A brief recap of the early spring: Sam's basketball team did very well during the regular season, they were undefeated. The team went to a travel tournament and placed second.
Mother's day came to the VanDongen house with family and friends. Alex and her boyfriend, Ben, entertained the boat load of children; Godmother Sharon came with a cake from heaven; Grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and friends rounded out the mix. A classic Mother's Day celebration.
During the Mother's Day celebration, Sharon casually said she was camping with friends in the Bryce Canyon area in two weeks. In VanDongen fashion (well, more like Lance fashion), I obtrusively invited ourselves, and the next adventure was in the works...desert red rock, camping, and slot canyons for Abigail.
Memorial day weekend arrived and we were off to the Cannonville Utah KOA. Cannonville is about 15 miles out of Bryce Canyon. It's a very small town on the edge of the Grand Staircase National Monument. The KOA is in the middle of town, which is effectively like being in the middle of nowhere; that's how small the town is.
The Bryants and their friends, Dan and Ann Harris, and their two children, Emma and Madison, arrived a short time before we did. The campground was full of hospitality. The host had obviously seen his share of domestic violence, so he volunteered to help me back the trailer in as opposed to Cristal helping. The campground had a nice playground for kids and dogs, a pool, and they hosted ice cream socials in the evenings.
The next day's activity was a 6 mile hike, Calf Creek Falls. Cristal and I had done this before; its a beautiful hike, but I had my doubts Abigail would persevere...ok...my doubts were of myself making the 6 mile trek - I was much younger when I did it before. It was just convenient to have Abigail as an excuse.
Calf Creek was what I thought it would be, a sub-way. It's a beautiful hike in the middle of the Grand Staircase National Monument. But, the trailhead resembled the city side walks prior to a Jazz game. There were tons of people.
Alex saw my trepidation at carrying Abigail for 6 miles, so she volunteered to take her the first 3 miles. Alex and Ben did the hike in their Army boots; such good soldiers.
The kids kept themselves entertained by finding death defying short cuts and sticking Rob with the local fauna.
Me, Sam and Emma got really anxious and ran the last 1/2 mile to the falls; well, I kind of crawled, but I crawled fast. Sam and Emma immediately kicked their shoes off and began jumping through the pool created by the falls.
Within minutes, Sam had cut off the end of his little toe. This is no joke; the tip of Sam's toe was hanging off the rest of the toe by a bit of skin. There was blood everywhere. I could see that Sam was in pain, but he was being the trooper he always is, no tears and no complaining.
I felt comforted that we were hiking with Rob (an ER doctor), Ann (an ER nurse), Dan (a paramedic), Cristal (a paramedic), and Alex (a nursing student). I was certain we'd be able to set up a small emergency room to treat the toe. When I started asking about a first aid kits I got a lot of blank stares; there was not one among the bunch.
I happened to have my 'knuckle dragger/booger eater' kit in my bag. Rob did his magic with the limited supplies I had and taped up the toe. I could see the nurses and paramedics watching Rob...and the looks on their faces revealed what they were thinking...'you're doing it wrong Rob'. In Rob's defense, the dressing held through the hike; the toe didn't. Later that night we cut the rest of the toe off, despite super gluing the tip back on when we reached the first gas station on the ride back.
That night we had a Dutch oven dinner of chicken and dumplings that Rob prepared; it was delicious. The kids widdled sticks with pocket knives and made marshmallow torches.
The next day was the 'slot canyon' hike. The slot canyons were called 'Peek-a-boo' and 'Spooky'. The information we had was that the hike was dog and kid friendly. I should have questioned the credibility of this information when someone at the visitor area at the campground told me to bring a rope.
The drive to the trailhead consisted of 26 miles on a dirt washboard road. I thought surely we'd have this hike to ourselves; nobody would drive 26 miles on washboard for a hike except us. I was wrong. The trailhead was a zoo. It didn't deter us, we were off to the slot canyons.
The hike was a classic desert walk, red rock washes and cacti in full bloom.
When we reached the mouth of the first slot canyon, Peek-a-boo, I became very reticent about proceeding with a dog and a baby strapped to Cristal's belly. We were insightful enough to bring the belly carrier as opposed to the baby backpack; it was a good thing too, we never would have fit through some of the slots with the baby backpack.
The mouth of the Peek-a-boo canyon had a 15' to 20' ledge that had to be negotiated just to get into the slot canyon. We watched as folks fumbled their way up the ledge; and I had to wince at some of the attempts by others. This prompted a quick lesson to the kids on how to tie an emergency bowline knot around their waist with the rope that I brought along.
When it was our turn, Rob and I scrambled up the ledge; Rob half way up to help the kids and I went to the top to belay from the top. The kids, and dog, were tied in when they climbed the ledge. It was quite the adventure.
Peek-a-boo quickly narrowed to a labyrinth of bright red sculpted cliff faces. It was a beautiful and fun hike to the top of the slot.
Sharon loved all the photo documentation I was doing.
Peek-a-boo ended at the top of a mesa where we found two lonely trees for shade and had lunch. After lunch we embarked on the hike to the second slot canyon, 'Spooky'. Spooky was hiked top to bottom as opposed to bottom to top like Peek-a-boo.
The hike was pretty hot; and the sand was even hotter. We noticed Pele taking exception to walking on the sand. Ben and I took turns carrying Pele across the hottest areas of the hike...pathetic.
Spooky started off innocuous enough; a wide open wash with plenty of space to walk,
But it quickly dropped into a very narrow canyon that required us to negotiate ledges, holes, and the occasional bottomless slot. What is a bottomless slot one may ask? Its where the sides of the canyon narrowed so much at the bottom, there was no footing; the only way to continue was to 'chimney' ourselves between the sides...remember, we had a dog and a baby with us - both of which have no idea what a chimney is.
We encountered another technical area that required some rope work and claustrophobic drops. Rob, Dan, and I ended up in advantages positions to not only assist our party through the drops, but assist others as well. While helping a kid from another party through this section, an old Japanese man literally dropped from the top into my arms; then another, then another, then an old Japanese woman, then another. Had we not been there, I have no doubt there would have been a broken leg or two. And I swear I heard the shutter release of a camera while one of the Japanese folks was on my shoulders.
After this section, Spooky lived up to its name. It narrowed and deepened quickly. The canyon was quickly losing sunlight; not because of the time of day, but because of the height of the walls and narrowness of the sides.
There were sections where it was too narrow for the dog at the bottom. Ben and I had to hold Pele above our heads as we negotiated the narrowest sections. Cristal protected Abigail's head and jammed her arms against the canyon walls to continue down.
Spooky eventually opened up into a wash. Then we started the long hike back to the trailhead. Like before, Ben and I carried Pele on our backs across the hottest parts of the hike.
We took a group photo after everyone returned. It was all smiles and sweat. Everyone had a great adventure in the slot canyons.
Such a great adventure to share with old friends and new friends. Thanks to the Bryants and Harris's for sharing this adventure with us.
