GETTING JUST LOST ENOUGH IN THE SAN RAFAEL SWELL

One by one, I watch our group descend the yellow lifeline. Brenda, my girlfriend, is the last one to disappear into the void between the umber rocks. There’s a sudden silence. I look around at the weird oblong towers and a feeling of being totally encapsulated in this alien landscape bubbles up in me. I peer down into the entrance. The drop is something like 80 feet. I can see one ledge below me, and beyond that, just air. Brenda hollers that she’s on the ground, and I start hooking my belay device onto the rope to rappel.

We’re “caving” in the desert of Utah’s San