Guide School Day 11: Joel's Canyon

Tessa and Brenden were the leaders of the day today.  Tessa had predicted that she would be leader of the day today, as she was scared of repelling and figured that the guides realized making her leader of the day would be the only way to get her to do the repelling.

Chris talked to us about Joel's Canyon the night before.  He told us what a special place it is for him, and how he plans to have his ashes scattered at the top of the last repel when he dies.  It was a pretty touching and real talk.

I awoke at 5:30am (after sleeping for 9 hours!) since Tessa was leader of the day and wanted to get an early start to the day.  I didn't end up leaving my sleeping bag until 6:15am, as it was pretty cold out.

Rio Grande from Entrance Camp (photo by Manuel)

Dance circle for warm up (photo by Manuel)

We left camp at 9:10am for Joel's Canyon.  I carried 1 liter of water (since I only brought one Nalgene), 3 blocks of cheese, 2 knifes, my harness and repelling device, my helmet, my water shoes and socks, and a rain jacket in JT's small day pack.  I opted to take JT's 14 liter day-pack instead of my 25 liter Camelbak because his doesn't have a rigid suspension system and hence could be stuffed into the bottom of the dry bag I was sharing with Manuel.  We hiked 2.14 miles to the head of Joel's Canyon.  I stayed near the front of the hiking group with Sean (my designated hiking and harness checking buddy for the day) and kept up well with the pace.

Hiking on a faint back-country trail in the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel)

Joel's Canyon (photo by Manuel)

We had some short but steep uphill climbs.  Brenden slowed the pace after people complained after the first uphill, and I thought the resulting pace was very comfortable if a bit slow.  The group kept wanting to stop for water and/or to remove layers, which led Chris to seem worried that we were moving too slow.

We saw a pack of 15-20 cattle illegally grazing on Big Bend land in the Mesa de Anguila as we hiked today.  I'm assuming they belong to the Hispanic man we saw on a horse the previous day.  Chris said we are technically supposed to report the cattle sighting when we reach the Basin, but that in general there is not much the park system is going to be able to do.  This started an interesting discussion between Brenden and Chris about cattle grazing in the park (Brenden was noting that ranchers have historically used land on both sides of the border without any restrictions).

 Hiking through the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Jakub).

 Hiking through the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Jakub).

Manuel's GPS track of our hike from Entrance Camp to Joel's Canyon

When we got to the head of Joel's Canyon (at 11:27am), we put on our harnesses, helmets, and water shoes while Chris, Emily, and Sean set up anchors and ropes for the first two repels.  The pool in the middle of the first repel was knee-deep, so I was happy for my water shoes but sad that my base-layer, tights, and nylon pants would not roll up past my knees.  I went down 7th, after Ellie and before Manuel.  Hence, Ellie usually belayed me, and I usually belayed Manuel.

For each repel, there was always someone at the start of the repel to make sure you connected to the rope properly and to coach you through the start of the repel.  For me, Emily did the first repel, Sean did the second repel, Sean did the third repel, Sean did the fourth repel, Emily did the fifth repel, and Chris did the sixth repel.  Since Chris, Emily, and Sean were always moving through and setting up new repels, they would often leave their post when another one of them came through.  However, either Chris, Emily, Brenden, or Sean were always the last person down a repel.  Once you were past the start of the repel, whoever was belaying you would coach you on how to best repel down the rest of the route.

The first repel was probably the 3rd longest, and required going through a knee-deep pool partway down.  The start of the repel was just through a tunnel and up a scramble to a ledge, which required an awkward entry.  I made an undignified entry on my stomach to the ledge, where Emily was tied in and ready to check me and coach me on the start of the repel.  Once you trusted the system and got over the initial ledge, the first repel was pretty straight forward.

Jakub's picture of the start of the first repel (where Emily is on the ledge in the pink jacket) from above.  The repel ends near the person standing at the bottom.

Waiting in the end of the tunnel for Ellie to clear the beginning of the first repel (photo by Manuel).

Hooked in and going over the ledge (photo by Manuel).

 The entire first repel (photo by Manuel).

The second repel was pretty short. However, it had a really weird start - you had to lay down on your stomach and slide down between two rocks and place your feet on a ledge that you could not see.  After you did that, the rest of the repel was pretty straightforward.

