Wild Wild West Adventure

Zion Canyoneering 

I’m a collector of hobbies, especially sports and apparently I was overdue to add to my collection. So my latest hobby is… drum roll please ….canyoneering!  What is canyoneering you may ask?  Well it’s like mountaineering except you are working your way through canyons.  I like to call it a hike on steroids since you hike but then you often have to down climb, rappel and problem solve to work your way through a canyon. I’d canyoneered before but only on tours where the guides do all the work and you basically just say “weeeeee this is fun”.

You would think these tours would be enough for a Floridian but I wanted to be able to tie the knots, know the name of my equipment and do it all myself.  So I took two days of training in North Carolina where I learned a lot including how to use a totem, figure 8 and carabiner (even though I kept calling it a cantilever).   I was amazed at how much I learned and figured I was ready to hit the canyons out west so I headed out for the annual Zion Canyoneering Rendezvous.  I decided an extra practice day might be a good idea which was a wise choice since I learned about double rope rappels, critters, piranhas and so many other things with odd names that were brand new to me.  I guess they do things differently out west.  My mind was full and a wee bit confused but it eventually came together that there are just many ways to skin a cat… or in this case, rappel a canyon.

North Carolina Canyoneering 

Finally after all the training in NC and at Zion I was ready for my first day in a real canyon.  ‘Some guy’ named Tom Jones was offering to lead a group on Tom’s Secret Canyon called Fiddle Me This.  I signed up since I’d heard he was somewhat of a legend in the canyoneering world but I didn’t know why.  Well it turns out he wrote the Zion canyoneering guide book so I really lucked out.

This ended up being one of the most extreme days of my life!  We were doing something called ghost canyoneering so we wouldn’t leave any trace (anchors, ropes, bolts) behind.  This adds another lever of difficulty that I was perhaps not quite ready for.  Just the day before in training they asked us if you can use another person as an anchor.  My answer was no.  This seemed ludicrous to me!  But then the instructors (they were awesome btw) told me that yes you could indeed use another person as an anchor.  At the time I was shocked but figured it was no big deal as I would be using nice strong safe trees for my anchors thank you very much.  But then came this ghost canyoneering with Tom and the first thing we had to do was a 200’ rappel on a meat anchor!  Luckily our meat anchor happened to be a somewhat beefy (pun intended) man of about 220 pounds which helped calm me down just a bit.  Later that day I would actually become the meat anchor for a much shorter rappel and then down climb while the people I anchored tried to make sure I didn’t fall.  This was crazy stuff for a flatland Floridian!

As if the meat anchor wasn’t enough there was another surprise in store for me.  On training day I saw a small piece of plastic about 1 inch thick and 6 inches long.  This piece of plastic called a Fiddlestick is used to make an anchor fail so you can retrieve the rope and leave no trace.  Essentially you are a putting your life in the hands of ten cents of plastic material (which costs much more since it is canyoneering specific).  This is the one time I was thankful that plastic has a long shelf life.  


After our first two rappels we put on our wetsuits for the remainder of the trip since there were many wet sections.  We continued down the canyon doing everything we could not to leave any trace of our adventure.  At one point in Tom’s secret canyon we wanted sand for an anchor but the sand had been washed out in the last storm so we had to walk a bit back up the canyon and carry a large trunk of a tree down and wedge it in the canyon.  Shivering a bit in my wetsuit in the shade of the canyon I couldn’t help but smile a bit at the extremeness of it all.  This is what I wanted when I got in to the sport and it reminded me of the quote on Tom’s t-shirt: Canyoneering: sorta like fun…but different.


The secret canyon has three sections.  After the second section with so many things changed from the storm our guide Tom said we should stop since the next section may be really difficult.  No one in the group complained.  We’d been through a lot and we were sure Tom knew best.  But then a few minutes later Tom was like “well let’s give it a try”.  This did not give me a warm and fuzzy at all and it did end up being a very difficult section where we had to use a backpack filled up with air as a floatation device to help us climb out of the water.

After nine hours in the pretty yet often wet and cold canyon I was an expert with fiddlesticks and meat anchors.  Something I wanted to proudly share with my Facebook friends but was concerned over the inevitable dirty replies that would result.  I was exhausted but happy and extremely proud of myself for my accomplishment.  I’d wanted to do this for years and finally did it.  I couldn’t find any friends to go with me but I didn’t let that stop me.  Last minute a friend’s son decided to join me but I was already set on going no matter what.  I got the training, bought the gear and made it happen! And now I have some new canyoneering friends that I’m looking forward to seeing at the next rendezvous.

