The Subway

This past Thursday night we drove down to Cedar City with our best friends Ben and Camille Garrison and stayed the night at my mom's. In the morning, we left Hazel behind with her Grandma and took off for the Subway. It was the most amazing hike I've ever been on in my life (my hiking history is very limited, but it really was unbelievable). The weather was wonderful, the scenery, the smell of trees, the canyons and water....all of it was perfect. We got a late start (11:30!) but it worked out perfectly because we hiked during the hottest part of the day in the very beginning when we were well-hydrated and energized. We lost sight of the trail twice which set us back a little, but it made the best part of the trail (the water!) even better.

So that second time we lost sight of the trail, we could hear and see the water down below, but we were on a cliff that was too steep to descend. It was then that David and I were hanging on to a steep ledge, trying to decide if we should use our rope and go for it; Ben was off looking for a better way to get down and fell onto a cactus...twice; and Camille was trying everything not to wet her pants since we'd been drinking so much water. We were in quite a predicament. We decided not to descend that cliff and found a better trail, thanks to Ben with his thorns, and the water was heavenly and FREEZING. Some parts you have to completely swim through, so it was refreshing, but very cold.

Another funny part of the hike was when all four of us were walking through a pool of water that was chest high. Camille was holding her camelback above her head and all of a sudden she disappeared under water! It was so fast she didn't even have time to yell out and the next thing we knew her right arm shot out of the water, throwing her bag into Ben's arms. The bag was perfectly dry while Camille finally popped back out, shocked and soaking wet. Sweet save, Camille.

We hiked until about 8:30 that night and we were toast for the rest of the weekend. We had planned on camping that night and hiking Angel's Landing the next day, but our muscles were shot and our feet were blistered, so we went back to my mom's and did nothing all day Saturday but eat junk food, play Settler's and watch movies in the most amazing theatre room ever. It was a fantastic weekend.

We love you Ben and Camille!
P.S. I really need to learn how to do one of those slideshows...there's a ton of pics!

Our first real dip in the water. We're smiling, but we're freezing.

These narrow pools were quite deep so we had to swim through and hold our bags above our heads (well, everyone had a bag but me--lucky me!). I wish I had a picture, but in the last pool, David was carrying the heaviest bag across and it pushed him under water, so all you could see was a floating bag above water and nothing else. What a champ.

Camille and I switched shoes a few times since we kept getting blisters in certain places on our feet. This helped a ton!

Since David was our photographer most of the time, Ben was the designated "catcher" on sketchy drops. This was fine when it was his wife, but on one steep rock, I lost my grip and shouted "catch me!" before I fell onto his head and shoulders. Poor Ben, you saved my life!

Isn't this amazing??

So these two studs decided to slide down this slick rock on their bums. They zipped down a lot faster than we expected!