Day 49: Slot canyon
Friday, May 19, 2017
One of the reasons Vicki and I decided to stay in this area in Hurricane, UT was for a chance to walk the narrows in Zion. Usually, it is open early in May, but when we talked to a photography guide Seth Hamel of Enlighten Photography, he said it would be after May 15th. So, we extended out trip to the 22nd in the hopes of walking the Narrows. We arrive at Zion a week ago and they are thinking that it will not open until Memorial Day weekend. So, I decide to do one of there other excursions. I finally decide on the full day slot canyon tour. I go to the designated meeting place and get ready for the excursion. I have to get a wet suit there and special socks that dry quickly. We carry all that to the car along with camera equipment. We being myself, David (I think), and our guide Katie Hope.
Katie does not seem to be in a hurry. We stop and get breakfast for David who did a sunrise shoot with the owner Seth. It takes about an hour to get there. I am not worried about the time since you usually want to be in the slot canyon area when the sun is straight above. A we are driving there Katie says it is going to look like I am driving like a crazy person as we get closer, but I need to not let the car stop on the sand. If it does we will get stuck. As we get close, she does gun the motor.
When we arrive, we walk to the top of the slot and then put on our wet suits. Good thing we waited until we were about to go in, because it was getting hot. Once in it was pretty cool.
This tour is marked as strenuous. It is not strenuous in the fact that you have to be in aerobic condition. It is the fact you big rocks you need to get over or to lower yourself slowly. Now the two people I was with on this tour both had this experience rock climbing. So they could put there feet on one side of the canyon and rear on the other and move on down the canyon. This became very useful when there is deep water below you.
Katie was very good at getting our camera equipment over places where the water might be too high using this technique.
As most of you know, I suffer from Parkinson's disease. I suffer from what they call off times during the day. This is when my medication is wearing off but the new dose has not made it into my bloodstream. When this happens my symptoms appear. I usually slow down. It is harder for me to pick up my camera bag and get it on my back. Sometimes my left foot will curl up making it hard to walk. So being squished up in small places is hard for me to get through them.
My medication starts to wear off when we first get there. I think I took my medication as we arrived I am able to get dressed but have trouble getting into the cave gracefully. I get help from Katie and David. They are amazed that after a 1/2 an hour in the cave I am perfectly capable of doing what was needed, except when it came to the rock climbing skill, which I could never do before.
We eat lunch and during that time Katie confesses to being scared of snakes. Just as we are leaving the lunch site, I point down at a stick to mention that I originally thought it was a snake. Katie screams to high heaven. I was not even trying to scare her. I must of had some kind of look on my face that got her to think I was really pointing to the snake.
As we go down a little further, there is actually a snake in our path. Katie screams again and this time runs back toward us (She was in the lead). I am next in line. The is on a small branch above some water. It is about the width of a pencil and about 6 inches long. I tell David to go get the fake snake. He goes back and gets it and I knock the snake into the water below. I basically go over it. David has no problem getting over it. Katie decides she is not getting anywhere near the snake. She uses the rock climbing technique described above of putting her rear on one side of the wall and feet on the other side and goes way above the tree branch.
My medication is wearing off towards the end and I have trouble doing a few of the things Katie wanted me to do. She has to do some extra stuff to help me get through a couple of places.
As we leave the slot canyon we have to take all our we suit off. Katie basically undresses me. This is rather embarrassing but I survive.
As we drive away from the parking area, Katie guns the engine again to get through the sand. As she does this another car appears from nowhere. It scares us to death. Our car goes skidding and sliding. Katie basically keeps control of the car so we don't run into anything.
This slot canyon is on private property. Enlighten Photography has special permission to use this. So, to see another car here is totally unexpected. This adventure is a completely different from the Antelope Slot Canyon. Antelope Slot Canyon is commercialized and very crowded. The guides there keep things in a sort of organized chaos. The area we were in was relatively flat. This tour is not overly commercialized as there were three people here. The terrain was not level; there were rocks to get over and water to walk/swim through. The wet suit came in handy more than once.
As we head home, we have to go back through the tunnel Vicki and I did with the travel trailer on Day 44: Onward to Zion. Before we get there Katie gets a call from Seth about the road being closed because of an avalanche. We stop at the turnoff for a few reasons: to make sure that is true, for us to go potty and for me to get 'Ho' made pie. I got the Thunderbird pie, which was a mixed berry pie. Turns out it was pretty good.
As we are told, the road is closed because of the avalanche so we have to go about an hour to an 1.5 hours out of our way to get back. We had to stop a couple of places and take some pictures as the lighting got better.
We get back to the meeting place in Springdale and unload the car. About 10 minutes later Vicki shows up and I load the car. This is when I realize I have forgotten the pie. So we call Katie and she meets us at a gas station.
On the way back we have dinner at Fort Zion.
One of the things I noticed in Utah was that Bison and Elk burgers are a big thing. I have had Bison and Elk before in the Raleigh area but they are not available in as many places. Just like in the Raleigh area you pay a premium.
