Day 24
States: Utah
Total Miles: Close to 7k, not keeping track so well
Time Zones: 1, 4 total
After 5 days of pestering the owner of the Moab canyoneering place, we finally got on a trip to Lomatium Canyon in Arches NP. The canyon is in the Devil's Garden part of the park which requires a permit to enter. Obtaining the permit requires watching a 5 minute moving about the area. I think were basically just 2 points made in the short: 1) don't step on the cryptobiotic soil crust and 2) keep your yap shut and enjoy the quietude of the area. I wish everyone visiting national parks would watch the movie and learn the 2nd point. Birds chirping, wind blowing through the evergreens, a cricket here, a trickling stream there, and Bobby Sue screaming at someone halfway down the trail. Lovely.
The canyoneering was fun. It's a combination of hiking, bouldering, squirming, and climbing. We got to do 2 repels, the first of which was about 100ft and the second probably 40 ft. We had to stem (one foot on one rock, the other across a gap on another rock) and chimney (feet on one rock, ass on a rock across an expanse) and used a makeshift rope latter to downclimb. My sister got her first taste of repelling and even though she didn't look down at first (which is when you really rethink things), she had a great time dropping down into empty space. It was really neat getting out into areas that the average National Park Joe will never get to. The scenery was out of this world.
Working our way through the fins:
Another arch in Arches, imagine that...
Even more arches, here looking up at Surprise Arch:
Why are there over 200 arches in Arches NP? Because of arches like Drumstick
"Cliff Wall" Arch here...
As long as there are 36 inches of uninterrupted space from point a to point b
on a single piece of rock (seen in here about 2/3rds of the way up the lower
rock):
Upclimbing through a narrow spot:
There were some pretty phat views when we got on top of the big fins:
Witch Arch:
May not look like it, but this was a semi dangerous slide across to a crack
that were had to chimney down.
The bottom of the crack, unfortunately even though it does look steep the 2
guides make it look like a resting spot while covering up the view of the
chimney'ers:
We used the makeshift rope ladder that the front guide is untying, but the
other guide had to do the downclimb with no assistance:
After lunch at the top of the first repel:
This repel was located at the base of Abby Arch, name after Ed Abby:
Which our guide (and owner of the canyoneering place) decided to chimney up
and around, until he realized that one end flared out too much on loose rock:
The repel, first down about 15 yards of rock, then free fall:
My sister on her first repel:
The 2nd repel:
Skull Arch:
Walkthrough Arch:
With Crawlthrough Arch right behind it:
Good example of the pace my sister likes. Everyone else are like static blobs
around her...
Next, our first taste of Escalante National Monument with Natural Bridges to start the day...