Canyoneering

I went down to southern Utah/Goblin Valley area this past week with some coworkers/friends to scope out some canyons and figure out which ones we should take our students to do. I was excited to do Ding and Dang canyon again because I had done it a few years ago. Typically, you ascend through Ding canyon and descend through Dang. However, we totally missed the fork in the trail and went up Dang and down Ding. The difference is that it was a lot harder to go up Dang! Some boulders we had to get up were so tall that if we hadn't had a tall guy with us to literally pull us up some of the sections, I don't know if we could have made it! It was super fun, though!

We also hiked through Little Wild Horse and Bell canyons. Little Wild Horse is now my favorite slot canyon! It was beautiful! Words can't describe and pictures don't do justice to the majesty of this canyon. We had a scary experience on this hike. After we got through Little Wild Horse and were about to head down Bell canyon back to the trailhead, dark clouds started to roll in! Even rain from many miles away can cause dangerous and deadly flash floods in a slot canyon, so we were pretty nervous. We practically jogged the rest of the way back, constantly looking for high ground and escape routes in case it started to rain. But we were ok. About 20 minutes after we completed the hike, it started to sprinkle, but I hope it didn't rain any more than that because there were still people in the canyons. This hike is great because anyone can do it - no technical skills required! And it's definitely a sight you HAVE to see!