We arrived late Thursday night and set up camp about two miles from where the trailhead began. It was close to a run-down building and a cattle pond.  The night was beautiful with the exception of the stray horse that other campers kept chasing through our camp.  When morning arrived, we broke camp, and got ready for the day.

I was a little more anxious than the others. I had brought my mother's dog, Komet, who is just over one year old. This was his first time
canyoneering and it is always a mystery to see how an animal will react. I was counting on Komet having the same nature as my dogs that had been canyoneering before.

The beginning of the hike seemed like just a desert hike with nothing exciting or wonderful to look at. After 20 minutes and several washes, we arrived at the wash that would take us into Little Blue John. Once we began to follow the wash, unique and colorful rock formations began to rise out of nothing. The sand eventually gave way to a giant crack that seemed to tear through the rock, and our first rappel.

The first rappel was short and a great warm-up after a winter of no canyoneering. This would also be a great oppurtunity to see how Komet would handle the rappel. An anchor was already in place, so after inspecting the webbing we set up the rope and descended one at a time. Second to last to go would be Komet and me. I put Komet's rappel harness on and attached him to my harness so he would hang about two feet below me. The first part of the rappel was slanted and Komet kept wanting to go up. This was a problem because he would wear his toenails down on the sandstone. After he dropped off the lip, Komet tightened up which was a great thing so he wouldn't move around and loosen his harness. Komet did not handle the beginning part of the rappel with the same nature as my dogs would have.

Once inside the canyon it was spectacular. Rock walls rose up all around and in some cases we had to turn sideways to get through. There were some drop-offs that we chose to downclimb instead of rappel. After scouting ahead to the second rappel, we decided that the long-slanted slab that preceded the actual drop would cause too many problems for Komet. We backtracked a couple hundred yards to a spot where I could climb out and pull Komet out of the canyon.

I encouraged the rest to continue through the canyon without my canyoneering K9 and me. I spent the day playing in the desert with Komet while the others continued down Little Blue John and up the main fork. The pictures they brought back had me so excited that I travelled down to Little Blue John the next week and completed the canyon. When I returned I realized that I probably could have taken Komet down the second rappel OK, but the third one would have been bad and there would have been no easy way out for Komet.  I cannot wait to take Komet again but this time I will take him to a canyon that I have been to before. After a little training I hope to return with Komet to Blue John.