Oh well, guess the secret wasn’t meant to be.

Birch Hollow

Echo Canyon

On day one we hiked and rappelled down Birch Hollow Canyon, then scrambled and bushwacked up a clay drainage. Birch Hollow required nine rappels for us, almost none of them were dry. We either rappelled down directly in the waterfall or dropped off next to it; regardless of which type, we got wet! I am glad of my climbing experience because rappelling is much like lowering off of top rope, except, to my complete satisfaction, I was in complete control of the dropping rate. Going over the edge and dangling in the air 80 feet above the ground was exhilaraing, amazingly I had almost no fear! Even better was watching water dropplets soar over the edge of the cliff, sunlight reflecting off of each one. This powerful yet simplistic beauty warmed my heart. Two of the rappels had this characteristic. Another, quite different rappel, required us to lower over a few boulders that funnelled the canyon’s calm stream into a narrow break between a boulder and the canyon wall, creating a gushing waterfall of about 10 feet. When this canyon is dry, I think people just scramble down; but seeing how it was wet and slick we rappelled. Everyone got a decent shower out of the 10 feet! A second rappel that I think everyone on the trip will remember fondly was probably our longest. It was at least 100 feet long down a smooth, vertical shute. It was a heart stopper lowering off of the edge and seeing just how far below the ground was! This drop was also a waterfall however we were able to rappel beside it rather than in it. This is one of the two with the water dropplets. The view up once you began rappelling was just as much of a heart stopper as the view below; the smooth rock with water cascading over the edge…

 As I said there were nine rappels but I don’t remember every single one. In the heart of the canyon we would not even walk ten steps before we would be at the next rappel. The temperature was cool in the canyon because much of it was in shade (due to the narrow walls). The water was also pretty cold so when you were wet (which was most of the time) it was a bit chilly. Since we were not sure what to expect in terms of water, we all rented wet suits.  To my dismay, I discovered that wet suits don’t exactly work when you are not continuously in water. I actually thought they kept you dry but quite the contrary. Wet suits are supposed to get wet and stay wet. My understanding of the idea behind them is that when they get wet they will hold a “layer” of water which your body heat will warm up. When in a body of water, the suit will not constantly exchanged the heated water with the cold water you are in. Instead it acts as an insulated layer of warm water between you and the cold water. Well, we never stayed in water we just got wet here and there. So I had “clothes” on that stayed wet, perfect for cooling the body in arid conditions. The evaporative cooling effect was working great — I was cold!

I was feeling pretty energized by the time we came out of the canyon. First rappeling experience, no major mishaps, not too tired, sunlight shining in the openness of Orderville Creek. I was looking forward to a second full day of rappelling, all we had left for today was get back to the car. Well, unbeknownst to me, our little clay drainage expunged any hint of energy I had, leaving me questioning my physical state for tomorrow. The clay drainage had enough clay to supply the entire pottery industry if you ask me! Before long, not only did we have clay, but we had water mixed with clay. Seeing how this was not a class in pottery but a desparate scramble to our car, we were not all that excited about the water-clay mix. We abandonded the drainage for the lesser of two evils and scrambled/bushwacked our way up hill, after hill, after hill. No trails on this trip, just scraping bushes, unforgiving, backlashing trees and plenty of scree underfoot to keep you on your toes. (I would think that the bushes and trees would make the ground a little more stable, but what do I know…). We arrived on the road as the sun was setting below the hills of Zion. Even after all our struggles to make it to the top, I had to stop and smile at the awesome yet peaceful beauty of our world.

Okay, I know I like to write a lot, I’ll keep the description of the second day a little shorter… Day two, we changed plans. It turns out that the scramble up the clay drainage wiped out more than me, we were all a bit tired and sore. We decided to try Echo canyon. This is another narrow slot canyon but one that did not require any rappels. This canyon turned out to be more narrow that Birch Hollow with swerving, smooth walls that closed in around you, shutting out sunlight. Although there were no rappels, there was a significant amount of wading and a swim. Sounds fun right? Well, not exactly. Water was not flowing through this canyon, it was just sitting, stagnant at the bottom of the cool, dark canyon. So you look at the water and ask yourself, “there are little water bugs on top, I hear frogs croaking, it smells horrible, what else lives in that dark, cold water that I am about to swim in?” Okay so maybe the fact that we swam in it is a better indicator of our stupidity, but I call it gaining experience. Oh and did I mention that the water was cold? Our swim only consisted of about five strokes, enough to have to float your bag and get completely drenched (minus the head). The water was so cold I began hyperventilating from the extreme, rapid change in temperature. Only five strokes so it didn’t last long but time is relative. The rest of the canyon required no more than waist high wading. It was a classic slot canyon, what I had longed to see. The darkness, closeness, and quiet of the canyon gave it a mysterious, erie quality. If given the opportunity, I’d do it again. And that was it, our trip to Zion.

The Watchtower — Zion N.P.

I must thank Charles and Allison for inviting us, planning it and bringing all the gear! I simply love new experiences and this was definitely a worthwhile, enjoyable, and interesting new experience.