I Heart Canyoneering 

If you’re at all interested I definitely recommend trying canyoneering.  Do a guided trip first for your safety and see if you enjoy it.  If you have any interest that you’ve been putting off, make today the day you start on that adventure. You will feel proud of yourself for the accomplishment.  Go for it and good luck!

Cat “Meat Anchor for Hire” Cathy

Beaten, Battered and Black and Blue Equals Fun, Fit and Fabulous!

Yet Another Black and Blue Day Not Related to my Mountain Bike Story

I often come to work on Monday’s with a few bruises and sore muscles from my weekend warrior events.  Recently I was sporting a somewhat large black and blue mark on my arm from a mountain biking fall.  My coworker noticed my bruise and said “why would you do that to yourself”.  Well it wasn’t like I purposely bruised myself.  I was just out having fun, getting fresh air, enjoying nature, satisfying my need for speed and exercising when I had an oopsy daisy and fell.  There was very little pain involved at the time of the crash and burn.  The next day when I noticed the bruise I actually had to think back to where it happened. 

 

My sports and adventures make me happy, keep me fit and strong and make me feel truly alive.  So after being questioned on my lifestyle by a heavyset coworker I couldn’t help but think “Why would you do that to yourself”.  I will gladly take the bruises and sore muscles and yes even the occasional worse injuries I’ve had including a broken leg and a few torn tendons and ligaments.  At least these come with a side of strength, energy, happiness, pride and accomplishment.  Oh and a size 4 body too.   How she could let herself be so out of shape and overweight seems like a better question.  Of course I couldn’t say this as it would be politically incorrect so I just said it was fun and I feel strong and healthy.  My hope is to lead by example and maybe others will see and agree with my way of life.  If not that’s fine since we are all different but I don’t think others should criticize someone for a bruise or three.

 

Cat “Am I Blue” Cathy

 

 

 

Up Up and Away

I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. Most of this was due to my illness and injury which has made it hard to do much else. But some of it was due to my new Netflix membership which provided movies direct and immediately to my computer making for a very easy viewing habit. Most of the movies seemed to blend together and I hardly remembered them once they were over. Part of this was because only older movies and not so well known ones were available for immediate download. Still I managed to find a few that had me thinking days after watching so I wanted to share those with you here.

-Food, Inc. is a must see in my humble opinion. I want to be healthy and live my life to the fullest and seeing what is done to our food supply all in the name of making more money was really sad to me. But it also showed that we can make a difference by how we spend our money. I’ve always shopped Whole Foods and bought organic and free range meat whenever I could. I would rather pay more for food and be healthy. Plus if you add the additional costs from doctor bills (not to mention feeling bad) it’s probably actually cheaper (and feels better) to eat well.

-Timer doesn’t rank as high as my other two recommendations but I still enjoyed this movie. It’s set in a world where most people get a timer put on their wrist that counts down until the day they meet their soul mate. As a single person who hasn’t had much luck with the whole soul mate thing I found the concept interesting. How would I have felt if I knew my soul mate wouldn’t come around until my 40’s? How would this have affected my choices in careers, hobbies and in dating?

-Up was the best movie I watched. I was really just expecting something silly but it had me crying a few minutes into the movie. I couldn’t believe I was crying from a cartoon. Up was about love, life and how it goes by so fast. It was also about adventures which have always been important to me. But the movie also showed that it’s the little things that matter too like just spending time with someone you care about. And then there was the whole ‘squirrel’ thing which is now a joke I use whenever I get distracted. I’ll let you see the movie to see what I’m talking about there.

In the end I felt I was watching too many movies especially older ones I’d already seen so I canceled my membership. There’s a big world out there and while movies are a nice distraction I really want to experience real life most of the time.

Cat “Pass the Popcorn” Cathy

Threat to the Third World

My boyfriend treats me to only the best the third world has to offer and our latest adventure vacation to Nicaragua was the most exciting and adventurous vacation to date! If you grew up in the 80’s like me the only thing you associate with Nicaragua is a long civil war with Contras and Sandinistas. So I was originally shocked when my boyfriend suggested this country as a place to vacation. But in time I realized that it would be a big adventure and was relatively safe these days.

