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Thread: Henry VIII, Cohab Canyon

  1. #1

    Henry VIII, Cohab Canyon

    ...or Cohab Canyon Wives, Capitol Reef 5 Nov 2013...a tale of two Canyoneering history stories.

    Story No.1:

    Henry the Eighth of England (b. 1491- d. 1547) had six wives.

    They were, in chronological order: divorced beheaded died, divorced beheaded survived (in that order...a nice little macabre mnemonic for a schoolboy to remember). Of course these wives never cohabited (well..not too many of them at once anyway).


    (image courtesy of BBC)


    Story No. 2:

    Move forward about 465 years or so, and another Brit is looking for a conquest (of the canyon kind). Not quite in the same vein as Henry VIII: Not looking to shag anything that moves...certainly not Tudor, anyway.

    So in late 2013 I'm looking forward to my trip...airline tickets paid, car hire paid for, a few weeks away from arriving in Utah and I'm in the throes of wondering where I could do a snippet of a Canyon. I find not one iota of National Park happenings due to a simple financial misunderstanding between two rather similar political parties (this was of course to
    be resolved before my eventual arrival upon USA shores).

    Whilst waiting for the politicians to sort themselves out, I happen across Bluugnome, which describes some potentially interesting canyons in Captol Reef, so I print some beta and hope for the best. Actually I print some more! because it has lots of stuff!

    At the same time, I find a certain Utah Outdoor & Canyoneering Forum of our acquaintance going through a hiatus due to some ruckus about a software upgrade:



    (yes, Admin, we have spies in the UK too...Snowden is not alone and vb is an English invention .



    But I find the Bogley homepage still active, and lo and behold, there's French_de waxing lyrical about the same place:



    A few weeks later, I arrive hot-foot in St George with enough loose change in my back pocket from the decks of the Las Vegas tables to be able to buy a 240 foot rope to descend the 200 foot free rap in Wife 3. Thankfully, the Utah State Governor has stepped in to keep the Parks open.

    At the trailhead:



    At the top of the canyons. The gps locations were very useful in locating which Wife is which:



    My first Wife is Wife 3 with the big rap. Setting up at the top:



    Short vid of the drop. I used two carabiners for additional friction, it being a glossy new rope...this was probably unnecessary (after the fact), but it was a comfort due to my inherent fear of heights.


    (source: http://youtu.be/vxVHLX_1mZ8)

    (I don't know why I spun...I use an ATC-type device. Because of the new Imlay rope?

    I climbed back up to do Wife 1, and collected my 240' rope from the top on the way.

    All in all a lovely few hours out. My next trip will include a few of the others for sure!

    The NPS Staff at the Visitor Centre were very helpful. They couldn't of course issue a permit (none required), and were initially nervous about me asking them to make a note of my departure time and anticipated return time. But my winning boyish charm won them over (stop laughing at the back!), and eventually I was able to persuade them to make a note,
    including my vehicle details.

    Needless to say, they were grateful that I popped back in on the way out to let them know of my safe descents. I wonder if something could be done by a local Canyoneer to resolve this possible dilemna with the NPS...a bit along the lines of the arrangement at Goblin Valley but at a level at Capitol Reef NP, rather than State Park level at GV?

    I think the six Wives in Cohab Canyon should be called by the names of Henry the Eighth's wives (and TOTGA, of course!) For him to have so many wives (and to think that only one actually survived him), he must have Cohabited quite a lot during his reign.:

    In the order of their marriage, and for the purposes of historical completeness, the wives were as follows, with Henry's comments as recorded:

    Catherine of Aragon (m. 1509 - 1533) "Out, yer cow", said 'Enry

    Anne Boleyn (m. 1533 - 1536) "off wiv 'er 'ead...she's too damn ugly!" said 'Enry

    Jane Seymour (m. 1536- 1537) ..she gave birth to the heir, Edward VI "[Sob] how I miss the luverly lass [/sob] said 'Enry...yeh, likely story!

    Anne of Cleves (m. 1540 Jan. - July) "Out, yer cow", said 'Enry

    Kathryn Howard (m. 1540 - 1542) "cor, not anuvver ugly cow? Knock her effin block off!" said 'Enry

    Katherine Parr (m. 1543 - 1547). "another sup of my loverley homemade soup, 'Enry?" said Katherine.
    Last edited by Rob L; 11-26-2013 at 12:28 PM. Reason: Add date

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  4. #2
    I always thought the multiple wives were a play off the Mormon polygamy thing...

  5. #3
    Thanks for the trip report. Dizzy.... sooo Dizzy.....
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  6. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by deagol View Post
    I always thought the multiple wives were a play off the Mormon polygamy thing...
    Yes, you are correct: http://www.math.utah.edu/~sfolias/ca...anyonames/#ecr

  7. #5
    Thanks for the great trip report Rob. And thanks for a little history from over there.

    It is too bad our wives in Cohab do not have individual names. Hello.... I'd like you meet my third wife,,,,,,, her name is Wife 3.

    oh! one more thing. I think Kathryn Howard was the hottest! . Don't you think? Who'd want to execute her?

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  8. #6
    Great report Rob! Thanks for sharing!

    Quote Originally Posted by french_de View Post
    Who'd want to execute her?
    Doug has zero ex-wives, I'm guessing.
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  9. #7
    Content Provider Emeritus ratagonia's Avatar
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    Henry did a great kindness to Anne Boleyn, bringing over a swordsman/executioner from Belgium who was highly skilled. Typically it took English axemen 3 or 4 strokes to get the head off, while over on the continent, it was done in one stroke.

    My contribution to today's history lesson...


  10. #8
    Rob L you certainly don't act like someone with a fear of heights.

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