Canyoneering: July 16,2011

 Canyoneering is one of my favorite things to do. There's rappelling involved, some down climbing, and usually some water, but not always. It's a great alternative to just hiking. The rappelling and downclimbing make me think more and really just gets me going. It's the stratagey and technical parts of it that I like best.
I've been doing it for 3 or 4 years with a 2 year break because of my mission for the church, so more like 1 or 2 years really. for that time I had really only done 4 canyons because we would just keep going back to the same ones. Once i realized this it made me want to do more. I thought it was quite sad actually. Something had to be done about this. Of course its an ongoing process, like adding to a collection, it grows over time.

Yesterday I started to add to my list of canyons. This one was called Bolterguist. It started out pretty bad. We simply went right instead of left. The rout was a loop so the map was confusing. We walked for a good 30 to 45 min. in the wrong direction! We finally decided that we were indeed going the wrong way and we turned around and went back. We got back to the starting point and, viola there was the real start of the canyon! Despite all of this the canyon ended up being really quite fun. Lots of rappel's and lots of just climbing down. Its called Bolterguist because all of the anchors were natural, no bolts. There were a few times where we had to think about things, because there were a couple of options of get over/down the obstacle or cliff. This made it neat. I really enjoy it when I have to use both my mind and my body to accomplish something. This probably explains my liking for photography. Hike and climb using the body and using the mind and
soul to make the photograph. I didn't take my large camera with me because it was my first time going through this canyon and you never know what to expect. But I may be going back with it. Very gorgeous canyon. And, the best part was probably at the end when you come to this 150 ft. cliff. The rappel off of this thing was slightly scary at first, but once you got started it was probably the best rappel ever! You just slide down that rope forever. It's the closest I've ever got to flying. Ha! Once you get down its time to start the climb out. This is always the worst part. This however started out to be not so bad. You simply follow the creek and it just takes you up. Then came the real climb up. Finding the route was a constant struggle and the wall or hillside was quite steep. There were also some odd obstacles to get over. And again there were some different options that caused you to think. In the end we made it up the climb(I wouldn't be writing this if we didn't). Ah Bolterguist, a great canyon...if you get started going the right way, aren't afraid of heights, and don't mind the strenuous climb up!

Zion: July 15,2011

This was my first full Zion trip alone since being back from my mission, and man it was great.
I started out the day late like I usually do, and this time it didn't help me at all. I went up to Zion to get a permit for the subway which we were going to do the next day. As I said before i was running late and by the time I got to the front of the line all the permits were gone. So no Subway this time, which is unfortunate because the 4 years of living here and not doing is starting to get to me. Just the thought of being a local without having done one of the classic Zion hikes bothers me. It's like the people in NYC who have never been to the statue of liberty or the people in Arizona who havent seen the Grand Canyon. I dont want to be like them, so hopefully I can do it soon!

For the rest of the day I simply did some scouting for new places to photograph in the Zion area. See I've got this new thing I'm trying out. Rather than pack my large format camera with me everywhere, I just go do a hike with a small point and shoot camera or my phone and document the hike. This way i can know if its worth going back for a real photo or if i should keep looking. After looking through the photos I shot yesterday with my phone, I feel I found some worthwhile stuff. I'll definitely be going back, with my large format camera, waiting for the light and weather conditions to be just right. 

The strangest thing happened to me while I was hiking on the Kayenta Trail in the main part of the canyon.  Now usually I hike alone and I rarely see others do the same. But I noticed this woman ahead of me doing exactly what i was doing, hiking alone. We happened to stop at the same spot to take a quick picture. We started talking and we ended up hiking the rest of the trail together. She was a spokes model and told me how she was in a different city each weak and that hiking what basically her outlet, and you could tell. She was what you could call "power hiking". It was fun we had a great time and then parted our ways at the end.(see photo right)

Towards the end of the day I met up with an old friend in Springdale, the town right outside of Zion. We talked for some 2 or 2 1/2 hour about current photographic techniques and different things that were new. It was a good visit especially since I hadn't seen him in the 2 years I was on my mission. Overall it was a good productive day.