Yankee Doodle... watch for falling lizards

[deathtointernet]

First off let me say hi... hi. My name is Jeremy, I moved to the St. George area a year and a half ago from Wisconsin. I may have seen pictures of a slot canyon at some point beforehand, but I certainly had no idea what it was. I didn't even have the slightest clue what Zion was about. My first time to the park I seem to recall huffing and puffing on the Emerald Pools Trail. Then I encountered my first slot canyon, and canyoneering became the means to answer to the age-old question, 'What the hell is down there???' Long story short I've been working my way through the canyons, learning as I go. Memorial Day was my chance to try Yankee Doodle, a canyon I had somehow missed out on up to this point.

The entry rappel was straightforward. Lots of little biting flies hanging around the anchor but not in the canyon.



So I'm sitting in the dirt at the bottom of the rappel, rigging the rope to make for an clean haul back up when the canyon is over, when all of a sudden one of my partners cries out: "ROCK!!!" I'm glad I'm wearing my helmet, because with a loud THWACK! it lands a foot to my left, and that's when I realize it's not a rock, it's a lizard that fell into the canyon almost on my head.



It was in pretty bad shape, but amazingly by the time I left it had recovered somewhat, bringing its legs into a more natural position and moving its head around. Thankfully it's aim was off and that I had my helmet... going to the hospital with a concussion from a falling lizard would've been a bit odd.

So moving down canyon there's a bunch of fun downclimbs. I get to spend my day as a human anchor for the less sure members of the team. At the longest drop I just get done sending down the last person when I realize that there's a shiny little bolt in the rock right above me... I don't want to start any angry debates, but it seemed a little silly seeing as the walls were absolutely perfect for a super easy downclimb... and I don't consider myself to be a particularly strong climber.



We did end up running into two pools of water (and some puddles that were somewhat easily avoided), one ankle deep and the other knee deep. Enough to justify bringing the 5.10s, I guess.





Nice little canyon, lots of fun climbs. I still can't believe I almost got divebombed by a lizard. I suppose there's a moral somewhere in the story about wearing a helmet because you never know what the canyon is going to throw at you, but seriously...

[jman]

Nice first post! thanks for sharing. I wonder how the lizard fell in the first place.....hmmmm.....

[Don]

Welcome. Nice TR. Stop by the newbies section and introduce yourself (I'd love to know what's up with the name too)

[Iceaxe]

Nice first post....

And welcome....

[ScoutColorado]

As others have said, nice first post and welcome.
But as far as that lizard - I'm thinkin' that your partner threw it down to bonk you, and yelled rock!
That would be what MY partners would do - but then again that's my partners......

[Cirrus2000]

Hey deathtointernet, welcome! I missed this post 'cuz I was canyoneering at the time, and when I was trying to catch up I guess I missed some... I saw your post in the Boundary....... thread, and followed it back to here. Hope your little collared lizard buddy is OK.

I had a look at your Picasa albums, and they're great! (Yeah, I subscribed - it's what I do...) You do a great job of telling the story in your captions - thanks for that. Off to view more of the back catalog.