I've discovered one of the coolest things about having a significant other is having someone to go on adventures with. For those that have followed my blog for any real length of time, you know I go on a lot of adventures armed only with my camera and a tripod. Since the recent addition of a human, however, I've noticed I really do enjoy having a walking, talking buddy along for the ride.

We ventured out on our day off this week to go hike up to Hanging Lake. I'd never been there before and despite the iced-over snow we had to slip and slide our way up the course of the mile long trail, it was well worth the hike to see the sparkling turquoise water and listen to the waterfalls while we had the place to ourselves. It was a quick trip since I was dying to get my hands on some BBQ I'd been promised after the hike, but I'm excited to go back sometime later in the summer when the trail is a little less treacherous.

Last week, I was lucky enough to get to accompany my boyfriend and three of his buddies on a two-day rafting trip on the Colorado River through Westwater Canyon in Moab, Utah. Being very early in the season, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. The sun was shining brightly during the 60º day we ran the rapids and despite there still being snow on the banks of the river, the water wasn't nearly as cold as we'd feared it would be.

We all work together on the mountain, so we hit the road as soon as we could on Tuesday evening after we were off to go set up camp at the put-in site and prepare to hit the water on Wednesday morning. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed a nice fire before hitting the sack with intentions of getting an early start.

The next morning, two of us set shuttle (took one vehicle to the take-out location so we'd have transportation when we finished) while the others got the boats inflated and began loading and packing things up.

Christian and I R2'd a 10.5 foot raft while our friend Wolk went in a kayak and our other two buddies, Bjorn and Dan decided to see how effective two grown men would be in a one-man inflatable ducky.

It was an absolute blast spending two days on the water and camping in the canyon. Being my first rafting experience, I got very lucky and Christian and I managed to keep our boat upright and avoid swimming. The other guys were not as lucky, but it would've been no small task to avoid it given the circumstances.

It'd be hard to really sum up the trip in writing without making this the longest post ever, so I'll leave it up to the massive amount of photos below to give you a better idea of the experience. It was absolutely beautiful in the canyon and I can't wait to go back and experience it again.

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3.20.14 : hanging lake.

3.5.14 : rafting westwater canyon.

Chelsea Tuttle Photography