more. Much to do and much to write about. Maybe that's the problem. Too much. I have felt like this a lot lately:

Between a rock and a hard place.

Here's the thing though, I like rocks. And tight squeezes. And pushing myself, and perhaps my family, to the limit.

I've got almost a month off from school now, so I'm going to enjoy the break and relax a bit. & blog.

Maybe I'll even get to go through a slot canyon with Mateo! Because literally being in between a rock and a hard place is a lot more fun than figuratively being there.

Last Thursday, we began the highly anticipated adventure of hiking through Heaps Canyon in Zion. Dad & Ross drove down in the afternoon while I crammed for and took my statistics test at Dixie and stopped by The Desert Rat in St. George to buy neoprene socks. Once everyone made it to basecamp on Hillside Drive we loaded up our kids in the van to make a quick evening trip to Springdale. We rented a wetsuit (Matthew), drysuits (me, Dad, & Ross), 5.10 Canyoneers, neoprene socks, and backpacks. We left Dad's car at the entrance to Zion National Park. Then we skipped up the Emerald Pools trail to deposit this bag:

In this bag was our brand new 300 foot rope that we needed for the final rappel. Ross hid it behind a tree and under some rocks off the trail. We took a minute to gaze up at the waterfall misting down to us and ponder the fact that we would be coming down the same way the following day.

At home, we got out all our gear to check and recheck and pack. There were a lot of harnesses, ropes, webbing, biners, Pirhanas, etc. on the living room floor that night. We made sandwiches, filled up the Camelbaks, threw in some extra Powerbars and finally had the packs and rope bags neatly stacked by the front door at 1:00 A.M. I had picked up our babysitter and she was sleeping in Bethany's bed. We looked at the clock and reminded each other of our plan to start at 2:00 A.M. Friday morning. We were all so excited we were sure we wouldn't get any sleep, but decided it was in our best interest to try to take a little nap. We all went to bed and laid awake, the butterflies in our stomachs preventing sleep. Of course, I managed to nod off just before two, so when the alarm rang, the excitement had been replaced with I just want to stay home and sleep, you guys go ahead.

We drove up Kolob Mountain to the West Rim trailhead, put on our headlamps, and we were off.

It was 3:50 A.M. The stars were bright and the world was quiet. We saw an owl.

A few hours later, we were cresting the west rim just as the sun rose and illuminated the beautiful landscape. This was one of my favorite parts of the hike, being in the middle of the wilderness with people I love enjoying the beauty of the earth.

We stopped for a snack and a stretch. There were almonds, peanut butter sandwiches, granola bars, jerky, Powerbars, etc. I realized that I forgot apples, my favorite hiking snack, but found that Blue Diamond roasted almonds are my new favorite hiking snack. Our packs had started to feel like a part of us and when we removed them to rest, we felt light and floating. After applying fresh mole skin and duct tape to our feet, we put our packs back on to look for the entrance to Heaps Canyon.

A giant gnome in the distance looked back at us.

We soon found it, a huge drainage dropping hundreds of feet down. (Straight ahead of Matthew in the previous picture. Between the 2 mountains just to the right of the tree.) With a rappel, a belayed climb across a knife-edge ridge, another rappel, and a long hike down a sandstone slope we were in Phantom Valley.

My toes were screaming in protest from the steep descent, so the small stream at the bottom was cool and refreshing. We hiked along for an hour or so before the canyon narrowed. We ate a quick snack (more almonds!) and suited up.

Matthew looked dashing in his wetsuit, while I looked more trekky in my drysuit.

We wore coveralls over the drysuits, so they wouldn't be ripped to shreds by the canyon walls. Looking less Trekky and more like we were about to go fix some power lines:

The canyon immediately transitioned from open, sunny and hot, to narrow, cold and dark.

and wet.

We spent the rest of the afternoon rappelling down into a pothole, swimming across, climbing/flopping out, and repeating the process over and over.

