See that?

See that crack in the ground (yeah I added arrows to help you out)

That's Water Hole Canyon. It's in Zions, it's an awesome hike that starts at the end of the long tunnel, you go down a slot canyon and end up back at the bottom of the canyon.

You hike through water, and there are many rappels.

You see I used to LOVE to rappel, I have all my own gear down stairs. I used to love a fun challenge.

Now that changed when I went on this pretty hike. It's been YEARS ago. Seriously like 12 years ago. Joel and I and a bunch of his friends went on this hike.



Have you ever had a single moment when you can place when a phobia started? I can name when all 3 of my phobias started...This was when one of them became my phobia.

We were part way down the slot canyon, we had already tackled a few rappels...in other words, the only way out was to keep going down.

We hit a rappel where you climbed out over a log that was wedged in the canyon and swung down over it. Almost everyone flipped in there harness. In other words their feet where up and their heads where down...NOT COOL!

Dangling upsidedown on a rope never seemed fun to me, especially when no one was trying to go commando style.

I kinda freaked out, I remember that it probably would not have been that big of a deal, but I was one of the last to go, and the 10 or 12 before me and mostly flipped.
I was feeling dumb, because these weren't my friends, no these were Joel's friends that I was comfortable with, some I barely knew. I panicked!

That was when my fear of heights came in. Granted this particular rappel wasn't very big, but it was single handedly that moment that solidified a new fear in me.

The funny thing is that I did fine on all the other rappels, even the 200 foot drop off the water fall. But the rest of the time I felt an embarrassment over the fear I had at that rappel.

Never again has my gear been used. Sure I've done little rappels with the youth, but thats all.....


...so when Joel and I went to Zions a couple weeks ago, we hiked the Zions overlook that starts at the end of the tunnel (same place as water hole canyon) we went off the trial to peak over the cliff and find the slot canyon...and you know what?

I kinda want to go again.


We actually saw some people in their wet suits getting ready to start the hike, and that made me want to go even more....maybe time to try and face my fears? who knows.