Monday, June 18, 2007

Crack Canyon

I did the slot canyon yesterday! Left here at 7am and got home around midnight. Long hot day. I went beyond what I'm used to doing and scared the s*&t out of myself a couple of times. But I came out reltatively unscathed and glad I went.

Crack Canyon is in the San Raphael Swell. Desert canyon hiking. Non technical (says the pro), but I still had some ropes to use to decend and climb. One particular decent that was about 10 feet, was about hip width wide with one rock coming out this way and the one behind me coming out too (smooth), requiring me to prop up against one rock, start lowering my foot to a wedged rock, trust that there was another "foot spot" below that, lean back, and "just slide". Down I went slicker than snot. (After about five minutes of my friend convincing me it was doable. Looking back up at it, I could see all the foot rests and later I had to use those and hoist myself back up. I did it all by myself.

Finally one drop of about 12 feet required too much faith on my part and I weenied.
The the canyon was beautiful, some places only 5-6 feet wide. The hot was bearable. After we came back out of a canyon we drove up to a bluff, pulled out some lawn chairs and shared a bottle of wine. We could see all the way to Lake Powell, other huge rock formations, several mountain ranges and the canyons we'd been in and around. The wind up there was not hot, nor cool, perfect.

My knees and elbows are scraped - my little badges of courage. I carry the shin scrapes from Shi Shi, the right knee scar from Timpanogos, and hopefully the little guy on my left knee will leave his mark for Crack Canyon.

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