Places visited:
photo@kristoffs.com
PaulKristoffPhotography.com
paulkristoff.blogspot.com/
One of the reasons Vicki and I decided to stay in this area in Hurricane, UT was for a chance to walk the narrows in Zion. Usually, it is open early in May, but when we talked to a photography guide Seth Hamel of Enlighten Photography, he said it would be after May 15th. So, we extended out trip to the 22nd in the hopes of walking the Narrows. We arrive at Zion a week ago and they are thinking that it will not open until Memorial Day weekend. So, I decide to do one of there other excursions. I finally decide on the full day slot canyon tour. I go to the designated meeting place and get ready for the excursion. I have to get a wet suit there and special socks that dry quickly. We carry all that to the car along with camera equipment. We being myself, David (I think), and our guide Katie Hope.
Katie does not seem to be in a hurry. We stop and get breakfast for David who did a sunrise shoot with the owner Seth. It takes about an hour to get there. I am not worried about the time since you usually want to be in the slot canyon area when the sun is straight above. A we are driving there Katie says it is going to look like I am driving like a crazy person as we get closer, but I need to not let the car stop on the sand. If it does we will get stuck. As we get close, she does gun the motor.
When we arrive, we walk to the top of the slot and then put on our wet suits. Good thing we waited until we were about to go in, because it was getting hot. Once in it was pretty cool.
This tour is marked as strenuous. It is not strenuous in the fact that you have to be in aerobic condition. It is the fact you big rocks you need to get over or to lower yourself slowly. Now the two people I was with on this tour both had this experience rock climbing. So they could put there feet on one side of the canyon and rear on the other and move on down the canyon. This became very useful when there is deep water below you.
Katie was very good at getting our camera equipment over places where the water might be too high using this technique.
As most of you know, I suffer from Parkinson's disease. I suffer from what they call off times during the day. This is when my medication is wearing off but the new dose has not made it into my bloodstream. When this happens my symptoms appear. I usually slow down. It is harder for me to pick up my camera bag and get it on my back. Sometimes my left foot will curl up making it hard to walk. So being squished up in small places is hard for me to get through them.
My medication starts to wear off when we first get there. I think I took my medication as we arrived I am able to get dressed but have trouble getting into the cave gracefully. I get help from Katie and David. They are amazed that after a 1/2 an hour in the cave I am perfectly capable of doing what was needed, except when it came to the rock climbing skill, which I could never do before.
We eat lunch and during that time Katie confesses to being scared of snakes. Just as we are leaving the lunch site, I point down at a stick to mention that I originally thought it was a snake. Katie screams to high heaven. I was not even trying to scare her. I must of had some kind of look on my face that got her to think I was really pointing to the snake.
As we go down a little further, there is actually a snake in our path. Katie screams again and this time runs back toward us (She was in the lead). I am next in line. The is on a small branch above some water. It is about the width of a pencil and about 6 inches long. I tell David to go get the fake snake. He goes back and gets it and I knock the snake into the water below. I basically go over it. David has no problem getting over it. Katie decides she is not getting anywhere near the snake. She uses the rock climbing technique described above of putting her rear on one side of the wall and feet on the other side and goes way above the tree branch.
My medication is wearing off towards the end and I have trouble doing a few of the things Katie wanted me to do. She has to do some extra stuff to help me get through a couple of places.
As we leave the slot canyon we have to take all our we suit off. Katie basically undresses me. This is rather embarrassing but I survive.
As we drive away from the parking area, Katie guns the engine again to get through the sand. As she does this another car appears from nowhere. It scares us to death. Our car goes skidding and sliding. Katie basically keeps control of the car so we don't run into anything.
This slot canyon is on private property. Enlighten Photography has special permission to use this. So, to see another car here is totally unexpected. This adventure is a completely different from the Antelope Slot Canyon. Antelope Slot Canyon is commercialized and very crowded. The guides there keep things in a sort of organized chaos. The area we were in was relatively flat. This tour is not overly commercialized as there were three people here. The terrain was not level; there were rocks to get over and water to walk/swim through. The wet suit came in handy more than once.
As we head home, we have to go back through the tunnel Vicki and I did with the travel trailer on Day 44: Onward to Zion. Before we get there Katie gets a call from Seth about the road being closed because of an avalanche. We stop at the turnoff for a few reasons: to make sure that is true, for us to go potty and for me to get 'Ho' made pie. I got the Thunderbird pie, which was a mixed berry pie. Turns out it was pretty good.
As we are told, the road is closed because of the avalanche so we have to go about an hour to an 1.5 hours out of our way to get back. We had to stop a couple of places and take some pictures as the lighting got better.
On the way back we have dinner at Fort Zion.
One of the things I noticed in Utah was that Bison and Elk burgers are a big thing. I have had Bison and Elk before in the Raleigh area but they are not available in as many places. Just like in the Raleigh area you pay a premium.
Places visited:
- Big Bend National Park
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Upper Antelope Canyon
- Horseshoe Bend
- Arches National Park
- Canyonlands National Park
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Zion National Park
photo@kristoffs.com
PaulKristoffPhotography.com
paulkristoff.blogspot.com/
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