Paragon (Minaret) Canyon with Supe, Beacher and Jem!

 We got one more day of adventure in for Fall Break when Supe, Beacher and Jem let us join them to go to Paragon Canyon.  Supe has been telling us about this and we were so excited for it to work out for us all to get to go finally!  It started with a roller coaster ATV drive out to the very start of the canyon.  They dropped Paul and I off for a short hike to the place in the canyon where the rappels get started.  It was a lot of fun to do the first part and see how the canyon started being carved at the top and then got better and deeper and MORE carved.  We met them at the beginning of the 9 rappels that you do to get down and out the other end of the canyon.  SO COOL!  Or as they say now - "SICK"!  (I don't get that one!)  Supe and Beacher are both great at this sort of stuff and Supe was great at getting it all set up and taken down each time and keeping all of us safe as well.  Jem came down in his kid pack on Supe's back every time.  And wow, what a canyon!!!  It was crazy in both sections to see the wood that had been washed down and had gotten stuck in the top.  Paul and I had to crawl under some in that beginning section and created a cave over the canyon down very low.  It was such a fun time to be with all of them! And in such a beautiful place!  We saw no one else once we left the starting point in the ATV.  (And that ride was better than any roller coaster ride at Lagoon!)  

When we came out at the bottom of the canyon Supe, Beacher and Jem did a short hike up the hill to where the ATV was parked.  Then Paul and I hiked down canyon to meet them at the end where they drove to in the ATV and then hiked down to meet us.  Our river walk/lunch was a beautiful and very interesting one.  When they met us Supe took us on a short hike to see some amazing petroglyphs down there.  Then we all hiked back up to the top and had another crazy/fun ATV ride back to the truck.  We left at 8 am that morning and made it back at about 6 pm.  We didn't really hike that far, probably 5+ miles only, but with the drive out and all of the getting people set up to rappel and all the rest, it made for a full, great day of it.  Jem did so great.  He got a little sad at nap time and after seeing a dead bluebird in the canyon, but he napped (unbelievably) on their ATV ride to the end to the pick up spot and was all sunshine again after that!  And...he got a lot of outdoor potty-training practice during the whole day too!  

(Oh, and just a note:  Beacher is several months pregnant with baby sister - due in December - and was still a pro-rappeler and hiker and ATV rider!)