We easily fell into a pattern of leapfrogging each other. Matthew and I would set up one rap and go ahead down the canyon. Dad and Ross were close behind, pulling the ropes after they came down. They'd move ahead at the next obstacle and Matthew & I would follow with the rope bags. The water was deep, which made getting out of the potholes much easier than it could have been. We felt like we were making good time.

After who knows how long, the canyon opened up briefly and we strolled through a long corridor. After this section, we came to the Heaps Narrows. No, we hadn't just been through the Heaps Narrows, that was just a warm-up.

At the end of the corridor, the canyon turned sharply to the left and plunged into darkness. Just like the guidebook said! I think it was about 4:30 in the afternoon at this point and the thought of spending the night in the canyon started buzzing around our heads like a mosquito. I have to admit, I was cold and tired and ready to set up camp right where we were. Thankfully, the men with me were strong and optimistic, physically and mentally. We rallied together and decided to keep moving. With hours of daylight left, we ventured into the bowels of the earth.

It was like a different world. There was little rappelling through the narrows, just swimming. The walls on each side of the canyon were close enough to touch on both sides in many places. We floated on our backs through Zion's tunnels gazing upward, but the walls of stone bent and curved so that we couldn't see the sky. The water we swam in was black and cold and deep. Each time we reached a rock or ledge or tree jammed in the canyon to climb over, it was a welcome reprieve. We swam, climbed out and over obstacles, slid, jumped, or rapped back in, and swam some more. We talked little, stopping to look around at times and remind each other to look at where we were! It was dramatic, unrelenting, beautiful and majestic. The tall walls of the canyon made it hard to tell what time it was until it started to get dark in earnest. We were shivering and exausted, and could tell that it was getting harder to move quickly and think clearly. We passed a small side canyon entering Heaps where it looked possible to climb up and out of the water for the night. Knowing we could turn around if the next corner didn't look more inviting, we pressed on. We climbed over a log jam, dropped into a pool, went around another corner, and there was another side canyon sloping upwards. There were trees and brush, lots of driftwood, dry sand and room to spread out our wet things. We peeled off our wet layers, gathered kindling and wood and started a fire. The space blankets we each had were put to good use. We ate MRE's and sandwiches and yes, more almonds! Yum! We didn't sleep much, but we were not cold or hungry.

The night wore on.

In the morning, we got up and had breakfast as soon as the sun was up, (which was pretty late in the morning, because of the deep canyon we were in.) Our suits were warm and dry and felt good to put back on - NOT! But we knew the only way out was down, and we were anxious to get home before our families worried more than they already were. We were very close to the end of our hike and worked our way through the rest of the intense narrows in a couple of hours.

The most anticipated part of the hike was ahead: three final rappels totalling over 500 vertical feet. The canyon ends with a narrow crack and a waterfall pouring out onto Emeral Pools below. Emeral Pools is an easy hike in Zion and there were many people, tourists and families below. They looked like ants. We removed our bulky wetsuits and took a few deep breaths. The first rappel was about 50 feet down the face to a small outcropping and tree, then another 165 straight down to The Bird's Nest which is no more than a crack in the rock barely big enough for the four of us and our packs. Then, the final 300 feet. I can't really describe the feeling of being that high up. It was exhilirating and teriffying. Matthew went first. We tied our two 200 foot ropes together, he rapped to the end of one & then we lowered him down to the ground. Then he found the rope we'd stashes ages ago, and sent it up to us. Pulling a 300 foot rope up 300 feet is hard by the way. I went next. The rappel is entirely freehanging. I could see for miles, it was amazing to be suspended in the air like that. Touching the ground again was a very good feeling. Tourists clapped. Ross and Dad followed, and then we pulled our rope, packed up, and ran back home.

Our cameras quit on us, but here are some pictures stolen from other people:

The Bird's Nest

Taken about 1/3 of the way down:

Boy, do I wish I had a picture of me like that!

Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible. You know who you are. It was draining emotionally and physically, but so worth it. Dad and Ross, I'm so glad we got to go through this canyon together. What a great team. Matthew, I love you. You sure know how to show a girl a good time.