On April 12 we went on a really fun day-long adventure in Utah. We took a ‘Rim to River’ trip with a company called Red River Adventures that involved canyoneering on the morning and rafting in the afternoon. We had to be up really early...it was dark and cold and we ate oatmeal in the car.
We met our guides Mitch and Dan in Moab, and our driver for the day was Charlie who is also a manager. We drove to a drop-off point where Mitch and Dan led us and the four other clients (Dan and Amy from Washington, Dawnette from Louisiana, and Cory from Texas) on a hike across lots of sandstone to our first rappel. We were all very excited, particularly the girls, as it is the closest thing they’ve had to rock climbing for quite a while.
The first rappel was beautiful; we took turns dropping down into a beautiful narrow canyon. It was only 8 or so in the morning so the light was amazing. The girls did a great job leading the way, and Mitch and Dan did a great job helping everyone feel safe and confident. After the first rappel we had a short walk to the next one, which was right next to the Morning Glory Land Bridge. The difference with the second rappel was that we were in contact with the wall for about the first 1/3 of the way, then it was a free-hanging rappel to the ground below. The fact that the wall would drop away was a surprise to most of us...a good surprise though. The view of the land bridge was perfect, and the rappel was exhilarating!
After the two rappers, we hiked 2-3 miles to the car through a beautiful canyon. Both Mitch and Dan were friendly and talkative, and taught us lots about the flora, fauna, and geology of the area. At the parking lot we parted ways with Mitch and our new friends from Washington who would not be joining us for the rafting part of the day. We drove a while along the Colorado river to get to the raft launch, and before the rafting portion of the day Dan laid out a nice lunch including everything you’d ever want to put in a wrap. And Oreos, of course!
The rafting was good fun. The river is pretty high this year, so the rapids were better than they sometimes are this time of year. Lucy and I sat up front and got pretty wet. A couple of times I saw Lucy bounce high enough that I thought we’d lose her over the side, but she was strong enough to keep herself on board. Dan taught us more about the local area, pointing out rock formations that he or others had climbed, or that others had BASE jumped from, or that Bon Jovi had used for his ‘Blaze of Glory’ video (which involved leaving a really big mess...not cool, Mr. Jovi). Just before the end of the rafting trip we passed a huge river otter on the bank who was happily consuming a big fish. It was a great way to cap off a very special day.
Back in Moab, Charlie helped me take a look at the map for the Needles portion of Canyonlands National Park and suggested an epic hike that Lucy has written about and that we will post ASAP...just waiting for some photos to make it perfect.
It’s nice to get the Utah posts finished...Miriam really wanted to write about the rappelling and rafting, but other things keep getting in the way so I volunteered to help us get caught up. :)
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