We had our big ward Girls’ Camp out in Zion Canyon on the 21st - 23rd of June. We had all the girls (there were 19 of them, including my two, from 12 up to 18-years-old) pack up and deliver their camping things to our house on Wednesday during the day and then we loaded it all, along with our food and supplies, into the Scout trailer on Wednesday evening.
Then we gathered here in St. George early Thursday morning and headed over to East Zion, to the trail head for the Birch Hollow hike, except for the few girls and leaders that weren’t rappelling and who went to set up camp. They set up our camp in that campground just east of Zion that has all the teepees (see: http://www.utahtrailsresort.com/.) Our buddy Robert came with us and he and another friend, Jared, dropped off our 4-wheel drive vehicles at the boundary of the wilderness study area where the hike ends and then rode Robert’s 4-wheeler back to the trailhead - they caught up to us at the first rappel. I’ve got to say, all of the girls handled the rappels very adeptly – apparently Leslie’s rigorous training program for the girls these past several months paid off. The 6-mile 5-hour Birch Hollow hike, which includes 10-12 rappels, one up to 100 feet, went off without any major problems (you can read about the hike itself at: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-birch-hollow.htm.) At one point one young woman turned herself upside-down in mid-rappel, but was able to get down OK. I chastised another girl for having her long pony tail in the front where it could get caught in her figure-8 – she just told me that she’d had one hair caught already but that she could spare one hair. I spent the hike alternating duties – taking photos, hooking up the girls to the rope, belaying, toting the rope, etc. I must say, we really missed having some big teenaged boys with us to tote our ropes – this was the first time I had to do that myself. After the hike we had that long steep hike out of the wilderness area and then the bumpy dusty four-wheel-drive drive back up to the highway – our 4-Runner behaved itself very well. When asked how I felt about driving on a rough four-wheel-drive road, Leslie (correctly) just said that I’ve been doing it since I was ten-years-old so it was no big deal. That night back at camp, we were all bushed and so wolfed down our late dinner, grabbed a quick shower (yay!) and then hit the hay. At night it got pretty cold – I was really glad for my sleeping bag – even so I woke up with sore legs in the morning from all the shivering in the night.
The next day we split into three groups – the beginners’ group went on the 0.5-mile 3-hour Keyhole hike with Les and me (see: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-keyhole.htm), the advanced group went with the another couple to the 1.5-mile 5-hour Pine Creek hike (see: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-pine-creek.htm), and the non-rappellers went with some of the other leaders to play in the water at the Narrows. The Keyhole hike, which includes 6 - 8 rappels and lots of scrambling and some very narrow slots, was a lot of fun, and thanks to some serious guidance and good strong climbing skills from Russ and Jared, two of our neighbors, we had no mishaps at all. I’ve got to say that I did my personal best on this hike – I think I’ve improved my scrambling skills and reduced my lingering phobias after the Island in the Sky hike last month. The attached photo is of Les rappelling down into the first cavernous slot of the hike. After our hike we were all supposed to meet at the swimming hole at the bottom of Pine Creek, but the non-hiking group couldn’t find it and the Pine Creek group was three hours late. It turned out that the Pine Creek group had a small disaster when one girl got her pony tail caught in her figure-8 on the way down the 100 ft rappel and her Dad (one of the adult leaders) had to borrow a long rope from the next group behind us, let himself down to where she was, and cut her free with his Leatherman while not cutting her rope and dropping her to her death (he cut his own hand several times in the process.) After that, one poor girl was too scared to go off the big rappel and one of the other adult leaders had to give her the “one-two-three off you go” and then gently scoot her off the edge. At the time she was very scared, but later she thanked him for getting her off that ledge. The girls whose hair got caught, who normally has very long hair, now has long hair on one side and a scarf that hides her crew cut on the other side. We all agreed that if someone had to lose an appendage that day, a pony tail was the best thing to lose. That night we all met back in camp after missing lunch, hungry and tired and dirty. After my shower that evening I found that my deodorant had melted inside my kit right there in the heat in my tent during the day – quite a contrast from the freezing cold nights during which I huddled in my sleeping bag while wearing my sweats. The daytime temperatures were up over 100° while the nighttime temperatures dropped down into the 50° range.
On the final day (Saturday) we struck camp and headed up to a resort in East Zion where the girls got to swim and play in a pool, complete with rocky-looking water slides for a few hours – that’s where everyone (including myself) got sunburned. After some swimming and lunch we all headed home – it was a relief to get a nice shower and get into some clean clothes and get all the dust off. Whew!
