Slot Canyons... and... Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

Something like 25 miles southeast of our camp here... down what is mostly a decent dirt road... with some of it being... uh... more like a bone sifter... there's a turn off... which is like a widened two track...

You follow that back in a mile or so... and park the rig... then follow a trail across the desert, marked by rock cairns... dropping into a sandy bottomed canyon...

Up and down that canyon are lil' side canyons... though.. when something is only 'bout belly to backbone wide... Does it REALLY qualify as a... canyon?

*Utah Slot Canyon*

Here's a tip; If you're gonna go look at these things... with... uh... someone of... uh... Generous, proportions? I'd suggest you make them lead the way... That way... when they get ... uh... delayed? ... you won't get trapped!!!

Yeah... the way is Narrow...!

*Slot Canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument*

We went about a mile up the Wider of 'em... a couple hundred feet up the skinniest... and... I climbed up a few feet into the mouth of one they call "Peekaboo"... before I got hindered by a rock slab, with no handholds... no footholds... and the signs of other 'climbers' feet slippin' and scrapin'...

... and knowin' that even if I did get up there... I'd have to come back down... and I already had the "comin' back down" to do... with the part I'd already climbed up!... So I... uh ... exercised.. Discretion. I stopped where I was at... and said; "Yup... ain't that purty... BYE!"

*Harder coming down... than going up!*

*Damn! The foothold was right there! I know it was!*

*View from the top... where "Smart" guys... turn back!*

It's a piece of work goin' from slot to slot... I don't know what the gym boys figure it to be... but a 1/2 mile sloggin' through the sand... for a guy that prefers horseback or two wheeled motivation... is a genuine piece of work...

*Narrow*

*Narrower*

*Skipping that Second cookie was a good Idea!*

... and then... in the slot canyon  they said was "Wider" than the others...

*Wider than the others?*

... Look, I might be just a dumb cowboy... goofy enough to get all giggly 'bout a motorcycle... but... to paraphrase Ol' Forrest; "I'm not a smahrt man... but I know what WIDE is!!!" ... and baby? These suckers ain't!

'bout the onliest thing that rivals my dislike of heights, snakes... and authority figures... is my liver quivering difficulty with confined spaces... Hell... I get claustrophobic in a shopping mall!

... Heidi was taken a risk... coming up the canyon behind me... good way to get trampled when the damn breaks and the kid says... BYE!... I'm Out-a-here!!!!

It's a strange feeling down in those slots... Every time I'd hear a jet... 35,000 feet above us... I'd say.. SHHH!... wondering if that was something... rushin' down that narrow space... and wondering how fast I could learn to swim...

... or if my fingernails would work as good as them lizards claws...that let it climb straight up a vertical stone wall...

But... I survived... with little damage... and slogged back up the drop into the canyon... one step up... foot slides half a step back in the sand... repeat...

1/2 a mile = 2? :)

Well... hauling to Capital Reef today... IF... I quit yakkin'... and start loading!

Calming Down My Quivering Liver...
Brian

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