Life Is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Life is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Sing His Praises
  • My Creed
  • Books I Love
  • Christmas Letters

Kayaks and the Snake

9/20/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Hard to believe that only a week before we were trekking across a desert to hike in a narrow canyon.  Seven days later we paddled up a huge river in a giant gorge….    And it was glorious!!!

This summer, while waiting for our childrens’ turn to show their hogs, Eric Wilkinson invited Lance and I to go kayaking with him and Shannon.    Being a “never say no” kind of gal, I instantly agreed.   Lance slightly hesitantly and somewhat reluctantly agreed to accompany me.   Things with school (figuratively drowning) and at home (house a disaster, needy children, baskets and baskets of peaches needed processing) being the way they are I was very tempted to bail out but could not bring myself to make the call…..so we went...and we (BOTH of us) were so glad we did.   Glorious, glorious, glorious!

One would think that kayaking 3.5 miles upstream would be physically taxing...but one would be wrong if the “stream” one was kayaking was the stretch of the Snake River that runs past Twin Falls, ID.   The river is wide, slow, and very user friendly. The day was also very user friendly: overcast, warm but not too hot, and slightly (VERY slightly) breezy.  Perfect.

The day was perfect.  So were the people.  Eric is Mr. Congeniality in a long, tall body.   Shannon is short and sassy in every good sense of the phrase.   Karen is everyone’s favorite aunt, whether they are related to her or not.  John’s sense of adventure matches his red hair and Natalie’s graciousness matches her friendly smile.   Lance and I were the newcomers….and we hope to become frequent comers.

Speaking of comers….Kayaking rapidly came to be my newest addiction.   With minimal physical effort, we maximized our outdoor enjoyment.   The Snake River Canyon is truly amazing….500 feet deep and a quarter mile wide, it cuts through ancient basalt lava flows as it winds for 50 miles through southern Idaho.   

A huge stone outcropping interrupts the river about half way between the kayak input and Shoshone Falls.   One has to portage the kayaks about 200 m.   We found that one also has to explore the rock outcroppings.   Shannon, Eric and Karen had to jump into the pools and John had to try kayaking a couple of the rapids.   We all had to admire the scenery.

The island/outcroppings were amazing; Shoshone Falls was outright stunning.   Known as the “Niagara of the West”, it is 212 feet (65 m) high—45 feet (14 m) higher than Niagara Falls—and flows over a rim nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) wide.  It is amazing to see from above.  It is even more amazing to see from below.  We kayaked close to the falls, so close that our faces were misted by the spray and our kayaks were rocked by the cascading water’s wake.   So cool!!!!  SO COOL!!

And then we did it in reverse, this time kayaking 3.5 miles downstream.   The difference between kayaking downstream and upstream was barely noticeable.  The magic of kayaking, though, was very noticeable.   I am hooked.   Kayaks are now on my wish list.   Anyone know where I can get six?

​

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Three A Day....

9/13/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
Three a day….  The National Dairy Council suggests 3 daily servings of milk products, a “major study” suggests that 3 a day servings of fruits and veggies is sufficient, that there not need to have 5 daily servings of fruits and veggies, and 3 a day workouts are suggested by some as a healthy way to lose weight….   I did not find any published research on the health effects of 3 a day slot canyons but I do have some personal experiences I can share….

Over Labor Day weekend, I, along with most of my family and some of my favorite nieces and nephews (and another young adult who is not-yet-family but who is already a favorite), hiked three slot canyons in one day and it was a very healthy experience.  [What does not kill you makes you stronger, right?!?!?!]

The Escalante part of the weekend started, for Miles, Lance and I, just before midnight when we arrived at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park.   There we joined Romney, Aliza, Olivia and Grace and Romney’s crippled car--- which mercifully broke down right in front of our campsite.   The night was clear and warm and the people (all of us) were tired so we did not put up tents, choosing instead to sleep under the stars.

