Zion Day Trios

This morning was amazing! I woke up to the delicious smell of bacon. Todd made all of us a nice breakfast of eggs, hash browns, bacon, and fruit. After stuffing ourselves silly we cleaned up and got ready to head into Zion for the morning.

Andrew resting after breakfast. It can be exhausting eating so much good food!

Andrew and I were always waiting for people. Todd was pretty fast, Dave slower, and the married couples anciently slow! We were supposed to meet them at the trail head around 11:00

but we planed for 11:30 due to previous experience of waiting.

Todd Andrew and I got into Zion around 9:45 so we took the bus up to watch the historical movie on Zion. Some how we got on the subject of muscles and working out and bla bla bla so we mostly spent the time squatting and analyzing what we saw. They kept asking me all these questions and wanted my advice, that was a weird feeling. I was really surprised that they

actually were interested in what I had to say. The entire trip they constantly built up my self esteem.

We met up with the rest of the crew at the trail head. Cool part about this hike, it only takes 10 minutes to get to the start of the canyon and then it spits ya right out at the cars.

Todd and Andrew showing off their sexy legs while we waited for everyone to get ready.

Michelle and Andrew in the beginning of the canyon.

The start of the canyon is a lot of wading through thigh high water and bolder hoping. When i get into these canyons i can't help but to beam the entire time! There is nothing quite like a slot canyon, you wonder who in their right mind would explore one for the first time.

For some reason I love this picture. there were so many twists and turns between me and the subjects of the

picture.

This one is really cool too. The water is so perfectly still that there is a great reflection of the canyon above.

It's kinda trippy at first.

The water in the canyons get pretty cold. If i remember right the water was about 42 degrees.

Andrew Todd and I once again waiting for the rest to get through the first canyon.

After the first little canyon you drop into the real thing. 3 raps, lots of wading, and a 20' + swimming at the end.

Everyone after getting our harnesses on for the first rap.

Jay(remembered his name), Kendra, Braden, Michelle, Steven, Andrew, Me, Todd

Andrew volunteered to drop in first and see what adventure was below while I stayed and helped everyone hook in properly. Andrew and I were the only real experienced ones.

I was actually really grateful for the opportunity I had to kinda lead the group and help them with the rappels and swims. It reinforced the new desire I have to start and adventure company. I've definitely learned that I like to be a leader, I like to help people, and I LOVE to see the smiles on their faces when experiencing something new.

Todd was second down

Then Michelle

One of the best pictures taken on the trip, she was being sassy about something and I caught it perfectly on

camera.

Jay, great genuine guy!

Sadly I didn't get many other pictures of the rest of the canyon. Right after the first rappel is your first swim so it was time to put the camera away in the dry bag.

The canyon was amazing though!!! The entire thing was full of obstacles, swims, laughing, shivering, and ANOTHER HUGE SPIDER! I've never seen a single spider that big in Utah and on this trip I saw two.

It only took us 2 hours to hike the entire thing, it felt longer because you where sooo cold the entire time. Note for the future: smaller groups or groups with lots of experience are better for wet hikes.

Probably my favorite part of this hike was the long swim at the end. It was my first time doing something like that and it was scary but amazing at the same time. I had to keep telling myself that nothing was going to grab me and pull me under since the water was most definitely not clear.

Andrew changing in the middle of the road after the hike.

This is one of those trips where you don't want it to ever end. Occasionally after a trip i'm ready to go home and take a vacation from my vacation but this was definitely not the case. We gathered our stuff from the RV, said our goodbyes to grandpa and headed back to SLC.

On our way home we talked a lot about color personalities and the 5 love languages so to keep ourselves busy we took an online love language test.

To assist was while making our choices on the test we would occasionally give examples of what the questions might be stating. Andrew is helping Todd choose between physical touch or a gift.

If i remember correctly all of our top love languages were Spending Time. Then it varied between physical touch and words of affirmation. None of us had Gifts or Acts of service very high on the list.

Somewhere after beaver there is what my family calls Mystical Kanosh (konosh? neither?). It's a hot springs that is perfect for the drive home.

Over all, obviously, I thought this trip was a success. We had quite a few set backs and changes from our original plan but it really didn't matter to any of us. We all just loved being in Zion, away from school and work. It's really great to meet people who share the same love I have for the outdoors and doing crazy stuff.

End of Day 3

The End