Tour de Agua

On Monday, we all awoke to another day of adventure! We were told that we would be doing a lot of hiking, climbing, and splashing through water, so we all suited up in various clothing, including our Powerdrains. Those shoes could not be any more suited for this type of excursion!

2013 Powerdrains

Brian, our AOA guide, first took us down to Mooney Falls, a stunning 200′ waterfall located further down in the canyon from our campground. However, the exciting part of this particular waterfall was the descent to the base! Previous miners had etched away little tunnel pathways through the rock, but the travertine tunnels were only half the excitement. A large portion of the climb down required actual hand-climbing, as well as the assistance of various bolts, chains, and ladders secured into the rock face. Years of climbers’ hands had softened and smoothed the travertine edges, so the holds were often slippery and rounded. In short, a whole bunch of fun!

Photo cred to Heidi

Naturally, Brian was sure to tell us the story of Mooney, the waterfall’s namesake, before we descended. Although there are a few variations, Mooney was a miner who fell to his death on this climb in 1882. Nothing like a sense of security, right?!

Katie at Mooney Falls

We splashed around at the base of Mooney for awhile, and few of us followed Brian’s lead and swam in behind the waterfall. I had a difficult time fighting the current and battling the water against my face, but it was so worth it in the end! Have you ever felt like you were in the eye of a hurricane?? Because that is EXACTLY what this felt like!

After Mooney Falls, we took a quick detour to Ash Springs where Brian suggested that we all read Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire. Apparently Abbey mentions this area in the text, and it was highly suggested as a must read!

After Ash Springs, we headed over to Hidden Falls, an area that Brian promised he never takes tourists too. You see, this set of falls is not visible from any of the main trails, so most tourists do not know that it exists. We did a lot of upstream river walking and log hopping to get there, but once we did, it was so worth it.

Me and Katie

This was the first location that cliff jumping popped onto our radar. Brian climbed up to a 15-foot ledge and jumped off, showing us all that the water was deep enough and that no legs would be broken on impact 🙂 Naturally, I needed to jump! I followed Jon, Billy, and Scott up the trail, not really paying attention to where on this cliff they took me. Imagine my surprise when I looked over the edge and realized that they had not stopped at the 15-foot ledge– they had taken me straight to the top. If I chose to jump, it was going to be a 25 foot plunge!

Photo cred to Heidi

Look at my face! Clearly I was terrified 🙂

Scott launched himself off first, and his terror-filled “Holy shit!” while falling was enough to make my stomach start twisting! Jon assured me I’d be fine, but I totally had a moment of sheer panic. Billy was a little nervous too, so he and I made a compromise: we’d head back down to a lower ledge, do one of the smaller jumps, and then work our way up to the big launch.

However, when we reached the 10-15 foot ledges, I realized that I was being a big baby and needed to man up. Billy and I looked at each other, started laughing, and both turned around and headed right back up to the big jump!

Photo cred to Chris

Have you ever done a cliff jump where you fall for so long that you still have time to panic halfway down? That’s exactly how this was for me! Enough said 🙂

After Hidden Falls, Brian took us to our final destination of the day: New Navajo Falls. You see, in 2008 the entire canyon experienced massive floods that changed the dynamic of the rock. The water was diverted away from the original Navajo Falls and that area now runs dry. However, the water re-routed to the area where it currently flows, and created New Navajo Falls. Granted, I had never seen the original version, but I absolutely cannot imagine anything more beautiful than New Navajo Falls!

Photo cred to Heidi

Brian, once again, showed us what an awesome guide he is! He took us on a little walkabout that included walking through streams, under small waterfalls, through another hurricane-like waterfall, into a “hot tub” of warmer water, and concluding at yet another area for cliff jumping.

Y’all, I seriously felt like a little kid again! I have never seen a group of adults play and laugh and splash like I did during this day. Everyone was able to forget about the real world and just enjoy the time that was given to us in the canyon. I even watched Andy, one of the PR guys for Columbia, climb the same cliff five or six times in order to perfect a dive….instead of belly flopping it the way he had on his first attempts. It made me smile 🙂