Canyoneering in Zion

This past weekend I took a trip to Zion National Park in Utah with my twin Maria and friends Ben, Sam, and Neil. The trip was... in a word... AWESOME! We started off the trip with a separate boys and girls carpool and so I was able to spend some quality time with the twin. I seriously think we talked the entire 8-hour road trip! On Saturday, we woke up and prepared for Behunin Canyon. The canyon was incredible and had more than 10 repels (most between 100 and 200 feet long). The hike up was quite a challenge, especially under the mid-day Utah sun, and it was bizzare to be hiking amongst cacti and then climbing through huge snow drifts. After a quick 45 minute detour... oops... we finally arrive at the drop in point to the canyon which was a series of four back-to-back repels. Then, there's the water... You see, we were told that there was only one place in the canyon with waist deep water. So Sam decided that instead of all of us getting dry suits, he would get one and then carry us when necessary. Unfortunately, we were given bad information and there were several points in the canyon which required hiking through water... did I mention that this water was melted snow and the average temperature was around 40 degrees! There were a couple of points when the boys did there best to help keep me dry. Here is an assisted repel where I was able to avoid the water completely and repel into Sam's arms. Unfortunately, Maria's "assisted repel" didn't go as well as mine did. We were trying to move through the canyon quickly as we were trying to get out of there before it got dark (go figure). We got to the last repel which is a 160 foot repel with the last 100 ft of it being a free repel (which means you are literally hanging in the air and lowering yourself to the ground). After that repel, as dusk was falling, we were trying to hightail it out of the canyon. Unfortunately, after another wrong turn, we ended up hiking for about an hour in the dark, but at least we were on a path. 11 hours later... we had conquered Behunin canyon and were ready for some sleep. Here are some pictures from Behunin.

On Sunday, since the canyon we wanted to do had so much water that everyone who attempted it had to turn back, Ben made the executive decision to do Water Canyon which is about 1 hour South of Zion. After a quick stop at Zion Adventure Company to rent dry suits and canyoneers we headed to Water Canyon. After another semi-strenuous hike, uphill, in sand, we were able to suit up and then drop into the canyon. Water Canyon lived up to its name as there were several places that required repelling into water and swimming off the rope. We were glad to be wearing wetsuits and dry suits although it still got pretty cold. The repels were absolutely incredible and many were 150+ feet in length. By the end of the day, I had actually burned holes in my gloves from sliding the rope through them. As the sun started to set, it was getting a bit chilly and so Maria and I decided to hike around the last repel and head back to the car at a leisurely pace (sure that the boys would catch up to us quite quickly). On the hike back we discovered that it was uphill again... in the sand... again... We made it back to the car and waited for about 15 minutes for the boys to arrive. Apparently the rope had gotten stuck at the last repel. Thankfully, they were able to free it and race out of the canyon before it got too dark. At this point, Maria and I had turned into human popcicles, but it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures from Water Canyon.

In case you were wondering... this is a human anchor!