A desert adventure

I went on a backpacking trip down in Moab Utah over the weekend with uncle Mike; we did a two night trip up and around Mill Creek and Rill Creek right out side of Moab. It was a awesome trip as you can see in the photos, definately a repeat. I stopped at Goblin Valley State Park in the San Rafeal Swell on the way back to Idaho and checked out that geological marvel; it is amazing just what nature can produce. The Colorado Plateau definately has some of the most diverse geology in the world. Check out my web album for more pics.



An idealic waterfall in Rill Canyon, most of the hiking was like this; very sweet!












Mike chimneying up a rock in Mill Creek
Me on the first day. We started out in torrential down pour! Rain of biblical proportions!

Canyoneering, Wild Cat Canyon

This weekend Jennifer, Bryan, Amie and myself tried out a new sport that has taken hold mostly in southern Utah and is growing steadily through out the northwest; canyoneering. For those of you who do not know what canyoneering is here is the blurb from the wikipedia
"Although hiking down a canyon that is non-technical (canyon hiking) is often referred to as canyoneering, the terms canyoning and canyoneering are more often associated with technical descents — those that require rappels (abseils) and ropework, technical climbing or down-climbing, technical jumps, and/or technical swims.
Canyoning is frequently done in remote and rugged settings and often requires navigational, route-finding and other skills and preparation needed for wilderness travel.
Canyons that are ideal for canyoning are often cut into the bedrock stone, forming narrow gorges with numerous drops, beautifully sculpted walls, and sometimes spectacular waterfalls. Most canyons are cut into limestone, granite or sandstone, though other rock types are found. Canyons can be very easy or extremely difficult, though emphasis in the sport is usually on aesthetics and fun rather than pure difficulty. A wide variety of canyoning routes are found throughout the world, and canyoning is enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels."

While our trip was not very technical, it still involved a lot of scrambling and some low class bouldering. The canyon that we checked out was WildCat Canyon in southern Idaho around the town of Marsing. It took a couple hours and was well worth it, definately a repeat trip. There are a bunch of canyons around that area that I would like to explore and I hope to find a bunch more around Idaho. For more info on Idaho canyoneering check out northwest canyoneering. If any one has any beta on some canyons or would like to go check some out let me know and I will be very happy to oblige; as I'm pretty excited about checking out some more stuff. Check out mine and Bryans webalbums for some pics of our hike.