“If you stay through the weekend, we could all go canyoneering on Saturday.” Shannon coaxed as we were planning one of my many visits to her and Aaron’s house. To many outdoor enthusiasts this would be all the coaxing you would need. For me, it had me second guessing my trip.
For those of you not familiar with the term, canyoneering is when you follow a canyon (in this case, along a water source) and do a series of rapels, jumps, and slides to make your way through the canyon until you come to an exit where you hike back out to your car. I have only done one canyon in my life and I decided it would be my last. I remember being cold, not too impressed, and a little nervous. This might sound crazy but I am afraid of heights, not while climbing but when I need to jump off something that is higher than two feet, I tend to freak out. Also, canyoneering is full of all sorts of scary sounding terms, for example, the “dead man” is the name of an anchor (which could possibly be a pile of rocks) you are supposed to trust while rapelling through the canyon.
In any case, Shannon and Aaron are, in my opinion, pretty much professional canyoneers (they had just come back from a one month trip exploring canyons in the Grand Canyon) so to say no to such a trip would just be plain crazy. I packed my thick wet suit, my booties, and as much bravery as I could muster and said yes to the trip.
We went to a “beginners canyon” called Parker Canyon and besides a few killer frogs I had a total blast.
There were crazy slides,
amazing views,
and waterfall rapels that were so fun I could see how easily it would be to fall in love with canyoneering.
Thanks for talking me into trying it again you two, I really had a great time!
