Clips from the Narrows

Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon

22 Miles in 26 Hours

Everything is symbolic of Jon and I moving to Ohio now.

In a new and unfamiliar place, one thing will always feel familiar. 

And when we have so many miles ahead of us, there is only one way to go. Forward. Ignore the fatigue; face the unknown, and keep moving.

That's how we feel about grad school in Ohio. We are enthusiastic about our upcoming adventure, but there is no doubt that it hurts to leave behind all that we love so much.

Anyways, time to document our backpacking adventure. We had a blast with David and Allison, who trekked the first 15 miles with us through Buckskin Gulch. What amazing slot canyons! I love being in parts of the world where few people have gone. And it is so empowering to immerse myself in God's creations. 

 At the beginning

 Excellent company.

 Just needed a little push...

 Hint: Avoid this hike if flash flood warnings are high. ;-)

 Hawaii boy in Heaven.

 Addicted to adventures.

 They are so cute together. 

 This was a baby rattler, more dangerous than adults because they don't monitor the amount of poison given when they bite. Good thing it was dead! Yep, it died with it's mouth open. The heat maybe?

 One of the first major rock jams. Good thing Dave brought that rope!

 Only one guess as to how on earth that got there: flash flooding?

 This last rock jam means we are 3 miles away from our camp site!

 Feeling majorly buff. 

 Our favorite part of the hike was crawling through this rock jam behind us.

 But the other favorite part was finding these familiar faces the night before this picture was taken. It was after nightfall, we had hiked 14 + miles for 8 straight hours, and  passed a total of six other people in one day. After calling "Rex and Emily!" for ten minutes in the mud and in the dark, still trekking through the canyon, and bats and strange animal noises everywhere, can you imagine our relief when we finally heard a return call echoing somewhere in the distance? Again, symbolism of the gospel. Listen to one familiar voice amidst all the noise and through the darkness. Dad and Emily backpacked a different trail to Confluence so we could camp out together. David was nervous about Dad making it okay, so we were all pretty relieved to finally hear that return call through the dark walls of the canyon, "David?" We found each other! Then we camped out with strange noises surrounding us that night. My favorite part was seeing the stars through my tent. I didn't sleep well but was quite content. Oh how I love adventures, especially with that man of mine. 

 Dad and Emily did a great job picking a place to camp for the night. Here we are the next morning.

 These feet have so many more miles to go. Bring it on.

 My other best friend.

 So happy to be together in the middle of nowhere! Yep, Allison is spraying us.

 You got it. We filtered that and drank it! To be honest we might have died without it.

 Prepping breakfast. 

 My daddy's feet got worked. But he was such a good sport. He planned for weeks to come on this adventure with us. When Jon asked him to rate his first backpacking trip, Dad gave it a ten out of ten. :-)

 However, he promised us that if we got him out of there that day rather than Sunday like we planned, he'd buy us all a hotel room. 

 It didn't take too much convincing. So we began the last 7 miles.

 The Mecham gals.

 The guys. 

 A little wilderness romance.

 Love that rock.

 Phew good thing those strong people are there to hold up that massive boulder.

So we really had to take it slow for that last part of the trek, especially once we got out of the canyon and into the heat. That was the hardest part. The trail was not super beautiful like it is inside, the sun was beating on our backs, and all I could see was the river wash (our trail) for miles and miles. The final turnoff to the right came up rather suddenly, and made us all very happy indeed. 

 Replenishing ourselves with calories. We burned a ton out there.

 All I really wanted was a shower.

 Sooooo dehydrated after walking in 104 degrees for so long. See how we might have died without our filtered water? We were all completely out by the end of the hike, and we finished all of these!

Meet Jon's metabolism. 

What a man.

And saying goodbye. Thanks for the Transformers shirt Em! I want one now.

The moral of the story is. I am in love with the mountains. And my family. The end. :-) Thanks for reading!