One weekend at the end of November, Keaton was off the grid ... my Life360 had a "last location" but no contact. Cal confirmed that Keaton had indeed had a plan to head out with some buddies, so I didn't worry (too much). Upon his return, I got some photos, video and even a write up!
My buddy Cameron is super into canyoneering. He’s explored a ton of canyons. He asked me, James, and Spencer if we wanted to do a couple canyons with him and we all said yes. The plan was a short trip over the weekend, staying one night. The place we were going to was about four hours out. It was in Moab / Lake Powell / Hanksville area. I actually don’t know the name of the place, but it was in the middle of nowhere and we didn’t have service.
We rode up on Saturday morning with a very loaded truck. There wasn’t much room to spare. The tonneau cover was bulging. When we got there, we hit a canyon first thing. We got our gear and started hiking. It was about 30-45 minutes of hiking until the first rappel. Cameron was really good at informing us what to do and what to expect. We made the first rappel super slow and super careful and knew immediately that this was going to be a ton of fun. There were a few more trips down this canyon, but nothing too crazy. We didn’t have to do any wild techniques or get wet. It was a fairly beginner canyon, perfect for us. There was one rappel that was 90’ and for a bit of it, there was nothing to hold onto, so we were free hanging for a few seconds. That was my favorite part.
That night we made a fire, cooked brats, and ate a bunch of snacks. Cameron brought a laser that lit up these huge red rocks beside us. I brought my telescope and it was a perfect night to look at the stars. It was a ton of fun.
The next morning, we packed up and headed out for the next canyon. This one was quite a bit different than the last one. We hiked to the first rappel, but this time it lead us down into a narrow passageway that went on for a mile or two. The rappels were a bit trickier but not as high. We had to do a lot more stemming here. That’s where you wedge your body between two walls and shimmy forward.
After we made it out, we were headed home. There was a local burger joint in Hanksville that we stopped at before the long journey back. When we got back home, it was simply unpack, go to sleep, and go to work the next day. 10 out of 10 would do it again.
Uploaded the bit of video to YouTube for easier sharing/storage ...
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