Then we gathered here in St. George early Thursday morning and headed over to East Zion, to the trail head for the Birch Hollow hike, except for the few girls and leaders that weren’t rappelling and who went to set up camp. They set up our camp in that campground just east of Zion that has all the teepees (see: http://www.utahtrailsresort.com/.) Our buddy Robert came with us and he and another friend, Jared, dropped off our 4-wheel drive vehicles at the boundary of the wilderness study area where the hike ends and then rode Robert’s 4-wheeler back to the trailhead - they caught up to us at the first rappel. I’ve got to say, all of the girls handled the rappels very adeptly – apparently Leslie’s rigorous training program for the girls these past several months paid off. The 6-mile 5-hour Birch Hollow hike, which includes 10-12 rappels, one up to 100 feet, went off without any major problems (you can read about the hike itself at: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-birch-hollow.htm.) At one point one young woman turned herself upside-down in mid-rappel, but was able to get down OK. I chastised another girl for having her long pony tail in the front where it could get caught in her figure-8 – she just told me that she’d had one hair caught already but that she could spare one hair. I spent the hike alternating duties – taking photos, hooking up the girls to the rope, belaying, toting the rope, etc. I must say, we really missed having some big teenaged boys with us to tote our ropes – this was the first time I had to do that myself. After the hike we had that long steep hike out of the wilderness area and then the bumpy dusty four-wheel-drive drive back up to the highway – our 4-Runner behaved itself very well. When asked how I felt about driving on a rough four-wheel-drive road, Leslie (correctly) just said that I’ve been doing it since I was ten-years-old so it was no big deal. That night back at camp, we were all bushed and so wolfed down our late dinner, grabbed a quick shower (yay!) and then hit the hay. At night it got pretty cold – I was really glad for my sleeping bag – even so I woke up with sore legs in the morning from all the shivering in the night.
The next day we split into three groups – the beginners’ group went on the 0.5-mile 3-hour Keyhole hike with Les and me (see: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-keyhole.htm), the advanced group went with the another couple to the 1.5-mile 5-hour Pine Creek hike (see: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-pine-creek.htm), and the non-rappellers went with some of the other leaders to play in the water at the Narrows. The Keyhole hike, which includes 6 - 8 rappels and lots of scrambling and some very narrow slots, was a lot of fun, and thanks to some serious guidance and good strong climbing skills from Russ and Jared, two of our neighbors, we had no mishaps at all. I’ve got to say that I did my personal best on this hike – I think I’ve improved my scrambling skills and reduced my lingering phobias after the Island in the Sky hike last month. The attached photo is of Les rappelling down into the first cavernous slot of the hike. After our hike we were all supposed to meet at the swimming hole at the bottom of Pine Creek, but the non-hiking group couldn’t find it and the Pine Creek group was three hours late. It turned out that the Pine Creek group had a small disaster when one girl got her pony tail caught in her figure-8 on the way down the 100 ft rappel and her Dad (one of the adult leaders) had to borrow a long rope from the next group behind us, let himself down to where she was, and cut her free with his Leatherman while not cutting her rope and dropping her to her death (he cut his own hand several times in the process.) After that, one poor girl was too scared to go off the big rappel and one of the other adult leaders had to give her the “one-two-three off you go” and then gently scoot her off the edge. At the time she was very scared, but later she thanked him for getting her off that ledge. The girls whose hair got caught, who normally has very long hair, now has long hair on one side and a scarf that hides her crew cut on the other side. We all agreed that if someone had to lose an appendage that day, a pony tail was the best thing to lose. That night we all met back in camp after missing lunch, hungry and tired and dirty. After my shower that evening I found that my deodorant had melted inside my kit right there in the heat in my tent during the day – quite a contrast from the freezing cold nights during which I huddled in my sleeping bag while wearing my sweats. The daytime temperatures were up over 100° while the nighttime temperatures dropped down into the 50° range.
On the final day (Saturday) we struck camp and headed up to a resort in East Zion where the girls got to swim and play in a pool, complete with rocky-looking water slides for a few hours – that’s where everyone (including myself) got sunburned. After some swimming and lunch we all headed home – it was a relief to get a nice shower and get into some clean clothes and get all the dust off. Whew!
