I recently had a perfect trip to Hanksville, UT. (Note: PERFECT=miserable, scary and awkward.) Neil, James, and I went on a canyoneering trip to the Maidenwater Slot Canyon. You'd think by the name we'd be 100% prepared for water. Fail. There was WAY more water and WAY more repelling than we had planned for. We came prepared for an 8 hour canyoneering experience with 7 repels and 1 pothole deep enough to swim in. Sounds charming. What we got was over 9 hours of canyoneering, 14-15 repels, and countless potholes in which we were forced to swim. We had to strip our clothes off in order to stay warmer and be able to swim through the deeper-than-expected potholes. There were some times I was afraid someone might drown or freeze. I know. Call me a drama queen. But we were all pooped. Picture this: A girl, walking through a narrow slot canyon in her underwear, covered in muddy water that smells horrible, body and backpack soaked in 40 degree water, body rolled in dirt to take away moisture and cold, scrapes all over her body from repelling half naked over sandstone, food/camera/clothing/boots/backpack/repelling equipment absolutely soaked and weighing more than normal, feminine problems kicking her butt, watching her canyoneering buddies try to stay calm, her muscles burning, and shivering for about 4 and 1/2 hours straight. Can you see her? Now imagine her dirty near naked self making it back to the car. Finally. Yes folks. That is a fine, FINE feeling. FINE. Some magical stuff happened in that canyon. Yes sir. I loved it. And on to the next adventure...
We managed to save the pictures from our cameras. Here, I stand next to one of the many potholes I had to swim through. Notice the highlights of this picture which include: (1) the fact that you can't see the beginning to this watery stretch of doom. (2) The murk in the water. It smelled really bad. I'm going to throw out 3 wild guesses: bat feces, rat feces, and old berries. (3) I feel cold.
The gangs all hear.
In Other News:
Neil, you're my favorite.
