Narrowed?

This last weekend Shad and our friend Jen took a trip down to Zion to do the narrows. It was a weekend full of adventure as always. We left Thursday night after work and drove down to Mount Carmel, Utah. On our way, Shad thought there was a gas station at the exit on I-15 to get onto Highway 20. There was not, and the gas light was on. Since Panguitch was only 30 miles away, we thought we could make it.

Apparently our guesstimation was 5.7 miles wrong because 5.7 miles outside of Panguitch we ran out of gas. It was a first for all of us and we got to hear all the gossip on the local gas station drama from the triple A guy when he finally showed up so really I think we are much better for it.

We arrived to our campsite without issue to find a note on the office door saying we could camp at site 1 or to the left of the cabin. Turns out the RV park in Mount Carmel doesn't really have the tent sites it advertises on it's website. We opted for left of the cabin because there was grass there.

The next morning we got up and headed to Zion to catch the shuttle to Chamberlain's Ranch (where the Narrows hike starts). I was pretty excited we were doing the shuttle since the car fiasco you have to do is such a pain. It might have been worth it though.

I guess our shuttle driver was on a schedule because he drove up the dirt road to the ranch (typically a 2 hour drive) like we were being chased by Nazis. We made it there in 1 hour and 15 minutes. New record maybe? Who cares? All I know is all of us were so car sick by the end and neither Jen nor I have EVER been car sick in our lives. I literally stopped talking to Jen mid sentence and turned around to face the front of the van or I would have pucked all over her. Yikes.

I think I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...
Just getting into the narrows.

Look at how fresh and happy I look. Ready for lots of fun river hiking.

Jen told me I wasn't allowed to wave.

Can you find me in this picture? Jen was going for something artsy. Apparently that means you can't use a flash...

They made me get in the water to go see the waterfall. My husband decided it would be a good time to give me a nice wet hug. Thanks hubby.

Then Jen made us take a "cute one."

This is a picture from where we camped. Very pretty. I think we went to bed at about 6:00 pm though. We were tired!

Still day one somewhere in the river.

I don't remember why Shad was making this face. I thought it was awesome enough to include though.

So at this point, my hip flexors are starting to really hurt and I'm praying they will be miraculously healed for day 2 A.K.A. death river day. See how I can still hide the pain with a smile?

Here I am about 2 hours into day 2. See how I can't hide the pain through a smile? No miracles happened overnight while sleeping on the hard ground hoping the animals running around near my head wouldn't run over my head (it happened last time I was sleeping in the narrows). They didn't.

Here we are in more really cold water Jen and Shad made me get into. I got out to "take pictures."

Here are Jen and Shad playing on yet another waterfall. I took one for the team and stayed dry.

And that's where the pictures end. The waterfall was just too much for the digital camera and it decided to slip away to the big white flash in the sky. Don't feel too bad for it. Jen's camera had already withstood being dropped in the ocean and getting sand stuck in it (hence the grinding noise it made when you turned it on) and being bashed against a rock in Moab while Jen was kneeing Jared in the face (the lcd screen was a gonner so you never knew if your pictures were actually being taken until after the trip). Now Jen gets to get a new camera. Bonus!

It's probably best the camera died, none of the pictures of me would have been good. I can't remember a time when I was in more pain. Luckily it only hurt when I had to pick up my leg which when you're hiking through a river full of rocks happens just about every step. Other than that, the trip was a success.

When the river finally ended, we went back to our campsite (really a patch of grass next to a cabin in a trailer park so not really a campsite) and made the camping staple, cheese stuffed bacon wrapped hot dogs and went to bed. The next morning it was back home to see our puppy and take a nap.