Laying on my stomach as Sean tries to describe to me where the ledge for my foot is (photo by Manuel).

Found the foot hold, but trying to squeeze myself between the two rocks (photo by Manuel).

 The entire second repel (photo by Manuel).

Then we had lunch in waves in a wider part of the canyon.  We had packed in tortillas, cheese, lettuce, hummus, oranges, trail mix, Oreos, chicken, and tuna.  I also changed into my dry hiking boots here, since word was that the rest of the repels would be dry and my hiking shoes would give me better traction.  As we finished lunch, we went to the 3rd repel which Chris, Emily, and Sean had moved quickly to set up.  We had two long ropes, so we could have two repels going at any given time.

The third repel was somewhat awkward in that it was narrow and required a squeeze through two rocks near the beginning.  Then you had to sit on a rock part-way down to reorient, before free repelling to the bottom.

Waiting with Sean at the top of the third repel (photo by Manuel).

Hooking in for the third repel (photo by Manuel).

Zack going down the last part of the third repel (photo by Manuel).

The fourth repel had tricky footing at points, and required you to switch walls some.

Going down the start of the fourth repel (photo by Manuel).

Repelling down the fourth repel, with Ellie belaying (photo by Sara B).

The fifth repel was my favorite and the second longest.  The middle part of it was down a water shoot where you could go quickly.  It was so much fun!  Near the bottom (and a small pool of water that you would naturally land in) - your belayer and someone else had to pull your rope as you jumped across the (now larger) water shoot to avoid landing in the pool of water.  This repel was also cool in that it allowed people who had finished to look back and watch other people do the entire repel.

At the start of the fifth repel (photo by Zack).

A bit further down the fifth repel (photo by Jakub).

Coming down the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).

On the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).

Doing the jump on the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).

 Belaying Manuel on the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).

The sixth repel was by far the longest.  Sean had went first, and found that the normal route had 15-20 bees near the bottom.  Hence, they moved the ropes to a place with less bees but with a much more difficult route.  The new route was awkward to start, and required a bunch of free repels with awkward starts and landings before going into an awkward water shoot that you had to straddle.  However, Tessa - who was very scared of repelling - wanted to go down the easier route with bees.  Hence, Chris moved the original rope back to the normal route (which now had no bees) and rigged a new rope for use on the new, more difficult route.  Then, we started having people use both routes, with the normal route taking about 1/3 of the time of the new route.  I went down the normal route, which was awesome.  Although it kept pushing me to the right and I needed to go straight down or to the left, it was still a very straight-forward and fast route.  I went to look at the other route after I got to the bottom and belayed for Chris, and am happy that I did the normal route since it allowed me to go quickly (which is a great feeling!).

View from the top of the last repel (photo by Zack).

 Sean belaying at the bottom of the more difficult route (photo by Manuel).

The dinner team had already headed back to camp to begin preparing dinner when I finished the sixth repel.  Once Brenden, Emily, and Sean were the only ones left to repel, the rest of us headed back to camp with Jakub and Billy.  We started walking down a wash and then I found the carn we were looking for to leave the wash.  I then I led our informal group back to camp.  It was cool to see that I could easily follow the faint back-country trail (which was better defined and better marked than I expected).

Once back at camp, we ate tacos with beans, cheese, lettuce, mango, and oranges.  Multiple people - including Hannah, Tessa, and Chris - said I looked so happy and excited all day.  I really had a blast and I'm glad it showed.  Repelling at a fast speed was awesome, and getting through some tough, challenging spots was cool.  It was also neat to be in such a rarely used back-country location.  Such an awesome day!

Our tent all lit up at night (photo by Manuel).

Guide School Day 10: Ledges Camp to Entrance Camp

Zack and Sarah Rose were the assigned leaders of the day today.

My sleeping pad was on a weird split incline, so I slept somewhat poorly because I could either sleep on the split incline or I could sleep on flat ground against the side of the tent (which seemed to be a better option, but led to me waking up often due to cold).  I woke up at 5:30am, since Hannah and Tessa were on the food team today, but didn't get up until around 6am.  Apparently Hannah had a dream about nature taking revenge on us and Tessa started her (apparently) nightly dreams of having sex with various people in our group.  Pretty strange but interesting dreams.

