An Epic Weekend...

This is the story of Rob Clarke, Nathan Wright, Craig Walker, and Johnny Etchemendy on Labor Day Weekend 2009.

My last post was made from my phone, in my car, at 3:00 in the morning, while this action was happening. At the time I didn't realize just how impressive the foreshadowing really was going to be. Let me elaborate...


FRIDAY: Rob had to work on Friday so our hope was to pick him up after he got off work and leave Provo by 3:30pm. Of course this didn't really work out (as time tables for leaving on vacation rarely do.) We got Rob (and some Arby's) and left Provo around 5:00pm. The trip was mostly uneventful, but rather then heading straight for Zion National Park, we took a detour to In & Out Burger in St. George specifically because Rob requested it. (Let me put in that nobody was opposed to this decision (at least vocally))

Disclaimer: If you read my last blog post it covered most of the first night of this adventure. You can go back and read it if you really want to connect emotionally with the experience, so right here I'll just summarize that first evening.

FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY MORNING: After dinner we goofed off for a little bit in St. George and started for Zion National Park. It was getting rather dark and we knew all the campsites in the park were full. Nathan suggested we simply find a church in Hurricane or La Verkin and spend the night under the stars on the lawn. This was more than acceptable. The sky was clear, the stars were out, the temperature was nice... Why not? We located a small LDS church that was somewhat secluded so that curious passersby wouldn't notice us sprawled out all over the church grounds. We pulled out sleeping bags and sleeping pads and prepared our spots.

Lightning flashes far off in the distance.
Thunder softly rolls over our temporary lodging.
Lightning flashes not so far off in the distance.
Thunder more firmly presses against our ears.
Johnny retires to the car.
Rain lightly falls.
Lightning flashes in the very immediate vicinity.
Thunder CRASHES against the body of the car.
Rob hurriedly joins Johnny in the car.
Torrential rain-pour ensues.
Craig joins Johnny and Rob in the car.
Torrential rain-pour continues.
Torrential rain-pour continues.
Torrential rain-po......
A very drenched Nathan joins Johnny, Rob, and Craig in the car.

We spent the next couple hours huddled in my car conversing and listening to music. Eventually around 3:30 in the morning the rain died down and Craig pointed out that there was a pavilion that we could have been sleeping under. Nathan and Craig retired to the pavilion, Rob and Johnny continued talking for a little while longer, Rob joined Nathan and Craig, Johnny remained in the car, most everybody slept.

SATURDAY: Everybody weathered the storm, even if only Rob and Johnny made it out mostly dry. After a hasty breakfast we packed up the car and returned to the journey to Zion National Park. Upon arrival we entered the Visitor's Center and Nathan took charge, acquiring all permits we needed for the canyons we were planning on canyoneering this trip. Rob, Craig, and Johnny just sat on a bench and made fun of all the crazy people walking by.

Saturday was Pine Creek Canyon day. We got everything prepared down in the Visitor's Center parking lot and drove up to the entrance of the canyon. Unfortunately we were about 30 minutes too late. Ahead of us in the canyon were two groups of "newbs" that were incredibly slow because everybody was learning how to put on their harness, rappel, swim, and which feet to put their shoes on. Behind those two groups was another group of 15 people. (15 people in one group isn't technically allowed per the permits they had to have purchased to come do this canyon.) Basically what this means is that we have to wait over 45 minutes for each rappel. We decide to commit and go anyway.

The first rappel drops you in a pool of water about 8' deep. Kind of fun, right? Well... Rob, Craig, and Johnny all go down and are waiting for Nathan to rig up the ropes so he can get them down after he's finished his decent. Nathan, however, has a 40lb bag of rope he needs somebody to come take from him before he drops into the water. Craig was gracious enough to volunteer. Unfortunately, he volunteered me. I swim back out to Nathan and he drops the bag on top of my head, so down I go. I swim back up, buoying the bag on top of my shoulder and trying to swim for shallower water. I did make it without drowning, nonetheless, I did not escape unscathed. My white Smith Super Method sunglasses (that retail at $119.00) sank to the bottom of the pool and remain lost. Additionally, my left contact lens was jarred free of its position on the surface of my eye and was also lost to the murky pool.



To combat the disorienting effect of clear vision in one eye and very blurry vision in the other, I fashioned an eye patch out of one of Nathan's extra bandannas and prepared to complete the canyon. At this point the slow groups in front of us seemed a blessing because none of us wanted to spend 8 hours attempting a canyon that should take only 3 hours. Over the next hour Nathan scaled the canyon wall, tied a rope, and helped the rest of us exit the canyon through less conventional means than merely throwing our bodies off cliff faces with nothing more than a rope and a carabiner preventing a more lethal descent.



We got back to the car, drove down into town outside the park until we had cell phone coverage. After making several attempts I finally got a hold of my optometrist in Sandy only to discover that my prescription had expired and I'd need another eye exam. After explaining my situation the assistant in the office extended my prescription temporarily so that I could buy a new box of contacts while on vacation. She called the Vision Center at the Wal-mart in St. George and gave them my information. Fortunately they had the contacts I needed, so we began the 45 minute drive back to St. George to correct my vision.

