Moab

I don't know why this is underlined. I can't make it go away and it's frustrating. So let's just try to ignore it. So... I've heard from a few people that I'm due for a blog post. Consequently, I feel like there's a lot of pressure to make this one quality. My reason for delaying postage is the same as it always is--lack of pictures. I have been doing awesome things here but most of them have involved lots of water and therefore not involved my camera. Thus--a lack of pictures. But, I'll try to do my best with internet fill-ins so you can at least get the idea.

Since I've been in Moab I've been sent on three whitewater trips. The first was down Westwater Canyon. Here's a map of it.

This map probably doesn't mean a whole lot to many people, but there you go anyway. Skull rapid is the gnarly one. I've actually been down Westwater three times now and one boat flipped in skull our second time through. Everyone was just fine, of course. Just a little cold.

I've also been down what is known here as "the daily". Every rafting company in Moab runs this stretch of the river everyday. Hence--the daily. It's a fairly simple stretch of river and this time of year especially is advertised as a "scenic float" with only class I and II rapids. But I enjoyed it a lot. One day this summer when I'm able to start guiding, this is the trip I will be doing. The best part of the daily is that it's beautiful. It goes through an area called Castle Valley and it seriously looks like this:

Pretty, right? Anyway, every guide here just talks about getting daily burnout, which I can definitely imagine. But for now, we're friends.

The third trip I went on was just last week. It was a three day trip through Cataract Canyon. And it was so fun. Cataract Canyon is kind of the trip down here. The rapids are huge and here's the map.

This 100 mile section of the Colorado runs through Canyonlands National Park and ends at Hite Marina in Lake Powell! The worst part of this trip was being in Lake Powell and turning around instead of going waterskiing. So painful. Our company (Western River Expeditions) is the only company that uses a raft called a J-rig to run Cat (as Cataract Canyon is affectionately known around these parts). Here's a picture.

And no I'm not on there. But you can sure pretend. These boats are 37 feet long and 18 feet wide. Just the rubber for each boat weighs over a ton and is lifted out of a semi using a crane. These things are legit. And a good time.

So there you have it. Well, most of it anyway. Brian and some Provo friends were down here last weekend so once I get some pictures from them I'll throw them up here. I've also done some rock climbing and hikes and such but again...no pictures. My bad. Sorry if that was boring--but there's the update!