The Slow Beat

Yea... I've been ridiculously lazy about this. But haven't forgotten it! I just ran Classic and Baldy, which I will hopefully post after I finish this final Zion piece I should have made weeks ago.

Tuesday
So! Now we're at Tuesday of the time I spent in Zion. Woke up at motel, realizing that was my first time ever sleeping in the same bed as another guy because we only had 2 beds. Thank god Zack & I are real chill and both straight, whew. He decided to sleep in for like 2 hours, Josh stayed in for like an hour or so. I went downstairs and swam in the pool and hot tub for a while, was great :)

So then we start heading back to Zion, get there, and figure out what we're doing. Josh unfortunately and for whatever reason decided plain old hiking was incredibly more thrilling than canyoneering, and said he was going to do one of the trails, when Zack and I wanted to do some canyons. To add to the lameness... I couldn't find my 240' rope and realized I lost it and left it in the parking lot of the visitor center about 11pm the previous night. Yea I was kinda bummed and pissed. And as if it couldn't get any worse, Josh was there to save the day and NOT let me borrow his 200' rope for the day, even though he wasn't going to use it at all that day. So. No canyons for Zack and I, even though we were invited for a "canyoneering trip in Zion." Pretty sure I was annoyed about everything in this paragraph for a good week. Oh yea and the fact we left earlier than planned too but that's not as huge. So we go our separate ways this day, me thinkin "okay whatever, we'll do a canyon tomorrow then."

On Zack and I's way to Angel's Landing... I have the most ridiculous stroke of good luck and karma ever. At one of the shuttle stops... a man and his girlfriend get on with their large packs. And what do I see on the back of the man's camo pack... a pretty large coiled piece of tan rope with green and black tracers. So without hesitation walk up to him and ask him about it. He knew it was "rappelling rope," didn't know how long it was, so I knew it wasn't his. I explain what happened to mine, its length, and where I lost it, and surely enough he says "yea that's where we found it." So we hop off the shuttle and as such the great guy he is gives it back to me not askin for anything in return. And to make this story even more incredible... they had gotten on the wrong shuttle! They wanted to head OUT when Zack and I were heading IN. All the rest of that day I kept thinking "man I must have been really good to someone lately." That truly saved what was left of the Zion trip for the two of us.

Zack had been there once or twice before, when he was younger. I gotta say... that is a hard hike, a very quick gain of like 3000 feet I think. Zack wasn't feeling up for venturing out to the landing that day though and just stayed at Scout's Lookout. Hey, I got him over his fear of heights when in a harness... not when there's a 10-foot-wide slab of rock to climb with a 3000 foot drop on either side :P

So I ventured up there my lonely self. It took longer than expected, about an hour round trip from the lookout to the landing. 40 minutes there, 20 minutes back, and about 10 minutes spent sitting there also. Somethin like that. Anyway... I was goin crazy over how awesome that was. To me it was one of those views where like... I could have sat there for hours and upon leaving I still wouldn't have felt like I was able to "take it all in"... it was spectacular.

I got back to Zack, and we had something to eat and started heading back down. Oh yea... the porta-johns up there. Wow. Talk about cooking and stinking. I didn't go in but I didn't have to. The englishman who came out yelling "Bloody hell! That's the most foul thing I've ever smelled!" was quite enough.

So Zack and I started heading back down, and we still had a few hours in the day to burn, and didn't feel like sitting bored at the campsite just yet. So on the way back we got off the bus and went out to do the Emerald Pools trail. And boy oh boy did Zack and I want to rappel off the trickling falls that lead to and filled the first pool. That would have been amazing. Probably illegal as well, but amazing. The third pool (the highest) however... I'm going to use the word "spectacular" again. A very large "mystical-green colored" pool, bare rock walls shooting a thousand feet up on 3 sides of it. It was somethin, was very glad we decided to take that hike also, even though Angel's Landing had killed my quads. So that night we got back, and Josh was nice enough to let Zack and I use his heater to cook some ravioli! Mmmm. Sleepytime for us.