I got my contacts, put them in, praised the heavens for technology and its ability to reunite me with clear perception of the world around me, and went to In & Out Burger for a celebratory Double Double. In & Out was chosen this time because Craig claimed that he could eat six cheese burgers there in one sitting. (He can not.)

It was dark by the time we got to where we planned on camping. Nathan drove around on back country ATV roads that were shrouded in scrub oak and trees (not a pleasant terrain when it's your car producing the high pitched scratching sounds of limb on paint...) and despite the adverse conditions, he found us an excellent campsite. The reminder of the evening was uneventful.

SUNDAY: Upon waking up we casually cleaned up camp, ate breakfast, and drove a half mile to the beginning of our next adventure, Englestead Canyon. We started down the mountain, following the directions Nathan had printed off the internet, until we realized the vague instructions weren't very user friendly. I'm sure they made sense to anybody that has traveled them before, but eventually we decided that down was the best way to go. (It is.)

We're walking down through the washout waiting to find our first rappel when the trees clear out and before you can register the beauty of the massive chasm you find in your path you first take an inventory of your existence and desire to remain living. Nathan explained to us that we were going to have a multi-stage rappel at the very beginning, but when you see what it means to rappel 300' into a rock bottom canyon with only three ropes barely over 100', especially having never done anything like this before, you immediately grasp the gravity of the task you have before you.



After having digested what it was we were about to do we began to assess our surroundings and realized that there were already several rappelling ropes still hanging down into the canyon. Next we notice a man walking toward us from further along the mouth of the chasm. We introduce ourselves and our plans and he introduces himself and revises our plans. His name is Tom Jones (who Nathan points out to us less experienced canyoneereers is a HUGE name in canyoneering.) Tom allows us the use of his ropes which are already set up, he teaches us a few tricks to safely reach the bottom without killing ourselves, and he even took a some pictures for us. Terribly nice fellow.

All four of us safely reach the bottom of the 300' drop and let me tell you, I've never rappelled off anything larger than 100' and this was an experience I'd share with any of you if we have the chance. At first you think, "What in the hell am I doing?!" then you realize, "I'm trusting my life to this harness, this rope, these carabiners, the structural integrity of this tree the rope is tied to... If any one of these things fail I am dead!" then you realize, "This is amazing!"

I don't want to short change the rest of the canyon. It was beautiful and the remaining rappels were super fun. There just isn't much more to add by way of words to the awe of the canyon and the excitement of the descent. I'll post pictures when I get them.

We safely finish Englestead over the next few hours and it was breathtaking (in an aesthetic sense.) The remaining leg of the trip was also breathtaking (in an athletic sense.) Rather than continue down Orderville Canyon and connect up with the Narrows, we decided to hike UP Orderville Canyon and trek back to the car. (I say 'we' decided this. In a sense we did. Nathan decided it and convinced us that it was indeed the best option. Even now he may have been right, but I'm not so sure anymore.) Orderville was a very gradual incline, but very lengthy to regain the 1000'+ elevation we just lost coming down. About an hour into the walk back up we came to a slight fork in the trail. We looked at the map and saw a much shorter route up the drainage to our right than continuing up Orderville on our left. We chose right (or as Craig I'm sure would put it, "wrong") The elevation gained per foot traveled was heightened dramatically and for Craig and I it was a very intense work out. Rob and Nate just crawled up the hill like spiders not even registering the dense bushes and scrub oak that continued to plague our ascent.

I feel like I should write for hours about this leg of the journey because it felt like the longest stretch of the entire weekend. I'll just say this, several hours, several leg wounds, several rattle snakes, and several hundred feet later, we reach the ridge line. The only visible road in sight, however, is down and across another canyon. I don't know if I speak for everyone, but my heart sank at the prospect of going all the way back down and up another canyon face. Luckily for us, we were all boy scouts, know how to read a map, and discovered that paralleling the road backwards for only a short distance would circumvent the canyon and put us on the very same flat road, but without the hardships of the untamed canyon.

With the road found, Craig felt it necessary to express his gratitude to it, but kissing it. I don't recommend that anybody kiss a dirt road.

Finding the road was great and all, but according to our leader, the car was still another 6+ miles down the road, so we began walking. I'm not positive how long we walked before a blue Durango came plugging down the road the same direction we were heading. Craig stuck his thumb out, and our journey became infinitely easier. We had met Pastor Mike.



Pastor Mike is from Denver and was down in Zion with a group of people hiking down the Narrows and enjoying a nice Labor Day weekend. He went far beyond anything we could have hoped and dropped us off right outside the ATV trail Nate had driven us down the night before, cutting nearly the entire 6 miles off of our walk. We thanked him over and over for the invaluable service he had provided us, walked the remaining half mile to the car, packed up, and drove back to Salt Lake.

EARLY MONDAY MORNING: I was in a hot bath, soaking away the stinging and tightness in my legs by 1:30 Labor Day morning...

All in all, it was a challenging, yet exciting, and ultimately amazing weekend!

Special Thanks again to Tom Jones & Pastor Mike for really making this trip enjoyable (and safe) and to Nathan Wright for helping equip and guide our group.