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As it turned out, I wasn't at the top of Boulder Falls. In fact, I was at the top of another, completely different waterfall with no way down into the narrows below other than rappelling. I had no idea this second falls even existed. I could see clearly down canyon - steep granite walls on both sides, no easy way to get in. Boulder Falls, I could now tell, was just around the next bend.

Without a rope, I could go no further. Backtracking, I found a third class gully that allowed passage around the section of canyon between the two falls. I scrambled up the gully and down the other side to join the gaggle of tourists at the bottom. I still haven't been back with a rope, but I will soon.

Canyoning in the mountains of North America is in its infancy. The resource has yet to really be touched and the potential for exploitation is immense! Just looking in my own back yard I have Rocky Mountain National Park and the Indian Peaks. There's also the Snowy Range and the Never Summers just beyond. I'm a short twenty miles from and nine thousand feet below the Continental Divide. There's plenty of potential here. Plenty! All a person has to do is go out and look for it.

My friend Greg, a White Mountain Apache canyoning guide, had brought his son Miles along on an exploratory trip in southern Colorado. CD player with headphones, music cranked, Miles is in many ways, a typical fourteen year old. He carried a NERF dart, this sort of football shaped, foam thing that he played with whenever he got bored. With so much adult conversation always going on (canyons, canyons, canyons...) he would hover near the group repeatedly tossing the dart up into the air to catch it whistling as it came down. In other ways, he was not your typical teenager at all.

Quiet almost to a fault, he is the product of his cultural upbringing. Miles doesn't talk unless he has something significant to say. And then what comes out will be short and to the point. In the week we were hanging out together, I doubt he said more than 100 words. He rarely spoke unless spoken. His answers to questions, unless pressed, were monosyllabic. Tall enough to look me in the eye and thin as a rail, Miles is the kind of guy that has to try to get wet in a rain storm. You could fit two of him in his wet suit without having to push hard.

He must have been freezing, standing there, shivering uncontrollably in the cold of early morning. Stoic and not saying a word. We had made a crack of dawn start because Mark and I needed to get a jump on the drive home, and Greg, Miles and Rich had a long drive back to Phoenix. We could see the warmth of the sun high up the wall of the canyon. It would be hours before we would luxuriate in its warmth.

I went first and rapped down toward the freezing water, my pack dangling below me. The pack came into contact with the raging flow was immediately pulled downstream. Fortunately, it was tethered to me. I was pleasantly surprised when instead of the expected frigid swim, I landed in water only thigh deep. "No problem." I thought as I unclipped from the rope and started working my way along the wall toward shallow water, my tethered pack bobbing in front of me like a dog on a leash.

Miles came down next. He stopped for a moment, hanging just above the water, gazing at it plaintively. I could tell he didn't want to go in. Finally, resigned to his fate, Miles dropped into the water. His joy was obvious upon discovering it wasn't very deep. Moving carefully along the wall, Miles made his way to my stance. I pulled a canned energy drink out of my pack and handed it to him, feeling smug in the warmth of my high body fat percentage.

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With their popularity growing, the desert canyons of the Colorado Plateau see more and more traffic. As vast as this desert is, its canyon resources are sadly finite. It is painfully clear, that with more people visiting these desert canyons, the more beat up they are getting! But fear not, there is an answer. Look no further than the mountains.

In an effort to take the pressure off the canyons of the Colorado Plateau I encourage you to look up to discover more possibilities. The Adirondaks, the Sierras, the North Cascades - potential is everywhere. You just have to go out and find it. And, the moving water element just increases the fun. I guarantee, it'll be better than a day at Water World.

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