A little over a year ago Aaron found out about a pole vaulting club in Tucson. He was pumped — he hadn’t vaulted since high school and fantasized about soaring over a 14 foot bar again. I was excited for him but never imagined myself vaulting. Having a little fear of heights, I don’t think pole vaulting is something I would gravitate towards. After a few practices Aaron talked me into going to watch. I am not a watcher — I am a doer. I didn’t last long just watching. That first night I just got on the trampoline to “warm up” — it was a cool night for just sitting around. The next practice I went to try this pole vaulting thing.

Mental Preparation

Well learning how to pole vault has been a slow process with a couple of injuries along the way but here I am a year later competing in my first meet. It wasn’t as scary as I anticipated, in fact it was rather exciting and not scary at all. I was the only female vaulter thus, as long as I cleared something, I would “win”. Well I started at 6 ft. and cleared that with no problems. We bumped it up 6 inches and I cleared it again — no problem. Seven feet took two attempts to clear and 7’6″ proved too much for me. After every jump I was giddy with excitement. It was hard to believe that I was actually pole vaulting.

I am excited about our next meet and looking forward to practice. I have lots left to learn — in my opinion I have only learned half of the vault — I can plant and jump but I don’ t really invert or turn over the bar. It makes clearing the bar a little difficult since I go over sideways. I tend to be a slow methodical learner, especially when it comes to sports but you know, the beauty of the whole thing is that I can learn this at a gradual pace. I am not limited to a 3 month track season or even four years of high school. I really have as long as my wonderful coaches are willing to coach.

To be quite honest, as with most new things I try the vault has really been a life lesson for me. The most important thing about the vault for me is learning how to step out of my comfort zone into an area of uncertainty in order to improve. If I never leave my comfort zone, I don’t challenge myself to become better. I put a lot of trust in my coaches and in myself that I can do what I am asked to do. With each little success, a sliver of confidence is gained. That confidence is critical for me. If I don’t believe I can do something I usually won’t. However if I believe I can, I have a much greater chance of actually doing it. So as for me in the vault, nine feet here I come!

Oh yeah, I also did long jump at the meet — it was ugly– enough said!

View the rest of the pictures from the meet (including some of Aaron) .

Sutherland Trail

So on February 27th, Lance, Erin (friends of ours), Aaron and myself set off for Cargodera Canyon in the front range of the Catalina mountains just north of Catalina State Park. We hiked up the Sutherland trail a ways and then dropped down to the creekbed of the canyon and essentially boulder-hopped our way out of the canyon. As I mentioned the water was flowing down the entire canyon. If you do enough hiking in the desert you learn that water likes to play disappearing acts . It will be trickling along then all of a sudden it is gone and you are looking at sand. Then maybe another 100 feet or even a 1/2 mile later it shows up again gurgling along. So to say there was water flowing down the entire canyon is rather profound.

looking down Cargodera Canyon

Our hike was absolutely wonderful — I was ecstatic hopping from rock to rock over the water. Smelling it, hearing it, watching it tumble, swirl, and cascade over rocks just made me smile the whole way. The day was awesome, partly cloudy with big puffy dark clouds threatening the sky, adding an element of excitement to the hike. Everything was fresh and alive with all of the recent rains. Lance and Erin as always were such a pleasure to hike with, sharing all kinds of information about the landscape and history of the area. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend the day any other way.

water cascade in Cargodera Canyon

Our most recent backpack trip epitomizes one of the key reasons that I like to backpack. It is an escape from our complex, yet somehow “easier” life in today’s society. Being removed from most of the gadgets and conveniences of life that “progress” has brought us allows me to simply enjoy being alive. I can appreciate our beautiful and amazing planet that we live on. I can actually relax, not thinking about all of the tasks that need to be done at home or work. It is a wonderful opportunity for me to reflect and spend quality time with Aaron. Sometimes the simplest things in life can be the most rewarding and most enjoyable.

Well, I’ll give a brief description of Aaron and my recent backpack trip to Cochise Stronghold. Our original plan consisted of hiking up to the stronghold on Sunday and spending the night near the stronghold. On Monday we would explore the area of boulders around the stronghold, then hike down a canyon to the parking lot, making an 6–8 mile loop. Things didn’t go as planned. For starters we didn’t get to the parking lot until 2:30pm. We shouldered our packs at about 3:30 and head up the stronghold. A mile and a half to two miles up the trail we found an interesting section of boulders. We left the trail to check it out. It turned out to be a really nice camping area as well. It was already 4:30 so we decided just to stay there for the night and then do the rest of the loop the next day. We could save exploring for another trip.

The next morning it was cold — 20’s. I found it difficult to motivate myself to get moving so we didn’t. Instead, we dragged our sleeping bags outside and read our book (we were in the middle of reading “Angles and Demons” by Dan Brown to each other) until the sunlight reached us. The silly book was rather engaging so we didn’t actually start packing up to leave until 12:30pm. Needless to say we didn’t do the whole loop, we simply hiked back the way we came. Definitely not one of those record breaking hikes for miles or altitude gain/loss!

On the other hand, the two days were absolutely gorgeous. The moon that night was bright, the sky clear and the air was crisp and clean. Spending the day lying out in the sun in our own private, outdoor “home” was simply heavenly. I couldn’t have wished for anything else.

The next time we visit though — I’ll make it to the stronghold…