No Girly Girls Here

Had another daddy/daughter weekend, this time in the North Wash area, about 25 miles south of Hanksville. Angelica, Lanee, Brad McLaws and I drove down late Thursday night and camped at the Leprechaun Canyon trailhead. Very nice to have Brad along, as he always makes for lively and spirited discussion. He sees the world differently from most, but always with a thoughtful and reasoned point of view. Plus, his strong will (some might call it pig-headedness) invites debate at every corner. The drive down passed quickly with social and political discourse mingled with an occasional poem that the girls and I would recite from memory.

As we were heading out Friday morning we ran into Bette Steffen-Weis, a neat lady that I'd canyoneered with previously, and her friend Joan. We all headed toward East Leprechaun, which was great fun and involved a few short raps and plenty of downclimbing, squeezing, shimmying, chimneying and scraping our way down canyon. At the bottom we did a little exploring up Belfast Boulevard, which is the last section of the Main Fork of the Leprechaun, and is extremely tight, dark and a little intimidating. All in all, East Lep was a fun challenge. I was so pleased with my girls, who thought it was the coolest canyon ever and scampered down the chutes and squeezes without a drop of help from me.

We had a little scare when Brad pulled a deadman anchor out of the ground and free-fell about 18 feet. He landed with his butt on the ground, his back (protected by his pack) hitting hard against the rock wall and his head (protected by his helmet) also smacking the wall. Should you wear a helmet? Yes, always. I'm sure Brad's saved him from a cracked skull at best, and possibly something much worse. As it was, he was very sore and cut up a bit. Very fortunate.

Betty was with a group that included Tom Jones, who runs canyoneeringusa.com and who we canyoned with in Escalante in September. Tom came down to say hello and I joined them all around their fire for a few hours. Met a lot of folks whose names and postings I have seen on the canyoneering sites.

Saturday we did Constrychnine, which has several big raps, including one down a fluted chamber which is really cool. We got a late start and made it out of the canyon just as it was turning dark. It was great to have Brad along because it turns out he's really good with a topographical map and after a couple of debates along the way I just turned all the route-finding over to him and he was totally studly.

Had dinner at Blondie's in Hanksville (don't ever eat there!) and made it home late. It was so much fun being with my girls. They are always good-natured, work hard, never complain and truly enjoy being in these canyons every bit as much as me. I take great pleasure in watching them climb and rappel and squeeze though these narrow walls as we enthusiastically explore new terrain.