Wilderness Innovations founding member Lopez “Lopez” Lopez introduced me to Jason “Newmark” Newmark a couple of years ago. One thing led to another, I became Jason “Lil’ Kim” Kim and the rest, as they say, is history.
Actually, Jason and I share a bunch of interests; we climb, we like to cook, and we both have a wood shop in our garage. Our kids go to the same elementary school, and our wives are doctors. He’s extremely handsome, and I, ahem, am a fan of neon geckos.
I met Andy and Myia, a pair of kindred spirits themselves, and we’ve all been getting out on camping and climbing trips pretty regularly over the last year. If Andy and Jason ever had a baby together, I sometimes think that I would be the result. Setting aside any questionable fetish for the moment, allow me to explain. I am a slightly neurotic control freak who enjoys working with my hands, climbing, and surf. I also love being a dad, which these two have on lock down. The only thing I can’t figure out, is why neither of these guys like to drink beer. But I am working on that.
Andy and Myia arranged this particular trip in an effort to celebrate Andy’s birthday. We had a good crew of people, some of whom I’d never met before, but everyone was enthusiastic about the canyoneering in Zion National Park. Fellow WI members Tom and Cy joined us, as well as my buddy Roman, who is an accomplished photographer. He’s been wanting to visit Zion for years, and this was finally our chance to get him into some nice canyons to explore.
We obtained permits to do the Left Fork of North Creek, popularly known as The Subway, for the fantastic formation you see above. I’d been here before, when I did the canyon with Steve, and then with Scott, and then again with Cy. One would think that I’d remember the approach, after so many visits, but alas, my sense of direction is truly awful, and I managed to lead everyone down the wrong path.
We eventually found our way into the canyon proper, and much fun and shenanigans ensued.
I’m not sure why, but whenever I’m camping with these guys, we end up getting harassed by a ranger or camp host. It must be something about the way they look. Roman went through the Narrows while the rest of us did The Subway, and we made it through the canyon without any injuries or issues, aside from a creepy leech, and an unfriendly ranger. Oh, Tom managed to get lost on the hike out of the canyon, and I discovered that a Pixel 3 isn’t quite as water resistant as advertised. My speaker phone no longer works.
We ate a ton of good food and had a great time, and my only complaint was the unbearable heat, which didn’t relent until it was past midnight. Actually, the weather was perfect for canyoneering, but once we got back to camp, the heat was suffocating and made it really difficult to sleep. First world problems, I suppose.
On our second day, four of us (Roman, Cy, Tom, and myself) went to do Pine Creek Canyon, a short but technical adventure though a subterranean canyon system. None of us had ever done it before, and it was Roman’s first time doing anything of the sort. We gave him a crash course in rappelling and he remained enthusiastic throughout, despite his fear of heights and the injury he sustained in the first 5 minutes of our hike. He is deathly afraid of anything that slithers or hisses, and I happened to catch a big garter snake on the way out. But, these are the sorts of things that happen when you join us on trips like this.
We’re looking forward to many more fun trips with the Jungle Cock crew.