Rock Stars

Up bright and early, Steve keen to don his newly purchased, not yet worn, Kathmandu shirt that makes him resemble Bob Fossil (Mighty Boosh fans will need no explanation; others, not really necessary, but Google Images might help you out.) Our tour guide from Zion Rock and Mountain Guides was Angela - not the hunky bloke I was expecting but she was pretty outstanding, as was the day; actually more like 3 days in one. We started off in her jeep, going cross country up steep, sandy, rutted and rocky mountain tracks, and that was a 45 minute adventure in itself. She even gave us a run down on the weird community we were going to be driving through to get the canyon she had chosen for us. They’re Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints - an off-shoot of the Mormons; apparently Utah is a Mormon State - and they practise polygamy. Steve reckons it would be Hell on Earth!! 

I commented on how green everywhere is and asked if that was just part of Utah countryside, and she said that actually we had timed it pretty well with our trip because 2 weeks ago they had just finished with a 10 day spell of rain, and so now everywhere was much lusher than normal.

On arriving at Water Canyon we were surprised by all the fine sand underfoot - I don’t know why, we are in a sandstone area! - but it was really deep, not just paths covered with it. We set off on our next stage of the adventure, Angela carrying a massive rucksack filled with ropes, me with the harnesses slung casually over my shoulder and helmets swinging and clunking in my hands, and Steve with our backpack laden down with lunch and 3 bottles of water. The camera began the trip in there too, but it didn’t last long - it was mostly in my hand, or Steve’s, except for the bits where we needed to use them. The hike in was about an hour and 20, with about 800ft of ascent, but it passed in a flash, and not a little sweat. Down in the canyon it was a lovely temperature, but as we gained height and came out into the sunlight, it was hot. This particular canyon had flash flooded during the last rains, but thankfully there was no prospect of that today! In fact, most of the pools looked very brown and brackish; we did have the option to abseil into one of them, but we politely declined! Strange how some people think it’s fun to get cold and wet! 

Suddenly the exciting bit was upon us. What, you mean we’re going over that rock?! I wanted to go first - didn’t want to see what I was letting myself in for! I had every faith in Angela, but I think she was a little taken aback when I said I didn’t like heights! My mantra for the day - don’t look down! AND don’t tell me how far it is! Piece of cake, really :-) Slowly, slowly, slowly; no I’m not doing any little jumps, yes I know it would be fun, but right now I’m quite happy just sitting in my harness lowering myself gently to the ground. OH! It’s not that far down! Yay! I’m here! Then Steve’s turn, and he was down in a jiffy! 

 We had 5 abseils (rappels, as they say over here), each one a little trickier than the last, but none of them particularly high up - perhaps the highest about 150ft - and on the last one Angela made us flip upside down after an overhang gave us clear air! She was very complimentary and said she wouldn’t encourage everyone to do that, but she knew we had good core strength from all our running so we’d be able to flip ourselves back upright :-)

More photo opportunities on the hike back out, heaps of geological info about the rocks, and lots of great chatter with quite a remarkable young woman. Wicked journey back down the tracks in her jeep and nearly came to grief on a huge water rut running across it - actually I was more nervous on the jolting drive than I was on the ropes! And seven and a half hours just flew by. 

Time for a  coffee and a sticky something or other before a cool off in the pool. How can this holiday get any better?