Brian Hays and I were off to our first slot canyon adventure in Zion National Park. We were going to descend Fat Man's Misery starting from Checkerboard Mesa. There is a canyon that goes right between Checkerboard and Crazy Quilt, so that was the route we would take. We got a good start around eight in the morning. I was a little tired from being up a little late. A girl I was very interested in, Jacqueline Winter, let me come over after she was done with her evening program and hang out. I just sat on her couch talking to her for over an hour. Brian and I had to debate my possibilities of dating her. A good sign was that when I was going over to her house, her ex-boyfriend was leaving because I was coming over. We had great conversation and I looked forward to seeing her again at the Cinco de Mayo party tonight. Enough of tha
t, though as we were hacking our way through brush and up a narrow slot in the walls of Zion. Eventually it deposited us on the east side of the park. We followe
d the cairns until we got to a place that looked like we moved east from there. We knew that Misery Canyon was the fourth drainage over, so once we made it over to the fourth drainage we started to descend. The canyon immediately started to get narrow, but was not technical. We wanted to make sure to get through narrow sections as quickly as possible because the weather looked unstable. It was cloudy and in the mid sixties. There was no water in this first section of the canyon and no rappels either. I was nervous about the rappelling, but supposedly this canyon did not have very long rappels. After the canyon opened up for a while, we finally got to some rappels. One was off a tree that may have been unneccessary. We were excited to start rappelling though, so we did it anyway. It w
as so easy. The next one was off a log jam into the canyon. This one was a little more awkward, but we made it okay. After this, the canyon got super narrow and wet. We did a few more rappels, but the hard part was the swimming. We neglected to bring wetsuits because of all the hiking. This was a good idea until we were shivering looking at a downclimb into a bluish pool that looked very cold. When Brian stepped his feet in, though, he was shocked to find out the water was warm. That was when the smell of sulfur hit our noses and we realized we had hit a warm spring. This war
m spring lead us to the exit of Misery Canyon. Technically it was not too difficult and the narrows were not too long, but it was still worth the trip. The exit of Misery was fantasti
c, though, because it dropped us into the Barracks. It looked so much like the Narrows, it was hard to believe. Parunaweap Canyon offered an amazing experience without one soul to share it with. Brian and I waded down canyon 
until we came to a waterfall. We assumed this must be Labyrinth Falls and the end of our trip. We ate our lunch there and then began the long hike out. Before we left the canyon, we looked hard for the John Wesley Powell plaque, but never found it. On this day, the hike out was not even that bad. I heard horror stories about it, but in sixty degree temperatures, it is just perfect. We were back to our car by 4:30pm with plenty of the night still left to enjoy. The Cinco de Mayo party turned out to be really fun with pinatas and even a beautiful lady to walk home. Jacqueline and I ended up hanging out pretty late, thus ruining Brian and my plans for a Spry Canyon trip the next day. But it was a start of what I hoped to be an incredible relationship.
t, though as we were hacking our way through brush and up a narrow slot in the walls of Zion. Eventually it deposited us on the east side of the park. We followe
d the cairns until we got to a place that looked like we moved east from there. We knew that Misery Canyon was the fourth drainage over, so once we made it over to the fourth drainage we started to descend. The canyon immediately started to get narrow, but was not technical. We wanted to make sure to get through narrow sections as quickly as possible because the weather looked unstable. It was cloudy and in the mid sixties. There was no water in this first section of the canyon and no rappels either. I was nervous about the rappelling, but supposedly this canyon did not have very long rappels. After the canyon opened up for a while, we finally got to some rappels. One was off a tree that may have been unneccessary. We were excited to start rappelling though, so we did it anyway. It w
as so easy. The next one was off a log jam into the canyon. This one was a little more awkward, but we made it okay. After this, the canyon got super narrow and wet. We did a few more rappels, but the hard part was the swimming. We neglected to bring wetsuits because of all the hiking. This was a good idea until we were shivering looking at a downclimb into a bluish pool that looked very cold. When Brian stepped his feet in, though, he was shocked to find out the water was warm. That was when the smell of sulfur hit our noses and we realized we had hit a warm spring. This war
m spring lead us to the exit of Misery Canyon. Technically it was not too difficult and the narrows were not too long, but it was still worth the trip. The exit of Misery was fantasti
c, though, because it dropped us into the Barracks. It looked so much like the Narrows, it was hard to believe. Parunaweap Canyon offered an amazing experience without one soul to share it with. Brian and I waded down canyon 
until we came to a waterfall. We assumed this must be Labyrinth Falls and the end of our trip. We ate our lunch there and then began the long hike out. Before we left the canyon, we looked hard for the John Wesley Powell plaque, but never found it. On this day, the hike out was not even that bad. I heard horror stories about it, but in sixty degree temperatures, it is just perfect. We were back to our car by 4:30pm with plenty of the night still left to enjoy. The Cinco de Mayo party turned out to be really fun with pinatas and even a beautiful lady to walk home. Jacqueline and I ended up hanging out pretty late, thus ruining Brian and my plans for a Spry Canyon trip the next day. But it was a start of what I hoped to be an incredible relationship. 
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