They decided to get us a permit for the Orderville slot canyon instead, also called the Waterpark. It is a 12 mile hike with a dry first half and wet second part. We made our way to the family condo, had a beer, and all went to bed. Before bed, Weston pulled out six cammo shirts that he and a friend had customized with iron-on decals on the back. Mine was Frostman. John, Nicki, Brit, and I decided to take liberties with ours and removed the sleeves for a more fashionable look.
Up at 5:30 to get a start on the day. We stopped at Smith's for sandwiches to take with us on the hike. Since 1/2 of the hike is wet, we had plenty of sealable baggies with us.
To get to the starting point of the hike, we drove through the tunnel, out the other side of Zion's and into East Zion's. Up a dirt road to a service road and we found the entrance. It took us until 9:00am to arrive.
About two miles of the hike is just getting to the slot canyon along a dirt road. Finally we entered the slots and had a great time just walking along and talking to each other.
Me in the dry part.
Eventually we came to the first obstacle which was about a 20 foot drop into a pool of stagnant water. This signaled the beginning of the water features. There were anchors in the side of the mountain to be used for rappelling down the drop. Weston and Dave brought along two moutaineering harnesses which the girls used to get down. The guys all just used their hands to lower themselves.
Me rappelling down the first obstacle.
This is where the funnest part of the hike began. From here on out, we were walking through water. From somewhere unseen, water just appeared and there was a stream. At first it was never more than just a few inches but as we proceeded, there would be deeper and deeper spots. We were splashing, jumping, playing in the water. It was cool and very refreshing.
Some chest deep water.
Eventually we got to places where the water was up to our chests after a descent. Then over our heads. Finally there were some spots where we had to swim after descending in order to touch ground again. It was amazingly fun. Honestly I was pretty nervous after the first descent because I'd never done anything like that before, but my confidence began to grow after that.
Last obstacle.
Getting close to the seeing people.
Finally after about 7 hours, we came across so other people hiking. They had hiked up from the upper visitor's center as far as it was allowed to go upstream. There were still about 3 miles left to go back to catch the shuttle. But at least we were seeing people again and we knew we had made it out alive.
The last three miles seemed to last for a week. It was by far the hardest part of the hike. There were buried, slippery rocks all over the place which made walking very difficult. And at this point, there were more and more people so we had to skirt past them.
Seeing the visitor's center was the most beautiful site. We caught the shuttle back to the beginning of the park so I could drive Weston back to get his car. It took almost 2 hours round trip to get back and pick everyone else up. We decided on our way back to St. George that we were just going to into a restaurant without showering because we were so tired and hungry. It was 10pm before we sat down to eat. Midnight by the time we got home. Everyone was in bed within 1/2 hour.
The whole gang at the end.
The next morning, Weston and Dave decided to just head back to Salt Lake as well. The day before they were convinced they would be able to do the hike up Angel's Landing after doing Orderville canyon. However Sunday morning, they were as sore as everyone else. It was sort of validating to know we accomplished something that made even experienced hikers worn out and sore the next day.
While my pictures didn't turn out so hot, here's a link to some professional ones:
http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/albums/index71.htm
