For the last few weeks, I have been aching to do this hike. I've even thought of hiking it by myself without a permit. Back in the day when it wasn't so popular, we could hike it as many times as we wanted without a permit. I remember one summer hiking it around 13 times.
We'd park at the bottom of the trail and hitch-hike to the top. Usually it would just be one of ranchers going up to Kolob and we'd hop in the back of their truck up to the Wildcat Canyon trailhead.
(Subway mornings are my favorite)
It was a really good 11 year old scout leader, Ross Burton, who originally introduced me to this hike. We first hiked it up and back from the bottom, then the next time we did it from the bottom to the top because Ross wasn't familiar enough with the terrain to find the canyon from the top down. When we did first attempt a Top-to-Bottom hike (again with Ross helping out), it was a teacher's quorum hike and my Dad was in charge. It nearly turned into one of those scouting disasters that you read about in the newspaper. We were lost, dehydrated, separated and Dad ended up carrying one of the boys back out himself.
The key is to stay to the left. Ross knew that we should stay to one side of the canyon or the other in the beginning, but wasn't sure which - and we chose poorly. We've since learned.
So with the current lottery system...good luck on getting any permits. I saw that I was going to have Friday off, so I texted my brothers and told them to sign up for the last minute lottery under both their name and their spouses name. There were over 45 applicants online that we were competing against and somehow Shana's name was drawn for 6 permits.
Ironic that the one person who least wanted to go ended up drawing out.
(Totally photobombed by Carin)
Just the two of us right before dropping down into the chimney.
This is where Laynee broke her leg the year before. Mason is demonstrating how not to buckle your legs. We brought a little rope this time.
This is our traditional lunching spot. It's after the Keyhole and right before One-arm Falls.
This was possibly one of the most entertaining hikes through the Subway we've ever been on. Now we understand that it is useful to have a little rope for certain places. We've hiked it for years without any rope, but learned our lesson last year with Laynee's accident, but this group took it to a whole new level.
This photo is an education in photobombing. There is layer upon layer of photobombing. This is Mason's Christmas miracle - to be in the Subway in his usual hiking attire (swimsuit and sneakers) while in the same photo with a group of hikers with full-body wetsuits, helmets, and full rapelling gear...and Joellen is just icing on this surreal cake.
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