A Family that Plays Together... 

By Señor Rojo

Photos by Monique Beeley

Growing up is tough.  The teen and pre-teen years are some of the most difficult times a maturing young man will ever encounter.  Believe it or not, all male adults have been through the same wringer of an emotional, gut-wrenching period into emerging manhood.

The Hanson family of Rye, New York had been planning a family trip to Utah for well over a year.  Dad T.J. is the Vice President of Marketing for Thule USA, the leading manufacturer of vehicle sport racks, boxes and carriers for bikes, skis, kayaks and outdoor gear.  In his capacity with Thule, T.J. attends the Outdoor Retailer Market held semiannually in Salt Lake City and has visited and experienced many outdoor adventures throughout the state. Accompanied by the editors of Outdoor Utah and leading guide service providers, kayaking, skiing, flyfishing, hiking, river running and canyoneering have all been on the agenda over the span of a few years. While you’re here to work, you may just as well have some fun in Ma Nature’s playground.   So captivated with Utah’s great outdoors, T.J. vowed last year to return again and introduce his family to the state with an adventure vacation.  Zion National Park and the surrounding area was the chosen destination.  Slot canyon hiking and canyoneering the selected activities.

Slow and steady gets it done

But Amy and the boys, slightly apprehensive, were excited to make the trip and looked forward to the adventure.  No more than T.J.  He was stoked!  He couldn’t wait to show his family what he, himself had experienced in Utah. 

The Hanson family members are all athletic, fit and vibrant.  Amy, a teacher, has to be.  Her pre-school students are four year olds!  Eleven-year-old Russ plays football, baseball and attended a ten-day Outward Bound training session that included the rudiments of rappelling.  Keith, 13, is into water activities – scuba diving, kayaking and, on the academic side, marine biology.  Dad?  Well, he’s big, tall, and strong as an ox.  Physically, they’ll all do well wearing a harness.  Mentally and emotionally, time will tell. 

We meet in Springdale outside Zion on yet another ho-hum gorgeous Southern Utah evening.  The evening glow radiates a spectrum of color off the massive stone buttresses surrounding The Bit & Spur Restaurant, one of our favorite haunts.  The four Hanson’s exchange greetings with editors Monique Beeley and Señor Rojo from Outdoor Utah and Rojo’s wife Madre Karina.  The adults order a pitcher of Margaritas and soon we’re joined by Dean Woods and Travis Tomlinson, partners in Zion Rock & Mountain Guides, one of Utah’s premier canyoneering, climbing and mountaineering guide services.  Highly qualified and safety conscious and for good reason. The partners are part of the Zion National Park Search & Rescue team. Travis, sore back and all, will stay home tomorrow and run the shop.  Dean will guide us into one of the many slot canyons in the area.  After another splendid Bit & Spur dinner, we go over to the Zion Rock store to fit the Hanson’s with harnesses, pass out gear and get a brief orientation on tomorrow’s adventure.  Amy and the young lads are awestruck.  

We meet Dean early the next morning.  Six-thirty and the coffee’s on.  We all collect sack lunches and stuff gear, harnesses, helmets, rappelling devices, ‘biners, water and camera into our packs.  Mo’s pack is oversize.  She totes lots of photo gear and protective cases.  Slots are hard on equipment. 

One small step for a young man

We slowly and carefully work our way down a steep scree field, switchbacking to cut down the slope.  At the bottom, Dean announces, “here we are”, drops his huge Imlay pack, pulls the ropes out, starts rigging and tells us to harness up.  He checks all for proper leg adjustment and waistband safety double-back.  We’re ready to rappel! 

The Guinea Pig Rojo first, followed by Karina and then Mo to set up for photos at the bottom.  The three are seasoned canyoneers, but this is not an easy, straightforward drop.  The first part is quite technical and a degree of experience is helpful.  Amy is next.  Her first drop.  Slowly, slowly she descends, ever so silent.  Finally on the ground, she cries up to Dean, “off rappel.”  Breathless, she says, “I’ve never done anything like that before.  I’m just a pre- school teacher!”  T.J. and Russ follow.  No problem.  Even a bit of experience pays off.  Now Keith.  Over the edge, panic sets in.  “I can’t do it,” he gasps to Dean “I’m coming back up.”  Dean calmly explains to him that the rest of the group is at the bottom and that we need to continue on. Down below, T.J. asks what alternatives exist if Keith doesn’t make the drop.  We explain that Dean would have to come down and instruct us on the use of ascending gear and technique to go back to the top, a process that is not only extremely difficult, but time consuming.  Not an option, except in an extreme emergency. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to concerned parents, Dean and Keith together appear over the edge and ever so slowly rappel to the floor.  Sighs of relief and high fives.  We gather gear and move on to the next drop, considerably longer than the first one, Keith’s demon.  But the kid now has some cautious confidence and says he’ll take it on his own.  He does and several more follow, and at the bottom of each his grin widens.

A person who says that they didn’t have a measure of anxiety doing their first rappel is either a liar, a fool or both.  At the end of the day, a maturing young man summed up a great family adventure with one statement to proud parents, “That was really fun.  Can we do it again sometime?”