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal and yogurt.  It was a really cold morning, so I had some hot chocolate and two packs of oatmeal before having a bit of yogurt followed by some hot water (to 'clean' my nesting bowl).  I had left out my wet water shoes (old tennis shoes) and wool socks to 'dry' overnight - what a mistake!  They were frozen and pretty miserable to wear in the morning.

False Sentinel from Ledges camp (photo by Manuel).

Ledges camp in the morning (photo by Jakub).

We loaded the canoes - Sean and I took the big kitchen dry bag, two ammo boxes with food, 2 8-gallon water jugs, and the Groover. The Groover is the portable toilet that we used for solid waste.  The equipment team would set it up somewhere a short distance from camp that was both private and had a good view.  We would then use a paddle to designate whether it was in use - when you went to use it, you would take the paddle from a tree nearby and when you returned you would replace the paddle.  We were supposed to take a bit of hand soap after using the Groover and go wash our hands in the river.

Our introduction to the Groover the night before (photo by Manuel).

We got on the river at 9:13am, and it was extremely cold.  We only had 4.14 miles to paddle today.  We stopped to take a water break and a snack break.  In general, the paddling was simple today so we didn't need to stop and scout and/or line any rapids.  However, it was extremely cold when we were not paddling, to the point that I would start shaking every time we stopped.  At one point I remember thinking that I was the coldest I had ever been.

On-water water break (photo by Manuel)

We didn't quite run this rapid shortly before Entrance Camp correctly...

 ...which led us to run into the river cane (photos by Manuel).

We reached our camp for the night - Entrance Camp - at 10:53am.  We were all terribly cold, and Zack was semi-hypothermic as evidenced by his decreasing ability to function and his blue fingers and toes.  Emily tended to Zack (warm sleeping bag, warm drinks, rest, ect) as the rest of us unloaded the canoes, changed into dry, warm clothing, and enjoyed some warm drinks.

Once we were dry and warmer, we set up the rest of the kitchen, tents, and the Groover.  Then the food crew prepared lunch.  After lunch, we had two Leave No Trace presentations.  The first was one by Sarah Rose and I on the 'Dispose of Waste Properly' principle.  We focused on packing out trash and on disposing of human waste properly in different environments.  The second presentation was on the 'Leave What You Find' principle.

Entrance Camp (photo by Manuel)

Sarah R digging a cat hole in the sand for demonstration purposes during our Leave No Trace presentation (photo by Jakub).

Entrance Camp from the kitchen area (photo by Sara B).

Our canoes nicely lined up for the night at Entrance Camp (photo by Jakub).

Originally we were scheduled to have paddling practice in a calm area near camp, but the water and air were so cold that the 4 guides decided a hike into the Mesa de Anguila was a more appropriate activity.  It was an optional hike, so about 5 people stayed behind and about 11 of us went on the hike.  The original idea was to hike across the back-country to see the Rock Slide rapid from above.  We started by hiking up the cliff by our camp, and then joined a rarely-used but carned back-country trail.  We took the trail for a while, but eventually Chris decided that we would need to walk 45 more minutes to get to the Rock Slide rapid and that we didn't have enough time to get there and back to camp before sunset.  Hence, we went back to camp on a more visible and quicker back-country trail before taking the faint trail back down the cliff.  Partway down the cliff, we detoured to see the Entrance Rapid from above, which we would be tackling early Wednesday morning.  I walked near the front of the group as we hiked, usually behind Brenden and Chris and right before Hannah and Zack.  We walked against and through many spiny bushes and cacti, which left lots of thorns in my sweat pants and socks.  I learned on this hike to only wear nylon pants (even thin ones) when walking in the back-country - sweat pants were a terrible idea (they were a magnet for spiny things).  Ellie got some spines in her hand and Sara B got a few spines in her feet (that's why you wear close toed shoes!) - both required tweezers to remove.  Sara B noted that even upon returning home she still had two spines in her foot.

The mouth of Santa Elena Canyon from our hike up the cliff (photo by Manuel).

