Repelling and Low Camp

It's Monday and that means two things: first you repel and then you get a crash course introduction over several miles to the equivalent of having a small person on your back. It's also your first day after sleeping on the ground all night. Luckily, I had invested in a Therm-a-rest pad and not just the thin one but the 1-1/2" thick old man version. Here's a pic of Randall, my tent mate for the week, and his wife Rachael who bunked with the three girls. I took this picture as we climbed up the back side of the rock we were about to repel down.

We waited quite a while for our turn and all the kids were very patient. James here works on the Bible lesson for the day. Just as Emily was getting ready to repel I rushed back to my pack to get my camera. When I got back to take the picture, she was gone.



Oh well. I was ready though to document the beginning of Shelley's decent. She had gotten on Hope's line and a portion of the wall where you back over a precarious edge. Once you repel half way on this line, you free fall without touching the wall. All of our crew went down without a hitch.



Our crew leaders were Becca and Andrew and they did a great job at the bottom of the ropes not only communicating with the top of the rock but encouraging the repellers as they made their way down the rock face. This is Becca getting psyched up for her enormous responsibilities. Little did she know that she would soon be at the end of her rope.

After a short drive south on US 285, we headed west on CO 114 to a long dusty dirt road that took us to the trail head. This is where the work began. For the next two days, everything we were going to need for our stay was going to have to be hiked not only in several miles but up several hundred feet.

Thank goodness the first day is only a short sample of the main hike. Getting to 'Low Camp' wasn't too bad. This is our group dropping our packs in the pack area and getting ready for the night. Just after this came the rains. It probably rained for two hours. We had already set up our tents as well as the tarps over the crew areas where you cook. By the time is we were ready to 'hit the sack', the rain had stopped and we didn't have to deal with water seeping in the tent during the night.