Living Earl: Pine Creek Round 2

It is amazing how hard it actually is to get people to come out to do this sort of thing. Excuses not to do things like this never seem adequate after the fact but I seem to have the intrinsic problem of making excuses to go do things like this instead of being "responsible" and getting other things done. Sometimes life's metronome gets set by the tasks and worries we put in our own path, when we are the only ones that can set the tempo. On occasion we make choices and let others decide where our time goes and how fast we march from task to task. In an effort to keep my tempo from getting to out of control I searched out a party to accompany me in an escape to Zion. One day starting at 4:30 a.m. with no set agenda, other than to do a slot canyon named Pine Creek.

I started off the day with a Red Bull mixed with orange juice which I now feel is a bad combination. Eric Montandon, TJ, and I met up with Eric Ellis and Brooklyn down in Cedar City where we made our way into Zion. After grabbing the permit and heading up to the trail head we squeezed into our circa 1992 wet suits and geared up for a cold few hours deep inside the slot canyons. I don't think I will ever tire of taking people places and helping them to experience something like this.

Feeling as though you have descended into another world you walk through cold sand and look hundreds of feet up where the walls almost meet over your head. Driftwood is lodged 50-60 feet overhead having been deposited there by flash floods. Slinking into a pool of frigid stagnant water that was left there by the last flood that came through you loose your breath and swim to meet your friends on the bank. Tourists from all over the world come to admire the beauty of this place but few venture deep into the more amazing parts.

The trip was fun. One day there and back. Some may say spending hours in a car and spending the money on gas isn't worth it. "If you go, stay longer" they might say. It's closer than you think so just go.