 Hiking up the cliff from Entrance Camp (photo by Manuel).

Entrance Camp from the hike up the cliff (photo by Jakub).

Hiking across the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel).

Group picture taken with a timer in the Mesa de Anguila (photo with Manuel's camera).

Wide-open space in the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel).

Short break during our hike in Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel).

Manuel's GPS track from our hike - Start: 3:01 pm. Finish: 4:48 pm. 1.95 miles round trip.

It made me really happy to go hiking in the back-country!  It was neat to see so far, and to see no one but us.  It was also pretty cool to hike in an area that very few people visit.

We did see one person today, once while canoeing and then once at camp.  It was a Hispanic guy on a horse.  He ignored us, and we attempted to ignore him.

We had dinner shortly before dark.  The do it yourself kebabs were good - but there was not enough food and some people resorted to eating leftover quinoa from my group's dinner the night before.

Tent mates! (photo by Manuel)

Great sunset photo at Entrance Camp (photo by Jakub).

After dinner, we had another Leave No Trace presentation on the 'Minimize Campfire Impacts' principle.  We carried two fire pans on this trip in which to build fires, which is one way to minimize impacts.  Chris said that UT is trying to move towards not having any fires on trips.  However, sitting around a campfire is important to some people, so in those cases, we should attempt to minimize the impacts.  In this presentation, we learned how to build a 'log cabin' base for starting a fire using small sticks and kindling.

Although some people were sitting around the campfire chatting tonight, I opted to go to bed early after our final meeting of the night since I did not have kitchen duty and I had no personal dishes to clean.  It was to be the coldest night on our trip, so I slept in long underwear, tights, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweatshirt inside my liner and sleeping bag.  It was still pretty cold all night.  I used a cotton scarf to cover my nose and mouth to make breathing easier (to avoid breathing really cold air).

Tessa and I were talking in the tent after she had been assigned to be leader for the next day about what day I would want to be leader.  I stated that I would strongly prefer to do the Emory Peak hike day because I thought this day would showcase my abilities best.  Only after saying this did I remember that Chris and Billy were in the tent right next to us, and were probably awake.  Whether they heard me or not, (spoiler alert) I got my wishes and led the Emory Peak day on the last day.

Guide School Day 9: Lajitas to Ledges

Hannah and Sean were the assigned leaders of the day today.

My team (Sean, Sara B, and Manuel) was in charge of meals today, so we awoke at 6am to start breakfast. We had all slept at Brendan's house near Terlingua. Brendan's house was simple, but had really pretty stonework and beautiful land. Their property actually included a cliff behind their house, and Brendan had apparently explored all around the cliff when he was younger. He said he had planned to take us up to a cave if we had arrived earlier the day before.

We served wraps and instant oatmeal for breakfast. The wraps contained bananas, raisins, and peanut butter, and we had walnuts and dried fruit to mix into the oatmeal. Clean-up was easy, since we just had to boil water and then wash the knife used with the peanut butter.

Chris and Sean took one of the suburbans to Terlingua to attempt to fix a window that had stopped working the night before and had fallen down into the door. However, the mechanic had said it would be impossible to get it fixed in 'this part of Texas' on a Saturday. So Chris arranged with Far Flung Outdoor Center (who was shuttling our vehicles anyway) to deal with the repair while we were on the river.

We drove the two suburbans to Lajitas, and unloaded our canoes and gear near the river by the Lajitas Golf Resort. Meanwhile, Chris and someone (Jakub maybe?) drove the two suburbans to Far Flung while we loaded up the canoes. They came back in one suburban with a guy from Far Flung, who drove away in our suburban soon after. Far Flung was to drop both suburbans at our takeout point by 10am on Thursday (4 days later).

 Loading up the canoes at the Lajitas put-in (photo by Manuel).

We put in our canoes at around 10:45am. The canoe pairing were assigned by Chris that morning, and I was paired with Sean. I was happy with this pairing, since Sean seemed to have canoeing experience, and he also seemed like a great guy from my experience with him so far. Since he was a leader of the day, we were the chase boat until our lunch break, which meant we carried the rope bags and were the last canoe down the river. In addition to the rope bags, we also carried a few ammo boxes with food, the big dry bag with heavy cooking equipment, the portable toilet (more on that tomorrow), and some 8 gallon jugs of water. Throughout the trip, Sean always liked taking what many would say was more than our fair share (which was fine with me).

