By Laurel Brown For Columbia Gorge News HOOD RIVER — Whether you prefer paddling rivers, climbing mountains, or surfing the wind, there are endless ways to get outside and experience nature in the Gorge. For lovers of hiking, climbing, and swimming, there is a new adventure waiting — canyoneering. Cascade Canyon Guides (www.
cascadecanyonguides.com), a Pacific Northwest guide company, started four years ago by Hood River local Andrew Jiminez, offers excursions to the bottom of beautiful canyons in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and beyond. Canyoneering, also called canyoning, is a sport that combines rappelling, swimming, climbing, hiking and scrambling to descend into deep canyons and explore rivers, pools and caves.
Ropes, neoprene, and harnesses are a must in this extreme outdoor sport. Though he is a professional now and a self-proclaimed low-risk taker, Jiminez first found fascination with canyons while road tripping with friends in his early 20s, working at various restaurants and coffee shops along the way. “I just started exploring canyons with friends wherever we were camping,” he said.
At the time, they were not using proper safety equipment or established routes; instead, Jiminez and his friends would descend only with ropes and excitement. As he saw more people doing the sport with helmets and harnesses, he realized everything they needed to learn. Jiminez moved to Utah where he started his true canyoneering journey, eventually spending time exploring .