Birch Hollow with a few unexpected miles

7-8-16

DAY 20

When you put a frog into boiling water, it will immediately jump out. However, if you put it in water and slowly turn up the heat, it will just stay in the water. Well, that's how life is with this family...we have slowly been getting used to "learning experiences" that make us uncomfortable so that when big mistakes ("learning experiences") happen, we don't ask to be emancipated. Today was one of those big mistakes days, but luckily all's well that ends well.

The day started out as our last canyoneering for the trip and Papa decided to take us on Birch Hollow Canyon which is just outside of Zion National Park. The plan was to hit the trail fairly early and get off by early afternoon, so we only brought bars for food and each a Camelbak for water. What we thought was going to be 8 rappels, ended up being 11, so that took a little extra time. It was a really cool canyon with big drop after big drop, so it seemed as if you were always on rappel - 11 rappels is a lot. It is crazy that water can carve a canyon like this.

After the last rappel, Mama and I went to go get the car so that everyone else wouldn't have to hike as far. It turns out that there was some miscommunication about the route we were supposed to take. So, we continued down canyon thinking that it would end soon and the road would be near. We cruised for a few hours, but started to realize that we had probably gone farther than what we were supposed to have gone according to what Papa had said. There were still lots of fresh footprints and a discussion with a local guide from earlier meant that we knew there were two ways to get out of the canyon. Turns out, one was MUCH longer than the other. It ended up being an incredible hike through Orderville Canyon into the Narrows of the Virgin River (which is in Zion). After about 12 miles of hiking through a canyon and in water, we arrived at a shuttle stop in Zion. We were on the hungry side, so some nice people on the shuttle give us some smooshed PB&Js which tasted awesome.

Once we made it back to the visitor's center, we got a text from some nice folks from Las Vegas (Michael and Helen) who let us know they had brought Papa, Maya, and James to the supervan and volunteered to come get us and bring us back to the car. Well, they not only earned themselves their angels' wings for life, but also some real NH maple syrup.

Unfortunately, Papa didn't know we were ok, so he set off to look for us on the trail and didn't get back until well after dark. Maya and James were happy to see us and filled us in on the many miles they ended up hiking, which was a lot too. Another family from Denver with kids named Wyatt and Anna helped Papa out, so they earned maple syrup as well. They had done the same long adventure that we had (only they had done it intentionally), yet even though they were exhausted, they took the time to help us out.

We eventually got to the Watchman Campground in Zion, set up camp and fell asleep before our heads hit the pillow, very thankful for the kindness of strangers. So, some kids might ask to switch families after something like this, but Maya, James and I are kind of like those frogs who slowly have the water turned up, so I guess we're just used to it.