Training Log Archive: Atropos

Hours of walking around observing the mania of Las Vegas. We are officially the worst Vegas tourists ever. We didn't spend a single cent gambling (although I did get my picture taken with the John Wayne slot machine) and our favourite attraction was the (free) Bellagio dancing fountain and gardens. Between the three of us we spent 150$ including our hotel room, dinner out at a Mexican place in fake New York, and a tank of gas.

C • $2 2

Hiking in Kodachrome State park on the Panorama and Angel's Palace trails. Mom insisted on this since we had been to two previous state parks on the trip and hadn't gotten around to seeing their sights. We drove up to Bryce National Park. Mom and Dad did a short hike but I just walked around the rim trail.
We drove out to the end of Bryce Canyon to see the Bristlecone Pines (some of the oldest living trees on the planet) but there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground and none of us really felt like struggling through stale snow up to our knees so we gave it up.

40 miles down the hole in the wall road (itself a product of the sheer determination of the pioneer spirit) there is a turn off on to a rough stretch of road. The trailhead leads off across some slick rock down to a sandy wash where hikers will discover the famous Peekaboo, Spooky, and Brimstone slot canyons. For about an hour we explored a canyon wash and then headed towards the first of the slots. Dad, who had read the directions just before we left, hadn't read them very well. We thought that we had started down Peekaboo, the easiest and the widest of the slot canyons but we had actually entered spooky which mom had declared that she wasn't going to do. The walls came so close together that we had to take off our backpacks and contort ourselves sidesways between the sandstone walls. There were several boulder piles and ledges blocking the route that we had to creatively scramble over. Eventually we came to an area where it seemed impossible to go any further unless you were willing to climbup. Dad managed to climb out and some conveniently timed young men lowering their mother down into the canyon from above (the suggested direction) were kind enough to give mom and I a hoist. We hiked over to the back side of peekaboo and did that canyon as well. It was easier to negotiate and seemed a little anticlimactic but had several windy sections with cool arches that made up for it. The third slot canyon, Brimstone, was so narrow and technical that after a while it became impossible to go any further. We headed off in the direction of it but we couldn't find it and turned about. It turns out that we were right below it but just didn't identify it. It was really a super super cool experience.

C • Sounds like fun! 3

Lower Calf Creek (Escalante National Monument, Utah)

With a 90% chance of thundershowers today, we were advised against attempting any of the slot canyon hikes in the area due to the risk of flash flood. With me recovering from a day curled up in the backseat clutching snotty tissues and mom commenting that she had a bit of a sore throat coming on our options were a bit limited. We decided to hike Lower Calf Creek, a relatively flat, sandy, trail beside a creek out to a waterfall. Even though it was full of hikers, the waterfall was quite impressive and startling considering the scrub desert that surrounds it. The creek was also a pleasant ribbon of life in the canyonlands but the hike was not one that was particularly memorable.

Even though the trail was significantly easier than the majority of hikes we have done, I could feel the energy taken out of me by my cold. The short, sandy uphills had me wheezing and snorging heavier than was warranted.

Mom and Dad decided to hike the shorter and steeper Upper Calf Creek falls as well but I elected to stay in the car. Far a girl who was having trouble staying upright yesterday 6 miles seemed quite enough.