Wednesday
Now we arrive at the yet-unknown-to-me last day of trip. Even though I was by this time indifferent about it, it was unfortunate that this morning turned out the same as the last. What was to be a canyoneering trip was torn into a trip where one of our group decides normal hiking will result in more to see. "More to see" haha... I just think "are you kidding me?" I think what really got me today was that Josh didn't even bother or want to hike part of the day with us, since we would be spending at least 2 or 3 hours on the same trail. Zack and I were going to get breakfast before going, and offered Josh to hike with us until we split, but I guess he had "already ate" and was in a rush. That was just like a big "screw you guys" to us. But I'm not one for arguing, so, Zack and I went our separate way again and hit up what would become my favorite Zion canyon and one of my favorites by far - Behunin.

To try and add emphasis without cursing... this was one KILLER hike. I honestly don't remember but I might guess it took Zack and I 5 hours of hiking to get to the first rappel. It started off with the huge gain in elevation of the hike up to Scout's Lookout, and then continued along the West Rim Trail before veering off towards Behunin. It was VERY strenuous with all that gear on us, and for a while there really wasn't much water to be had. I remember Zack and I took a short break and lied down under some trees. Shortly after, a group of 4 or 5 girls, must've been in their early 20s, start coming towards us, not seeing us. All we hear is someone say something about "hair on boobs" and we try to pretend like we didn't as they passed. I don't think we could hold it in any longer though... they passed us, saw us, knew we heard them and we all just start bursting in laughter. Oh man that was great. A big "whoops" for them haha.

A few minutes later we stand back up and start going. Here we are dying tired of going uphill, see the final saddle to reach and get to it. All downhill from here. We thought we were already at it, looking for the first rap, but we still had like an hour to go. Luckily... once we reached the saddle it started sprinkling lightly, so that cooled us down. It was beautiful from here on out. I'd never seen such green forest-like areas in Zion before this. It was really awesome. Eventually, while we're still hiking, it starts pouring all-out on us, just straight up relentless rain. We hustle over to a large tree to get some cover from it. We wanted to have some dry clothes for when we got out of the canyon, so we stripped out of hiking clothes, put our splash layers on, and put our normal clothes in my drybag. We spent the rest of the day in the splash layers.

Eventually we arrive at the first rappel and caught up to a group of 3 spelunkers who we spent about 30 min hiking with, before they overtook us haha. We let them go first and once again they were progressing quicker. After the first rappel or two of Behunin, we came to I think my largest yet series of large successive rappels. We lost hundreds of feet in elevation. There was a lengthy rappel to a tree at the edge which was a few hundred feet up from the floor below, and from that tree it was another 2 or 3 rappels to the bottom. It was amazing.

I'd been teaching Zack all this stuff about canyoneering, had taken him out to some fun canyons, and I was pretty confident in his skills. However I think he was still doubting himself with some things. Anyway, if there was any self-doubt, he definitely proved to himself he knows what he's doing... because if he didn't I may not be here typing this up. On the first very lengthy rappel to said tree... I wanted to go down first for a few reasons. First, I had to make sure the rope reached all the way to it. Second... Zack, though not afraid of heights as he used to be, had told me straight out that once he got to that tree I shouldn't expect much from him, since it was at such a precarious edge. Obviously I wanted him at full function as long as possible, so I kept him up top and I did the "more scary" work. I rappelled down towards the tree, but the rope was about 15 feet short. I needed more, because I wasn't walking 15 feet on the sloped rock path to the tree when I was already on the point of no return should I slip.

I found a good, safe, flat section I was near to stand/kneel on a while as I called up to Zack to untie the rope and feed me some more. As I said, he wasn't sure about himself, but I was very confident. Honestly not 100% at the time, but after these rappels I knew I could trust him with things related to anchors and the clove hitch. Eventually he calls back down saying it's locked again. I pull down the slack he's given me, choke it up, and test it with my hand of course by pulling it just to make sure he hadn't switched the pull side of course. So I put my weight on it, stay alive, and continue down to the tree, to which the end just barely reaches like 1 foot short, which was good enough for me, didn't want to spend any more time on this rappel. I tie a long runner around it to clip into after I take the two careful steps towards it. Next Zack comes down behind me, I clip our harnesses together while he gets off the rope and comes to the tree, then let him hook onto it. Then he just takes a seat above it, away from the edge I'm so comfortably standing against.

