Mexico

[nelsonccc]

Monterrrey, Mexico. Heaven? Almost. Going to be tough to head into Zion this weekend after spending a glorious few days doing canyons that are simply magnificent.

Friday.We hit Laberinto first. Limestone, with water and a few old tires that would make great deadmen anchors. Salto second. Great views, fantastic approach hike (more like a sunday afternoon stroll) and a great arch.

Saturday. Chipitin. Great scenery, lots of great water with an orgasmic finish. Can I say orgasmic on UUtah?

Sunday. Matacanes. What can I say or add that hasn't been said already? Nothing like floating through the cave in perfect darkness, hiding against the wall and making a 17 year old Arhart scream like a baby. Good times. He later punished me by demonstrating how old, fat, and slow I was on the hike out.

Monday. Hidrophobia. Can you say jump? Nothing like hucking yourslef off a slippery edge 80 feet in the air. More like 40 feet but it sure the hell felt like 80 feet. I jumped so many times and had so much water forced into my sinuses that I had to declare all of the extra water at the customs desk.

Superb time had by all. Great cabana mates, great company. I now know what a cow feels like and I'll now look with empathy on all cattle trucks on the road. Thanks to Tom for organizing the trip and a big hand to the wonderful guides. Thanks to all who shared in the fun.

[Jaxx]

wow looks awesome. Thanks for posting.

[Wasatch]

Nice place, my friend was on that trip as well.

[rockgremlin]

kewl!! how popular is canyoneering with the locals?

[FOX]

Nice pics Chris! Those canyons were amazing! I had a lot of fun hangin' with you guys! Gotta do it again soon.

[shaggy125]

The videos should be post able sometime next week, it's long days at the hospital over the weekend but then I should have time to edit. The video turned out really nice, For those that went on the trip it will be a great reminder of how awesome it was. I know when I watched the raw footage I wanted to jump on a plane and do it all again!

Eric.

[FOX]

kewl!! how popular is canyoneering with the locals?

Since no one else chimed in on this I will.

The locals love these canyons and are very proud of them, Matacanes in particular. We got hung up behind two groups of Noobs doing Chipitin because it was so busy. Some of those noobs had never rappelled before. It was a litle scary seeing the horrified looks on some of them as they reached the 300 ft. exit rap out of Chipitin. A rap which takes you down a waterfall. It was very lucky for the guides that no one got hurt. I certainly wouldn't want to do a 300 footer my first time out.

Matacanes is supposedly the best or most visited canyon in all of Mexico (according to the guides) There are groups running it daily during the summer. It's not extremely technical. One or two raps but what makes it so much fun is the constant swimming, sliding, jumping and caves (Chuck lost his headlamp in one of them, you could see at the bottom...in fact, it's probably still on) It's kind of like a Disney ride, think "Pirates of the Caribbean", without the pirates. Just a big, fun water park!

[rockgremlin]

Interesting. I guess Mexicans are slightly different than other Latinos in that they get outdoors more often. When I was in Ecuador, I would often suggest to go hiking in some of the fabulous mountains they have there. Most of the time the reply I got was "Why would you wanna go walking around in the dirt and the bugs?" --- Which by the way, is a very valid question, but nevertheless demonstrates their overall lack of interest in outdoor activities.

[nelsonccc]

kewl!! how popular is canyoneering with the locals?

Since no one else chimed in on this I will.

The locals love these canyons and are very proud of them, Matacanes in particular. We got hung up behind two groups of Noobs doing Chipitin because it was so busy. Some of those noobs had never rappelled before. It was a litle scary seeing the horrified looks on some of them as they reached the 300 ft. exit rap out of Chipitin. A rap which takes you down a waterfall. It was very lucky for the guides that no one got hurt. I certainly wouldn't want to do a 300 footer my first time out.

Matacanes is supposedly the best or most visited canyon in all of Mexico (according to the guides) There are groups running it daily during the summer. It's not extremely technical. One or two raps but what makes it so much fun is the constant swimming, sliding, jumping and caves (Chuck lost his headlamp in one of them, you could see at the bottom...in fact, it's probably still on) It's kind of like a Disney ride, think "Pirates of the Caribbean", without the pirates. Just a big, fun water park!

Sorry for the late response. Came back from Mexico on Tuesday and was in Zion on Friday (TR in a day or so). In any case I agree with Kyrell, (Mike?) they seemed quite proud of the canyons and there was a tremendous amount of people on Saturday and Sunday, but oddly enough I didn't really feel like it was crowded or that my "wilderness experience" was ruined. Perhaps we can learn a few things from the mexicans concerning the group quotas and sizes.

For a good story you should ask Chuck one of these days why it required two naked people (of opposite sexes I might add) to attempt a headlamp retrieval. I guess when you need your jollies you need your jollies.

[rockgremlin]

For a good story you should ask Chuck one of these days why it required two naked people (of opposite sexes I might add) to attempt a headlamp retrieval. I guess when you need your jollies you need your jollies.

Ya, that sounds like Chuck.

[FOX]

It was Chuck's "Blue Lagoon" moment...