Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Getting out of the house...


We did manage to leave the comforts of Christopher's vacation home a few times to view the wider world.  We drove out to Zions National Park and went on a hike there.  We debated doing a slot canyon where we would have to walk in water up to our chest.  We decided against it because it was supposed to be a little warmer later in the weekend.

We saw plenty of beautiful things and had a lot of laughs together.






Camie and Travis found some weird dead bugs (a Jerusalem Cricket and a Tarantula) no one died so we thought we'd try another hike later in the weekend.

Our second outing was to the Kanaraville Falls.  We've hiked this trail once before in the beautiful heat of summer where walking through shin deep water feels wonderful.  This time around, it was a comfortable 70 degrees out side but the water was borderline freezing.  I am not exaggerating here.  The water was SO cold and my feet could not get used to it.  Every time I absolutely HAD to make a water crossing, I tried to run and keep my feet out of the water as much as possible.




It was beautiful and cool...but not worth the cold temperatures on my feet!  The last part of the hike (for me) was climbing up and then down this "ladder".  Really, the "ladder" is a big, smooth log with a bunch of staples stuck into it.  The log is propped up between the falls and the canyon wall with a rope along the canyon wall.  Going up feels unsafe but doable.  Going down is basically psychological torture.  You have to rely on the rope more than the log.  You kind of have to lean back and trust your feet to not slip on the wet staples.  Oh, and you cannot see where you're going. 

It sucks.

I hated it when I did the hike a few summers ago.  The freezing water did not help me out this time.  I started hyperventilating because I was scared.  So I couldn't breathe...then I started crying because I couldn't breathe...then I started crying harder because I couldn't see through my tears. 

I was a mess. 

Moral of the story, stay in the house.


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