I give him a break on this one since I know and he was telling me he was a little freaked by where we were sitting. So I pull down the rope, coil it up, tie the anchor, and let him go down first. Once his weight was on the rope he was totally comfortable again and was having a blast, saying how awesome this drop was. A few rappels later... we reach the bottom and break out our MREs for lunch. Man did we dine. Some of those things can be goooooooooood when you're hungry.

By this time, we'd spent half an hour eating and enjoying our first real break since we started the hike probably 6 or 7 hours ago (I think).

We continued down the canyon, rappel after rappel, just simply adoring all the features and little intimate places you only get to see as a canyoneer. Hiking, sure, you get to see a lot, big open vistas. But canyoneering... you get that, plus all these beautiful little nooks and crannies that are so much more untouched.

We arrive at a rappel off a log down what sometimes would be a waterfall... but when we were there was a dry chute into a large toxic-green puddle. We had absolutely no intention of going into that and started hiking up to find a way around it, which we did. Sooner or later the sun sets, we get our headlamps on, and still have 3 or 4 rappels to go, but at least they were very near to each other. The first included a very deep hole that you had to work around. I'm not sure how deep, but it made a good echo, and I couldn't see the bottom. Obviously I was trying to stay dry by this time, however I definitely slip on a log and splash in up to my chest near the bottom of the rappel.

Next we continue on to the last 2 rappels, which I offer to pioneer the first one since we couldn't see how far down it went or what we even landed on. I work my way around this large boulder to where a mighty contraption of 5 slings of webbing existed all equalized together. I help Zack climb down to where I am and tie into the webbing before setting up and rappelling down. Soon we arrive at the bottom of this one, which includes a 10-foot vertical shimney or so down, then about 15 feet walking to the next and final rappel, the bolts out off the edge. Again I tie this one, and ask Zack to go first so that he can tell me how much rope to pull up once he's down, as I just give him all the rope for his rappel just in case, since again we couldn't see the bottom. The time now as about 10:30pm, and we saw the headlamps of the three cave-divers far out on the ground between us and the shuttle stop, they saw us as well. It was comforting, since we hadn't seen them in a while.

So Zack eventually gets all the way down, and we start yelling so that both ends of the rope reach. I go off the edge, rappel off some large boulders sticking out of the massive rock wall, and soon enter what seemed like the largest free-hanging rappel I'd ever undertaken. I don't know how long it was, it may have just been the light situation. All I know, is that for a long time I could not see the bottom, only Zack's headlamp looking up. I was just falling through blackness.

Finally I meet up with Zack at the bottom, and he begins to tell me how he teared up slightly because at one point, he thought the rope was coming to an end and he still couldn't see the floor bottom. Of course it reached all the way, may have just been how his headlamp lit the rope or something. However, as usual, once at the bottom he was nothing but in love with the rappel, as was I. We coil up the rope but leave all our stuff on, just in case, and start heading out. We honestly didn't even know which way we were going. We were, however, very good at spotting footprints, and I knew where the river was and the direction of the shuttle stop, so we were set. So for another good while we spend time stream-hopping and finding our way through the forest, until we finally arrive at a point where a small sign and pole fence almost "materialize" in front of us. I walk up to it, look behind us, and realize we're at the second emerald pool from yesterday! I must have missed somewhere that the trail exits there, but at least we knew exactly where we were at now. This time we debated rappelling off into the first pool as we so wanted to yesterday, but decided not to, partly because we didn't want to be wet anymore and also because it isn't the same if you can't see what you're doing.