Calm water and beautiful scenery (photo by Jakub).

Scouting Matadero rapids (photo by Jakub).

We stopped for lunch after a few hours of paddling. My group served pitas with hummus, deli meat, cheese, cucumber, sun-dried tomatoes, apples, chips, and cookies. After lunch we continued paddling to the Ledges camp, which was 7.88 miles by river away from Lajitas. After lunch, Sean and I were the lead boat, and hence had to read the rapids and run them first. Sean did a great job reading the rapids and giving me directions. He also had a great attitude, and was patient and encouraging with me.

Sean and I causally paddling (photo by Manuel).

Sean resting while we wait for other boats to catch up while we were lead boat (photo by Manuel).

I'm also resting while we wait for the other boats to catch up (photo by Manuel).

We choose to line the canoes through two rapids after lunch. These lines were not easy, and both required at least some people to stand in the middle of the rapids. On a simple line, two people can simply use the bow and stern lines to walk the canoe along the shore while staying on shore. However, these rapids required people to stand in a well spaced line throughout the rapid and slowly pass each canoe through the rapid using the bow and stern lines. The first lining operation was messy, since many of us had not lined canoes before and the operation was not well explained beforehand. However, the second lining operation went much better - although the rapid was more difficult and I almost fell in due to the strong current.

The terrain between Lajitas and the Ledges camp (which was shortly after False Sentinel) was mainly desert, but there were some large cliffs. We saw no one after putting in at Lajitas, which was pretty neat.

We reached the Ledges camp shortly before dark, and we immediately unloaded the canoes and set up camp. We started by lugging all the personal gear to one location, all the group gear to another location, and all the kitchen gear to another location. Then, my team worked with Chris to set up the kitchen and start cooking. Meanwhile, another group worked with Jakub and Billy to set up the tents and organize and clean the canoes while the third group worked on outdoor skills with Emily. We spent about an hour setting up camp before we could change into dry clothing.

Ledges Camp (photo by Hannah).

Dinner was quinoa with tuna, salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeños, and celery. For an appetizer, we served apples with chips and salsa. For dinner Sara B made a cobbler in a dutch oven using 2 cans of cherries, 1 can of diced pineapple, 1 box of yellow cake mix, and 1 stick of butter. Everyone - except for one person who complained that we mixed in the tuna and salmon - liked the quinoa, as it was tasty and plentiful. The cobbler was pretty amazing - I'll have to include it on a future trip (assuming I take a dutch oven, which is kind of a pain due to weight and the need for a fire or a fire bowl and charcoal).

Sean manning the stove, while Brenden reads a book (photo by Manuel).

After dinner, my team heated river water on the stove and washed the dishes using a four bucket system - one bucket was for gunk, another bucket was for soap and water, another for rinse water, and the final one was for water and bleach. After we finished washing everything, we strained each bucket as we dumped it in the river (and packed out the trash caught by the strainer).

We had two Leave No Trace presentations after dinner - one on the 'Plan Ahead and Prepare' principle and another on the 'Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces'. Each presentation was less than 30 minutes, and had to include a visual aid and an activity.

I shared a 3 person Mountain Hardware Hammerhead 3 tent with Tessa and Hannah the entire trip. This first night, we all attempted to sleep the same way, which led to a slightly tight fit. Thankfully, the tent was long enough for men though, so we could fit a bit of our gear in a pile at our feet. At some point, I accidentally called Hannah 'Heather', so we jokingly stuck with it the rest of the trip. I also became 'Karen', and Tessa became 'Tiff'.

Hannah and Sean were great leaders of the day, mainly because they worked well together and were well organized. Sean told Hannah that his main goal was to make sure she had a great experience leading (since Sean is already a guide in the program, but just hadn't attended guide school yet). Sean and Hannah were great choices for the first leaders of the day as they set a great tone for the trip and a good bar for future leaders of the day to meet. My only complaint at the time (which I did not voice) was that Hannah and Sean seemed overly enthusiastic at points - but as I got to know them both better throughout the trip, I realized that the enthusiasm probably was real. They are both two really amazing people that I'm glad I got to share this trip with, and that I'm looking forward to working with in the future.

