This past Memorial Day weekend, I was invited to come along on a canyoneering trip. I'm so glad I accepted and so grateful towards the fella who did invite me. I've never done anything this extreme before. The canyon was amazing, beautiful and huge. We drove up on Sunday and camped and some of the people in my group actually brought tarps to sleep on! I was happy to hear that people like myself and my brothers do exist (best investment ever, right Andy-drew?!). The stars were amazing and the moon, when it decided to come out, even more so. I woke up fairly early (even though I barely slept the whole night thanks to some rocks jabbing into my side), and laid there watching the sun slowly peak up over the mountains and spill some light into the valley. Incredible. Everything and everyone was so quiet, so peaceful. So untouched and undisturbed. Absolutely incredible.
I swam in dank water in dark places, hiked in awe and crawled through some tight spots. I jumped off a ledge, though it looked scarier than it actually was, and scraped both of my knees scrambling up some rocks. I learned what it means to "stem" and was given a compliment by one of the fellas for my "stemming technique" as I shimmied my way down a crevice into the BLACK HOLE. While trying to lower myself down a hole using my upper body strength and a rope tied to a log, I slipped and fell, completely immersing myself in that "delicious" water. A friend who watched from above, commented on how close I came to hitting my head on the side of a rock and how clean my fall was. Whew. No worries, right?
What an experience.
Even though I just got home a few days ago, I'm very eager to return to the great outdoors.
I'm so glad I was with people who knew what they were doing and where they were going and I'm very grateful for all of the gentlemen on the trip who helped me and all of the other ladies down and up some of the more tricky areas in the canyon. I'm grateful for being able to push the limits of my comfort zone (though it's already huge, seeing as I'm just a comfy person in most situations). I said a prayer of thanks to my Father in Heaven as I traversed this wild journey through White Canyon for creating such a beautiful earth to live on.
All in all, you know it's a worthwhile trip when at the very end, someone with a surprised tone says, "wow. . . nobody got hurt."
True that.
(Note, I didn't take most of these photos due to not owning a waterproof camera--so despite the first photo, these are all accredited to Mackinsie and Staci. Black Hole. White Canyon. 2013.)
Sunrise
Wet Suits!
Area in which we camped for the night:
Climbing up out of the Canyon, letting all the Karens be our guide.
Lowering down into the BLACK HOLE
Yah, I was there. :)
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