15 minutes later we arrive at the restaurant/shuttle stop, quite tired. It's like past midnight now, everything is closed obviously, we knew we weren't going to make the last shuttle into the park. So we just sat on a bench and relaxed for a while. Funny as it is... we take off our splash layers to get back into our dry clothes... and the time between, while we're changing... yup, the sprinklers came on. Luckily, the bench right next to us was free from its wrath so we moved there haha. So there we are, sitting, relaxing, finally dry, chowing down on some more food we had packed, letting our feet have a breather from the past 13 hours spent hiking and canyoneering before embarking on the long walk back to the campsite. It probably shouldn't have taken so long, but we enjoyed ourselves and took some good scenic breaks, plus we also had to progress slowly and be careful for a while since it was raining pretty hard. Next time it won't take so long, knowing where to go.

Finally we start on the last trek of the day, even though now it's Thursday morning. It's just after 12:30am and we start walking back down the road. No cars. No people. No anything. Just a double yellow line and and an amount of stars that makes me wish I didn't have to leave. On the walk back we took like three 5-minute breaks where we just lied down on the road, looked up at the stars, listened to the river... and most importantly let our feet stop bleeding (not really that last part). Yea... we also had to make sure we kept each other awake haha.

It was one of the best times I'd ever had. As tired as I was, I wouldn't have traded this experience that was coming to an end for anything. Behunin was such a beautiful canyon, we met and talked to some really awesome cavers, Zack really got "tested" and pulled through, and we were just having a kick-ass time overall. Haha... there was one point where Zack saw 2 big white eyes off the road on the right side and started getting a little scared, we passed it and kept watching us for another hundred feet or so, whatever it was. We kept an eye out for car headlights, hoping to get a ride. Eventually the whole side of the canyon to the west got lit up by headlights somewhere in the distance, but never came to our direction. It was disappointing.

We reached the first shuttle stop away from the campsite, a museum of sorts, and were only about another 1.3 miles from the campgrounds I think it was. Then, when we're finally in the home stretch... a car pulls up behind us and we get off the road to the side and hope they pull over. They did, and once the lights passed us we discovered it was a patrol, which we were more comfortable with of course.

The lady officer gets out and starts talking to us, and I guess she knew who we were because Josh had apparently reported us as missing. She willingly offered to give us a ride to our campsite, and first asked if we had any weapons. I had my knife, of course, but was tucked away in my pack now with the rest of my gear, so she just had us set our packs in the trunk. That was my first time in the back of a police car haha... never realized how cramped they are! Zack and I had to sit sideways just to accomodate our legs. So we start driving away and she calls in to dispatch, reporting that she found us.

"411 copy, missing party of 2 out of Behunin canyon, 20 year old and 16 year old. I've got them."

We get back to our campsite, Josh is up reading something, asked what happened, we explained it was just a long canyon but that we had a ridiculously awesome time. It's too bad he didn't tag along, his luck wasn't so great that day and was stuck in a flash flood for 3 hours I think he said. Regardless, whatever the reason, Zack and I were seriously thinking "wtf mate?" when he asked if we'd be ready to leave in the morning. He had already said we'd be leaving Friday morning or Thursday night now instead of Saturday... but now Thursday morning? Was pretty pissed since I managed to get a permit for Mystery on Thursday.

Anyway, we slept, we woke, we drove out to St. George to meet Zack's grandpa so he could get some of his stuff. The last bit of annoyance for the trip: Josh asked us about getting breakfast. Zack's grandpa offered to cook us breakfast. Full homemade breakfast! For free! Josh says "no" and that he wants to get going, as if the world will end. Yet we still manage to stop at a McDonald's and spend more money on something we could have gotten for free, and of course wasn't as good or filling. Ugh... it was a long ride home. Josh spoke, but only the few times in response to when I spoke to him.

This is the kind of trip that can really change your perspective on someone. And I'm probably a dick for including it all in this. My dad picked up Zack and I in Glendora or near there, and brought us home, so that all the grand storytelling could commence...

Behunin Canyon, I love you.
Mystery, I'll get you next time, promise!
Zack, thanks for being there and making it such a badass time.

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