Guide School Day 8: Driving to Big Bend

We met on Saturday morning at 5am. We packed the cold items into ice chests and loaded our personal gear into dry bags. However, we decided to take a raft at the last minute, since Chris had seen that the water was high in the Santa Elena canyon and we had almost too much gear to carry in canoes.  Hence, we ended up leaving at 7am after pulling and packing the raft.

I rode in the back seat of the suburban towing the box trailer with Ellie.  Zack, Manuel, and Jakub were in the second seat, and Billy and Chris were up front.  Apparently Chris was unhappy that all the current Outdoor Center guide school participants clustered in the other car, so in Junction Zach and Manuel were moved to the other car and Sarah Rose and Sean moved to our car.  Chris and Jakab claimed the move was to unite Leave No Trace groups, which was true, but clearly not the main reason.

Ellie, Jakub, and I chatted some, and we all slept some.  We reached Fort Stockton at 1:30pm after driving really slow for 15 minutes since the other suburban was running out of gas (ours was only half empty, so the canoe trailer was causing a lot of drag with canoes on the top row of the rack).  We went to Walmart first to get some forgotten items (soap, dry bleach, more snacks), and then we went to Sonic for lunch.  We also moved the canoes on the top rack of the canoe trailer to the top of one of the suburbans.  We finally left Fort Stockton around 3:15pm.

We arrived at Brenden's house near Terlingua around 6:10pm.  We unhitched the trailers and then went into Terlingua to see Brenden play at The Starlight at 6:30pm.  He played for about an hour while we ate dinner.  I sat at a table down by the stage with Hannah and Tessa.  I had a chicken sandwich, fries, and a local draft beer (I'm not so sure of this was allowed, but we were far from the rest of the group so no one saw anyway) - and then the three of us shared a root beer float.  Brendan's show was actually really nice, and a great way to start the trip.

 Brenden playing at the Starlight Theater in Terlingua (photo by Manuel).

After Brenden's show, we drove back to his house, met shortly, and then fell asleep in the living room, kitchen, and an outdoor patio. Those of us sleeping inside chatted with Brenden's mom Wendy for a while.  Apparently she is selling the house soon since she works at a national park in Del Rio now, and only comes to Study Butte on the weekends (she worked in Big Bend National Park until about a year ago).

 Sara B and Big Dog settling in for the night in the kitchen (photo by Manuel).

Guide School Day 7: Repelling and Food Buy

Today we met at 9am near the Zilker Hillside theater. We gathered our helmets and harnesses and walked a little over a half mile to a 30 foot rock face where we could hike up and repel down.

I had never repelled before, so I was nervous - especially since some of the outdoor rock climbers (who should be comfortable in a harness and repelling) seemed nervous.

Emily and Chris set up two different lines, and they went down first (without a belay, and to show us how). Then we went down the lines one by one, always belaying the person after us.

When it was my turn, the line going through some trees was open.  Tommy helped me connect to the rope, and then Chris helped me get started. The idea is to keep your feet wide, keep your weight back in your harness, use your left hand for stabilization, and keep your right hand on the rope behind your right hip.

Starting my first repel! (photos by Jakub using Manuel's camera)

I was a bit unstable at the beginning of my first run, but got down with no issues and felt pretty confident by the time I reached the bottom.  I did four more runs, two on the tree route and two on the other route, which had a small overhang.  I got faster and more confident on each run, and was going as fast or faster than most people by the end.  I think I caught on quickly!

After a short lunch break, we met at the outdoor center to pack equipment and food.  I was in the food team again, as I knew my group's meals best.  Chris gave us a sheet with everything that each group's meals needed, sorted by type (ie, meats, fruits, dry goods, ect). We checked to see what items we already had, and then left for HEB.  Zack, Jakub, and I gathered the necessary fruits, vegetables, meats, and items without a category.  Our final bill for everything came up to just under $800.

Once we returned, we sorted the food into the 18 planned meals and packed everything into dry boxes.  We gathered our personal gear and finished around 7:30pm.