These are the great friends ("the over-fifty group")I went with on this trip. Kathy is on the left. She's a friend of 20 years who I've played volleyball with, and to whom I taught photography, and from whom I learned sewing, and who is a chiropractor that somehow by God's grace and her great skill manages to keep me functionable and able to hike. Next is Pat (in the middle) who is a friend of 10 years, who laughs with me and cries with me and does my taxes (not necessarily all at once). Next to her is her daughter, Colleen, (not "over-fifty" but we let her come) who is a doctor and who always has a different viewpoint to spice up our conversations and the energy to keep us moving. We made a great team this year, but we missed our hiking partner of previous years, Paige, who kept us laughing and climbing great heights to pinnacles undreamed of... Missed you, Paige!

This is a photo of Kathy & Pat forging their way upstream on the Virgin River through The Narrows, a section of Zion Canyon.
It was beautiful, awe-inspiring, and at times I just couldn't believe I was really there! I was always at the back of our group because I just couldn't help stopping every once in awhile and taking my camera out of the dry bag, and then out of the ziplock, to take a photo, then putting it back in the ziplock and back in the dry bag to walk a couple more feet and do it all over again! Thank goodness they stopped every once in awhile to let me catch up!

You can't imagine how small you feel in a canyon like this.