The Narrows at Zion’s National Park

So Mar kinda summed up the trip, but I’ve got to go into more detail on at least a couple parts.

First of all… the ride up the mountain at 6am on the 8th of September. Winding up the hill is bad enough, but then you leave paved road half way there and it becomes bumpy too. You know, my stomach doesn’t really care for food before a certain hour of the day, and that hour is usually after 9am. I don’t know what I was thinking having orange juice and a banana at 5:45am.

So I get a little motion sick at some point. Put my head down on the bench in front of me in the van to rest a bit and try to minimize the motion sickness. At some point along the way I heard Marianne say from the bench behind me “Does anyone else feel like throwing up?”

I didn’t. I was a bit dizzy but yeah– the motion sickness was all upstairs. Didn’t feel anything in my stomach, didn’t feel like throwing up.

After about an hour or so, the van suddenly stops moving. We’re to our drop off point. Strangely, having the motion STOP caused my saliva glands to kick into overdrive. That’s when I know I’m going to launch. I’m on the second to last bench in this big van, waiting for most everyone else to filter off the van. My turn. As I reach and start to climb out, the first wave comes. I keep my mouth closed and hold it in. I take a couple steps outside the van and, if you’ve ever wondered why Garth calls it “spew”– this is it, hahaha. Projectile vomit. Orange juice, chunks of banana, and a wee bit of bile.

One of the guys that had been sitting on the front bench laughed at the sight (I would have too). I had a smile on my face too, hehe. I took a few more steps and then crouched down to finish the job. And then… I felt AWESOME.

Marianne said something to the effect of “Ah, our first memory of the hike!” (I think it was Mar…)

See, people hate vomiting or they’re afraid of it. I love it for this reason– it totally relieves discomfort like this. I don’t know why, but somehow vomiting balanced out my system and there was no more motion sickness– instantly. Normally it would take several minutes for that kind of motion sickness to wear off. Nope– gone instantly.

And I chuckled to myself the whole day about how I had started it. I dunno way it’s so entertaining to me, but it is.

So the rest of the hike– while Jesse was the last to get his feet wet, being pretty spry jumping from rock to rock, I was the first to just say “screw it.” and go trudging through the water. No biggie, I figured. I didn’t think it was *that* cold. Then again, I was the only one who didn’t think it was chilly enough to wear a jacket that early in the morning up in the mountains. I’m thinking it’s that 3-4% of body fat I think I put on over the summer (instead of losing it).

The river… oh man. Look at some of those pictures and see what kind of rocks are on the shore and in the river. Imagine the water being a wee bit deeper so you can’t actually see those rocks because the water is murky from mud or whatever. And then feeling your way along with a walking stick trying not to slip or twist your ankle between rocks. It was a chore to say the least, and explains a stress fracture in my right foot and some severely sore calves (they still hurt today, almost a week later– tho not so bad that I’m gimpy like I was until maybe yesterday).

16 miles in all, hiked in one day. If I were smart I would have done some conditioning prior to the hike so that I could have at least enjoyed it more and not been *quite* as beat up afterwards.

The sunset was gorgeous as we walked (well, I don’t know if you could call what I was doing “walking”) back into our camp site. Had I the energy I’d have taken a picture. It’s probably been 15 years or so since I’ve been to Zion’s National Park, what a pretty place it is.