Saturday dawned, in Lance’s words, “a bright and glorious morning”, partially because it really was a beautiful morning, partially because Tanah joined us, and partially because we were able to get Romney’s car running long enough to deliver it to Escalante’s only auto repair shop.   After dropping Romney’s car off at the local repair shop--which Google said was not open but actually was...kind-of….there was a young man in the parking lot who said he worked there who took Romney’s keys--we drove down Hole-in-the-Rock road to the Peek-a-Boo and Spooky slot canyons trail head. Let the good times begin!   Slot canyons carry their own special magic and that magic was magnified by the fabulousness of the people with whom we hiked.   Honestly!

Lance charged the entrance to Peek-a-Boo.   To enter Peek-a-boo, one has to scale a 10 foot cliff, enhanced by only a few footholds that are much taller than waist high.    A blog commenter said he waited for over an hour at the entrance, hoping someone would arrive and help him up the wall.   Lance did it by himself.  (Romney helped me.)    Once inside, Peek-a-Boo was all beauty--twists, turns, and intricately shaped rock surfaces.   Spooky was narrower, tighter, darker, and much more challenging.   There were times Lance had to drop to crawl because the wider part of the canyon was lower; other times he had to shimmy up because the wider part of the canyon was higher.   He scratched holes in his shirt and some skin off his tummy and got an idea for a new, extreme, belly-scraping weight loss program..    

Zebra was our third slot canyon of the day.  My purpose for planning a Labor Day adventure to the Escalante area was to explore Zebra slot canyon; to check it out as a possible hike for future field trips.   Nope.  Not suitable.

It is an out and back hike, a short slot canyon at the end of a long hike.    The hike was good.   Again, it is hard to go wrong when hiking with such fabulous people.  The slot canyon was good too.   Fabulous in fact.  But I feel no need to ever do it again.

The visitor’s center guide told me there were 3 feet of water in Zebra.  Given the extremely dry summer we’ve had, I expected 12-18 inches.   Nope.  There were 3 feet of water in Zebra.   She warned me about the water.   No one told me about the slot.  

It was a narrow canyon--much more narrow than Spooky.   And the footing was tricky.   There were times--several times--when I was wedged tightly both at my chest and at my ankle.   I would struggle to wiggle/drag/push my foot forward a couple inches and then work to push/pull my torso forward, then return to trying to move my foot.   Intense.  At one point I tried to shimmy/spider along the wall by putting a foot on each side of the narrow crevice.   Nope.  Not enough traction on my Chacos.   A slip would mean a wedged ankle if I were lucky and a shattered one if I weren’t.   I also tried to shimmy up the canyon with my feet against one wall and my back against the other.   In many places it was too narrow to do that; the canyon walls were so close that my knees were in my teeth which made it hard to move them--teeth or knees or anything else for that matter…..  Intense.  YEP.  

And beautiful!   Amazing, awesome, outstanding.  Super cool, literally (the water) and figuratively (the experience).  The stripes, for which the canyon is named, were magnificent.  The tadpoles, tadpoles-transitioning-to-frogs, and the frogs were awesome too.  The “I-might-be-stuck-but-I-refuse-to-panic” feeling was great too….after I got out of the narrow spot.

The whole experience, start to finish, was awesome.   We did end up pitching a tent but only to house our bags when we were gone for the day; we put it aside at night and again slept under the stars.  Lance fished past dark and enjoyed watching and, after dark, feeling the tug of bats playing with his fishing line.    Tanah did not so much enjoy seeing the skunk that visited our garbage can while most of us slept.   Olivia entertained us with her guitar (a little) and fun campfire games (a lot).  Aliza was even more gracious and beautiful and helpful than I remembered (which was hard to do).  Miles fished for bass and Grace caught one--on Miles’ line.  Before the trip Miles had never caught a bass.  He still has not caught a bass.  And Romney lived up to the Noel boys’ reputation.  “Never go adventuring without a Noel boy” has become a Hislop adage.   For my part, I tried to fix lots of yummy food, hoping to lure/bait everyone into accepting my next adventuring invitation.  

Yep, yep, yep…..for me, 3 a day slot canyons was a healthy experience...once!   Though I do not plan on exploring 3 slot canyons in one day anytime soon, I hope to adventure again with these people really soon.   

​

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
2 Comments

    Author

    Teresa Hislop
    thislop@msn.com

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.