A night in the Slots

Ok - just to preface this...this post is going to be basically an email I wrote to Emily about this experience plus pics Kelly took. WAY less work on my part that way.

We went down to Blue John Canyon. Started hiking.

It was really technical - very narrow canyons and difficult down climbs and rappells. We were about 1/2 way through with about 4 of the 10 of us down the 4th or 5th rappell. Heather and this guy Tiffer went ahead while Kelly and I started moving packs into the next section of canyon when Tiffer and Heather started yelling at us. Apparently Tiffer, one of the smaller guys on this trip, couldn't fit through the next section of canyon. He tried shimmying up and he tried sucking in- and he was really nervous. We had 3 pretty big guys and he was very sure they weren't going to fit. So we had a little pow wow - half up, half down the rappell. We decided it was impossible to keep going and we had to turn around a find a way out.We said a prayer asking for guidance b/c we could back track some of the way we came in, but some of the rappells were so long that we knew there was no way up them again without someone up at the top to tie off a rope and help.


So we started heading back and our best climbers started climbing up the walls to see if they could find a way out. At the last point before we had to decide when to stop looking and when to decide we had to stay the night, I was stuck between two of the groups. I couldn't go up without help, but I couldn't go down without getting into a pot hole (filled with freezing water). I was wet and cold and balanced on a teensy rock. I didn't want to go through the water again only to have to turn right back around if we decided to keep moving forward. Kelly was just behind me but before the pot hole. We sat there for about 45 minutes waiting for the scouts on both sides to come back and to make a decision...it was COLD. Anyway, one guy was just getting this very strong feeling that we shouldn't try to make it out that night. He was feeling almost nauseous every time we talked about going forward. So we decided to head back and make camp.


We had a place we could climb to that would be out of the slots (in case of rain and flash floods). So we headed up and before it got dark we made 2 forts our of rocks, shrubs and grass/bushes.

We pooled our remaining snacks and water and prepared to camp. My dinner was a handful of baby carrots (I think 4 or 5). It sounds crazy, and it was...but heather, me and this guy Tyler (fresh off his mission - very shy and sweet kid) ended up camping in the small fort. We used my dry pack as a ground cover for our heads so we weren't laying totally in the dirt. I also used my pack for a pillow - which was a bad idea b/c half way through the night I rolled onto my mouth piece and got water all over my back - which didn't help with the cold. We all three shared an emergency blanket (that Heather brought)...one of those foil like reflective blankets. It was really funny at the time - we were all spooning...and the ground was so hard that every few minutes, one of us would say "switch" and we'd all turn over to the other side. Needless to say there wasn't much sleep to be had. We were all cold, tired and hungry. And there was a wind that would come and blow up dirt and blow our blanket off. And we were probably the lucky ones. we had long pants and long shirt...lots of the guys came with just t-shirt and shorts. most of them used those dollar ponchos as their only covering. We talked most of the night and I think we were all a bit loopy the next day. We started hiking out as soon as it was light enough to see down in the canyon.

My energy was actually up for the first hour or so, but when I started shaking, I realized I needed to eat so Heather and I ate my last granola bars. That helped enough to finish. It was a little dicey and scary getting up some of those climbs, and we had to use ropes and webbing, but we all finally made it out. Some of us are the worse for wear...my legs were pretty scraped and bloody, but some of the others were way worse. Once we were on the ridge, we used one of the guy's GPS system to get us back to our cars. That involved another 1 1/2 or so of hiking, but at least it wasn't climbing anymore. Anyway - everyone else I think was fine at that point, but I was feeling very dehydrated and exhausted. At this point we were hiking in thick sand and I felt like it was just sucking my energy. I had to just keep looking at the ground and walking, but I seriously wanted to just fall on the ground and be done.

Blech. anyway - we got back, got to the cars, cleaned up a bit and headed home. We stopped in Wellington to have some caffeine b/c we were all so tired that driving became a little dangerous. I missed church - which means I missed giving my Sunday School lesson. I had no way to tell anyone I wasn't coming, so I just didn't show up. I know there was nothing I could do, but I still feel really bad about that. In the end though, I'm just glad we were all ok and that we made it out without calling search and rescue. They are expensive. LOL.

So that's my story. When we were re-hashing it on the way home, it was a lot funnier. There were funny things that happened, and we all got along really well. There were prayers said, and I think the spirit really guided everyone to know what to do. It was a great group b/c no one panicked and no one had a bad attitude. Even if one person had freaked out on us or started blaming people, it would have hurt everyone I think. I think it went as smoothly as it did because we were all ok with everything. At night, snuggling next to Tyler and Heather, we laughed so much that the next day everyone wanted to know what we talked about b/c while they were trying to somehow get some sleep, we were just cracking up all night. I'm so tired right now that I couldn't even tell you what was funny - but it was!