I was scheduled for one of Zion's most popular canyons, strangely called Mystery Canyon. I got to go through it with Craig and Kaitlyn. We were lucky enough to get a ride up to the East Mesa Trailhead. I was very happy to not hav
e to do the brutal hike from Weeping Rock. We got to the drop-in point and started the slide on down. Mystery has a very eroded slope. Craig and I were moving, but Kaitlyn was not a big fan. It is a big pain in the butt, so I didn't blame her. Finally we got down to where we started rappelling and it was just one after another for quite some time until we made it around the corner. This is where Mystery turns from an North-South canyon to an East-West Canyon. There were a lot more rappels than I remember. Excellent narrows, but totally dry.
We arrived quickly to the big drop. Craig went first and I was happy to let him put on the prusik. I took all the glory shots from the top and went last. This one felt shorter than the first time that I did it. I also felt much more comfortable on the top walking around. We did one more rappel after that which was awkward and I banged my knee on the rock as both Craig and I went nearly upside down. Kaitlyn did an excellent job with it though and I want to believe it is because of my exce
llent tutelage the day before in Keyhole. (Yeah, right) Then we got to do the last one into the Narrows through the waterfall. Craig got all the cheers as he went first. I got all the blausee people who were like, seen that before by the time I got down there. We finished it off with a hike on the Riverside Walk where there just happened to be a rattlesnake with a whole crowd of naive tourists around it. I told them it could jump the length of its body, so they better back away. Honestly, sometimes, I think people believe the Riverside Walk is a petting zoo, the aggressive squirrels being an example of that. All in all, a good day in a highly used canyon in Zion. We were done when we needed to be and off work at the right time, which is rare some days.
e to do the brutal hike from Weeping Rock. We got to the drop-in point and started the slide on down. Mystery has a very eroded slope. Craig and I were moving, but Kaitlyn was not a big fan. It is a big pain in the butt, so I didn't blame her. Finally we got down to where we started rappelling and it was just one after another for quite some time until we made it around the corner. This is where Mystery turns from an North-South canyon to an East-West Canyon. There were a lot more rappels than I remember. Excellent narrows, but totally dry. 
We arrived quickly to the big drop. Craig went first and I was happy to let him put on the prusik. I took all the glory shots from the top and went last. This one felt shorter than the first time that I did it. I also felt much more comfortable on the top walking around. We did one more rappel after that which was awkward and I banged my knee on the rock as both Craig and I went nearly upside down. Kaitlyn did an excellent job with it though and I want to believe it is because of my exce
llent tutelage the day before in Keyhole. (Yeah, right) Then we got to do the last one into the Narrows through the waterfall. Craig got all the cheers as he went first. I got all the blausee people who were like, seen that before by the time I got down there. We finished it off with a hike on the Riverside Walk where there just happened to be a rattlesnake with a whole crowd of naive tourists around it. I told them it could jump the length of its body, so they better back away. Honestly, sometimes, I think people believe the Riverside Walk is a petting zoo, the aggressive squirrels being an example of that. All in all, a good day in a highly used canyon in Zion. We were done when we needed to be and off work at the right time, which is rare some days.
1 comment:
somebody's getting a dictionary for Xmas! I haven't used that word for some time probably because I'm not sure about it either. DAd
Post a Comment