Tour of the West: Slot Canyons Part 1 -- Easy

I was going to do just one slot canyon post, until I realized we had way too much fun, and therefore way too much material to confine it to just one post.  Lucky you, you get to look forward to:
Part 1: Easy.  Willis Creek
Part 2: Medium.  Wire Pass
Part 3: More Challenging.  Peekabo and Spooky Canyons
(Note that we did not do these in this order -- we actually started with the most adventurous one first., but I'm saving it for the last post as it was the most entertaining.)

Part 1:  Willis Creek
Also Known as "The Day Nimue was Grumpy"

Day 12 of her Captivity

Nimue was sick of being in the car.
Sick of there being no wi-fi.
Sick of being outside when it was a hundred degrees out.
Sick of dirty clothes.

To any parental attempt to drum up enthusiasm, she would reply "You're being too cheerful!"   In other words, she was doing a good job of being almost-thirteen.

Given the non-existence of the "Surly Teen Ranger Program" that my friend Sarah wishes existed for these situations, we chose to pull over to explore Willis Creek, a minor drainage off of Skutumpah Road in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Note the small grumpy kid doing her best vulture impression while I climbed down into the drainage.

There was actually *water* in this drainage!  Yay.  It was as warm as bathwater, but seemed delightfully wet in the heat.

Grumpy Child decided she didn't want to get her feet wet.

The drainage wasn't particularly deep or narrow, but it was a jolly way to stretch out one's legs nonetheless.

So much so, that even though she tried to maintain the mood,

Nimue couldn't help but crack a smile.

Of course, it probably helped that I handed her the camera to make videos of her parents being dorky.  (ok, since there were no peers to witness....)

Canyons are fun.  Even mellow ones.  They make me silly and cheer up the kid :)