A shot of Craig and I disappearing into the slot. Rick was hanging back and capturing the effort. Notice the water in the stream has surfaced here, and gave a clue how it might rage if there was a rainfall in the flood plain.

Notice the rocks and debris that plugged the slot in a number of the narrows. Several were of sufficient density to cause pooling and others were high enough to require climbing. Some of the pools were deep enough to be well over my head and require swimming. At least one of the barriers was high enough to turn me around, some miles in.

Let's talk about those pools. Here I am struggling along on the rocky, sandy and slimy bottom with my shirt held carefully over my head. The water was cold and we wanted something dry to wear for the trip out. Did I mention the DEEP holes that were well over my head that snuck up on you? So much for a dry shirt!

Now your are going to ask how Rick kept his camera dry with the pools and holes. Thinking about it in retrospect, I always went first and when I hit a hole that dunked me, he swam those areas carefully. Crafty devil! Regardless, had to include THE Rick in one of the pools. Yea there was a lot of swimming involved.

Looking at the pictures, it is still hard for me to believe that beauty like this exist anywhere except on post card displays and naturalist picture presentations. My thanks to Craig and Rick for their patience with the old man, dragging him along.

The rational will always wonder what possessed the first guy to hike up one of these slots, faced with some of the obstacles and the ever present dangers of a flash flood crashing down the slot from a storm many miles away. We went because at least some of us had been there before, but for the first...?