Hiking the Fiery Furnace

Last weekend Austin and I spent some time hiking in the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park with some friends. And when I say 'hiking', I mean canyoneering. I thought we would be hiking along the bottom of the canyon, but our friend, who invited us, had some different plans. He took us through a portion of the Fiery Furnace which he called The Fin and The Cave.
We hiked from the trailhead to a small area that had a railing and some steps chiseled out of the rock. Then we were led to an area where we were told to drop our packs because they would be too big for the area that we would be exiting from in the next hour or two. Our friend pointed to a small crack in the rock and told us that it was our exit point. No sunlight penetrated the crack, and it looked no wider than the width of my hips. I wasn't convinced that any of the group members could fit through that small crack in the rock.
After we set our packs down, we walked around a small fin (geology explanation at the bottom of the page) and continued climbing up the rock. I took some time to watch the others in front of me and saw them scrambling up a fin no wider than five feet, with a drop off on each side of 100 feet or more. I stopped dead in my tracks and felt like turning around and waiting for Austin in the car until he was finished. However, I made the decision to press forward and enjoy the experience. I was uncomfortable with the idea that Austin and I could die, and it would leave our little daughter without a mom or dad. It made it a little harder to participate.
After I was able to push those feelings aside, I began to climb up the fin, hugging the rock closely, and taking each step one at a time with a sure foot. We reached the top and I felt a sense of accomplishment. At the top, part of the group made a jump from one fin to the next with a 150 foot chasm to the ground between the fins. It was maybe a four foot jump, but of course I didn't do it. Neither did Austin, thankfully!
We walked along the length of another fin, took some pictures, then began our descent. We had to crawl into a small hole the size of a bean bag or smaller. We were on our stomachs, then had to turn around and start to chimney. To chimney, you put your back and hands against one wall, and your legs at a 90 degree angle on the other wall and shimmy down the length of the crack. We got to an area where we had to drop through a small hole no bigger than our bodies. In fact, one guy couldn't fit into the hole because his butt and gut were too big. He had to back track and go around.
I was concerned I wouldn't fit, but thankfully I didn't have any trouble. I was grateful for that, because there is no way I could have back tracked. It would have been too scary for me. I said a little prayer and did just fine.
After the small hole, we had to chimney some more, and then we were on solid ground again. I was so thankful to be back to our packs. We hiked for about an hour and half and it was very fatiguing.
Before we exited the canyon we took a picture at Surprise Arch (above) and then went back to our car to meet up with my parents in Moab. It was a great day and a fun adventure.