I got off the airport in Managua to be greeted by a heat sensing camera and people wearing surgical face masks. It's important to note here that I have a bit of a sinus problem. I’m not sure why and I just call it ‘part of my charm’. But in a third world country so worried about swine flu that they are using a heat camera my little annoyance almost turned into a vacation stopper!

I sniffled (something I’m known to do) as the customs agent was looking at my passport. Apparently this is a good sign of swine flu so I was quickly escorted to a back room by a ‘doctor’ for probing and other scientific experimentation. This was a bit scary since I was in a foreign land and no hablo español. Somehow we managed to decipher that they thought I was sick and wanted to take my temperature. So the nice ‘doctor’ put a thermometer under my armpit. I was thankful my temperature was normal and a bit grossed out when the ‘doctor’ promptly put the thermometer back in the case…no cleaning…no sanitizing.

But I was allowed to enter Nicaragua and our adventure began. Stay tuned for our next adventure – bribing the Nicaraguan cops!

Cat “a sniffle a day keeps the doctor away” Cathy

Kites, Boards and Lots of Pictures

I’ve posted before about trying kite boarding. I’ve spent lots of time and money on this hobby for very little reward. I have a short attention span so usually I would have given up by now but for some reason I kept trying and it FINALLY paid off!

I went to the beach to try kite boarding after work recently. This time was different since I was on the land instead of in the water so a smaller and less intimidating kite is used which helped tremendously. On the land you use a mountain board which is kinda like a skateboard but for off road. The gods must have been on my side since the winds, sand and sun were all favorable that day. So I put the trainer size kite in the air and was feeling a slight pull down the beach from it. It started off slow…so slow walkers were going past me. But hey they were power walkers! My friend and coach told me I needed a bigger kite but I was scared. Finally after seeing the backside of countless power walkers I reluctantly agreed. The bigger kite made all the difference and I was cruising along at around 15-20 mph. I was so excited and happy that I was singing as I zigged and zagged down the beach. This is such a fun sport and great for me since it combines the beach, sun, bikinis and lots of upper body exercise all into one fun filled activity.

But wait there’s more! I have to admit I’m a bit of a show off or ham as some might say. Well I guess kite boarding is still somewhat new and definitely an attention grabber with the huge colorful kites in the sky that can be seen for close to a mile. Several people saw me and decided I was picture worthy! Yep a British couple, Asian lady and several others stopped to take photos. With my limited control I don’t think they realized they were putting themselves in danger but thankfully no harm was done. I felt like a celebrity which made me feel great and added to my joy of this sport. I think my monthly hamming it up needs were met that day!

I still have a long way to go but it was a blast! I can’t wait to do it again and get in more vacation pictures!

Cat “Coming Soon to a Beach Near You” Cathy

Look! Up in the Sky - It’s a bird, It’s a plane…it’s a kite board!

I’ve always thought I was special and my mom has always confirmed this but I'm not sure I fall into the elite top 1%. I’m referring to my newly attempted hobby of kite boarding. My friend/trainer who excels at kite boarding describes it as “absolutely positively the wrong sport for 99% of the population”.

In case you don’t know about kite boarding or kite surfing it involves a big kite that uses the wind to propel you on a board through the water. You will probably see someone attempting this if you get to the beach on a slightly windy day anytime soon. Plus you can kite on land and ice so you may see the big colorful kites on non-beachy areas as well.

I’ve wanted to try this sport for years so I was happy when I finally met someone who could teach me. I usually don’t need lessons when I take up a new sport but this one seems more complicated than most. So far I’m falling into the 99% category since I’m a bit scared of all the power you can get from the wind and the weather never seems to be quite right when I finally make the hour long drive to the beach. But I haven’t given up yet. I have a dream…that one day I will be able to get up on a kite board for at least a few feet. I’ll keep you posted.

But even if I never get up on the board it’s still been a positive experience. I've had fun learning to fly the kite on the beach and getting dragged in the water, I've made some new friends and I've learned to pay more attention to wind speed and direction. I recommend trying a new sport or hobby to everyone as a good way to learn something new and keep life interesting and challenging. Perhaps just not kite boarding.

Cat “Not Flying High” Cathy