[infusion]: August 2010

So I'm a sucker for lightning storms. It's true. Well tonight was my lucky night. I was planning on spending the evening getting things done - you know, the type of things that we all mean to do, but always find reasons not to. Well, I got distracted again. There's an intense lightning storm happening right now around the Ivins and Kayenta area. After hearing the 3rd or 4th thunder roar in a row, I decided to drop everything and headed to one of my favorite spots -Hellhole- to check it out. I was having a hard time catching pics and I wanted to share this just cuz it's so frickin' cool. I tried my best to get a bit of it on video, but it was tough too, since the storm was happening literally in a 360 around me. It was hard to know where to point. Guess I'm just gonna have watch most of this one on replay in my brain movies.

Anyways, I managed to get a few clips and caught what I think was a pretty close strike right at the end. So here it is:

Okie doke. So if you don't like blog post with a whole bunch of pictures, you better stop now. Go back to Facebook or whatever you were doing before you clicked on this post. Cuz it's got a lot of pictures. The realm in which I ventured into this last weekend was just too frickin' cool not to snap a bunch of pics (and a little video too). I'm still trying to figure out this new camera, so the quality isn't terrific, but if you decide you're one of those "picture likers", I think we'll get through this just fine. Speaking of the camera I used, it really was amazing for this type of stuff. Here's a little shameless plug for it:

Olym pus Stylus Tough 6020 14MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black)

Ok, on with the good stuff:

First of all (or maybe second I guess), I went canyoneering through Pine Creek in Zion National Park this last weekend with my friend Matt and a few people we'd never met before (seriously). Here's Matt with a couple of those people - all just starting to get the idea of what we were getting in to, but still totally oblivious.

Looking up at the top of the first rappel. It's a little tricky getting in- you have to actually swing in to a little pocket on the left before you can start going down. For those that remember, this is the spot where I fell from the top to my ass and received a ginormous black and blue kiss from the rocks and the bottom.

I got to lead everyone through, which meant I got to look really cool while I belayed everyone else.

Just to prove that my ego isn't quite as big as it sounded in the comment above, here's a rather un-flattering pic of myself with Dawnetta swimming in the background.

Looking on at one of the few sunlit (and much warmer) sections of water.

Someone suggested we prop the camera on a rock and get a group shot. Looks like every agreed.

Much of the "hike" looked like this - wading through slot canyon waters with killer beams of light shining through in random areas.

When we weren't hiking or rappelling, we were swimming. Troy demonstrates here:

Checking out the next rappel. Does anyone look nervous?

A view from the bottom of the rappel (really not as scary as it looks from the top). We probably coulda jumped, but it was hard to tell what was below that murky water.

Just a view of some of the slot canyon.

Here's Brady coming down the wall of The Cathedral. This place is seriously bad ass and my camera couldn't quite do it justice (plus I was trying to belay and take pics at the same time - not easy).

So here's a picture that does this place justice. I can't take credit for it, but these people can. Seriously, check out some of their pics. They're pretty rad.

Here's Brady in the middle of the arch. That water you see is quite disgusting. It's got dead animals in it (they fall in from the tops of the cliffs and get stuck) and it smells of lovely decay and methane.

Here's Matt descending:

And once again:

Dawnetta doing her best not to breath in the awesome aroma as she swims.

Check me out in my cool belaying spot. I got to swing back and forth on the wall and did a little airborn drop in to this little nook. Probably the most fun part of the trip.

Looking up and out from The Cathedral.

Don't like pictures that sit still? You're in luck! Here's one that moves! Matt was so cold from the water (It's like 45-50 degrees in there) that he had a hard time holding the camera still, but you'll get the idea. Listen to the echos and the acoustics in there, it was pretty unbelievable.

Brady and Troy try to reel the rope in as quick as they can while Dawnetta freezes. Check out the water I'm standing in - pretty sweet, eh?

My attempt at making Matt look as epic as possible. Did it work?

Looking back at where we came down - you can only see about half of it - it's roughly 65 feet total.

It started to get a little darker and A LOT colder.

There's all kinds of debris that falls in to these canyons. When it rains, waterfalls pour in from the tops of the cliffs and it flash floods and cleans a lot of this stuff out.

Dawnetta looking surprised and me looking like... well... me.

Looking up for some sunlight.

Working our way through.

How about another group shot (minus one)?

Whaddaya know? Here's a picture to prove I actually did something!

Almost to the bottom.

It's a good thing we took these pics from the top, cuz it looks way cooler than from the bottom (guess you'll just have to take my work on that one).

Here's me working my way into the last rappel (85ish feet) while Troy awkwardly tries to pretend the camera isn't there. It was a little nerve-racking going into this one, because it's a blind entry and since I was leading, if I made one mistake I'd drop a long way to the bottom. Yup.