In the fall, my thoughts always turn to canyoneering. Crisp desert air, golden-leafed cottonwood trees lining the washes, azure sky without a single lurking thunderstorm to trouble the would-be canyoneer...ahhh. This fall I'm particularly caught up in dreams of Utah's red-rock desert, as I gear up to start work on the third book of the Shattered Sigil series. As you might guess from my working title (
The Labyrinth of Flame), I'm planning a little canyon fun for Dev and Kiran this time around.
I've shared some canyoneering pics here before, but mostly from dry desert slots. Zion National Park features a different style of canyoneering than much of the rest of Utah. Zion's canyons feature full-flowing streams, and require a lot more swimming and wading in addition to scrambling and rappelling. Some experienced canyoneers scoff at Zion's popular routes as being "kiddie rap-n-swim canyoneering," since most of the major canyons have bolts placed in the rock at all the rappel points, and require little in the way of anchor-setting skills. (In the rest of Utah, canyoneers hold to a "no bolt" ethic, to maintain the wilderness feel of the canyons.) But Zion's canyons are so beautiful, I don't see how anyone can possibly sneer at them. To prove it, here are some pics from a trip I did through one of Zion's most popular canyoneering routes:
the Subway (a.k.a the Left Fork of North Creek).
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| Swirling slickrock on the hike to the canyon |
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| Walking down the slickrock |
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| Fall colors in the canyon |
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| Preparing to negotiate a drop. (I'm the one in front, my husband Robert behind, followed by two other friends.) |
