Nov. 2018. Narrated by Wyatt, transcribed by Doug.I'm only 7 months old and didn't really understand the term"canyoneering."To me it sounded like all the other fun stuff we do when we go out adventuring. To be honest I didn't really understand "adventuring" either.
So after my people finally finished whatever they were doing putting stuff in the camper (this was my 4th camper trip already so I knew great things were ahead and had learned to equate camper with fun!) I jumped in the back seat of the truck and off we went.
Two days later when I woke my people up, (I'm always up first!) they started pulling all that stuff they had put in the camper back out and laying it out on the rocks! I didn't care, I chased the sticks they threw. They put a harness on me and then they put on what they kept calling backpacks. They were a little like my harness but a lot bigger. It's pretty fun leaning what all this stuff is. We all started hiking back up the road but very soon turned off into a wash.The ground was very rough and my people kept checking my paws. I don't know why, I was fine! Mom said she brought the booties, but I'm glad they didn't put those on me. I don't really like them that much. We continued up over a ridge and then down into a wash. It was fun in the wash because I could run around at will.
But all that soon changed! The wash started getting narrower with high walls on both sides. I came to a spot that was too steep and too high to climb or jump down so I ran back to my people. They told me "Time to drop in Wyatt!" Dad just handed me down that first step but it wasn't long before we came to a BIG drop! They pulled the leg loops out of my harness and put them on me, then tied me to a rope that was attached to some more stuff on the wall. They spent a lot of time taking out ropes and rigging up some kind of silly stuff, but the next thing I knew Mom was attached to a rope and dropping over the edge of the cliff. My eyes got real big and I just sat there! Dad did some more adjustments and then came and got me and unclipped my harness from one rope and into this rope! I didn't know what was going to happen but then I was just lifted up and over the edge I went! I was scared at first but the harness holding me calmed me right down. I think Dad was lowering me because I could see Mom and I was getting lower and closer to the ground. Mom had some rope in her hands too and I think she was pulling me out away from the wall so my feet wouldn't drag. Before I could even process it all I was on the ground and Mom was petting me and saying how good I was. I just knew I was happy to be down.
We continued down the canyon and they had to help me climb down with the rope a couple more times. I was always really happy to climb down to Dad. I had to rappel a couple more times too but it was all ok because I felt like a pro now. Where ever I could I ran ahead to check what was coming up. Finally I ran ahead and there was no more canyon! We came out onto a river. Oh good! I wanted to chase sticks in the water now. My people pulled out their rafts and blew them up. I knew what these were because I rode around in them when I was just a puppy. It was fun riding in Mom's raft again but it wasn't that long. We got out at another canyon and after mom and dad packed away the rafts, started walking up. This one was pretty wide and easy so I got to run all around. I came across this really big bug but decided to leave it alone. It was really weird though because after walking for a little while, there was our camper! How'd that happen? My people were really excited and telling me congratulations for doing my first technical canyon. It was fun! Look at the video they made, I'm a star!
