1st 10 year old to canyoneer Maui EVER

[Renatomic808]

6-29-2013

So I finally got my daughter to come out. I had to bend a few of the words to get her out. We told her we would just be hiking.. and maybe play with the harness a little.

We've rigged "guided rappels" for her, and told her it would be "like a mini zip-line". Since "zip-lining" is very popular here. So she got all excited.

The approach is a nice short 30 minute hike up, with some light bushwhacking. She wasn't too happy about the 300ft elevation gain. Or the bushwhack. She was pretty upset, and whiny the whole way up. Talking about escalators, helicopters, and 4 wheeling to the top. Once we got to the top of the 1st rappel (40ft) she had a borderline freak out. Some tears.. some panic.. and fear. It was starting to drizzle, and get windy, so the temperature dropped a little. I talked her through, and threw her into a wetsuit. She definitely felt much better once warmed up.

Everyone else went ahead. Me, my girlfriend and my daughter were left. I told her, I would be helping her at the bottom, while my girlfriend would be guiding her from up top. We rigged it as a guided rappel (a.k.a. zipline), and she was good to go. First 10 feet, she had to rappel down normally, and with that; lots of fear.. but once caught into the guide rope, her beautiful smile, went from ear to ear. Beaming and giggling.. "That was fun!"

Then she asked if there was another. We told her yes. She wanted to know how big... I couldn't tell her it was 90ft. We just had to show her. We got to the top, and looked down. She said, "I don't want to do this one". Fortunately that's the only way out

We sent Tim, Kerri, and Cody first. After realizing everyone was fine, Kayla relaxed A LOT. I went down next, once again to rig the guided rappel. I'm at the bottom waiting, and didn't realize she was super excited to get rigged up. Once she headed down, and the rope caught her again.. this time for the last 70ft of descent.. man she just couldn't stop smiling. Her words "Can we go again!? This time lets take the easy way up, and climb"

We then ended up at the plunge pool at the bottom near the road. We jumped, swam, and had a nice water slide at the end. Such a playground here on Maui. In the end, she had the best time of her life. She wants to go again.. but somehow remove the bushwhack, and less uphill.

[Eric Holden]

Very cool, some excellent pictures! but..............Nipple rings on rappel scare the crap outa me!

[Slot Machine]

Ren! Congrats on getting your daughter into a canyon! I'm always on the lookout for escalators, just like her. Great report, as always!

What kind of armor are you wearing on your legs? Looks durable.

[Renatomic808]

Very cool, some excellent pictures! but..............Nipple rings on rappel scare the crap outa me!

I don't mind the rappel with my rings.. its the bushwhack that scares me. One well placed twig into the ring, and a slight turn could potentially leave me nipple-less.

Ren! Congrats on getting your daughter into a canyon! I'm always on the lookout for escalators, just like her. Great report, as always!

What kind of armor are you wearing on your legs? Looks durable.

They're paintball kneepads. These particular ones don't stay up easily when wet. VERY nice to have.