September 24, 2025

Rappelling down a waterfall can be both an exhilarating and awe-inspiring experience for canyoneering enthusiasts. It requires pushing yourself physically and mentally while simultaneously taking in the natural wonders around you.

Michelle Martineau and a group of her neighbors aren’t new to rappelling down local waterfalls. But, after having to help her friend begin her descent before reaching the waterfall, she was left rappelling in the dark. Luckily, Michelle had a Garmin smartwatch with a built-in flashlight to help her along the way.

“You never know when your adventure can go from perfect to total disaster in an hour or less,” Michelle said.

The rappel

Late one afternoon, Michelle and her buddies geared up and started their trek to the rappel station at the top of Rocky Mouth Falls near Sandy, UT. During the short but steep hike, one of the climbers had a mini panic attack and needed to abandon the excursion and rappel down from a lower point.  

As Michelle and her friends helped the climber, rappeler after rappeler passed them by.

“In my head I was thinking ‘oh no, this is not great,’ because, you know, it just takes a lot of time to get people set up safely and down,” Michelle said. “I just tried to focus on getting my friend down safely, which we did.”

By the time they resumed their trek up the falls, it was 7:15 and the line was 90-minutes long. As daylight faded, Michelle realized she didn’t bring her headlamp.

With darkness closing in, she tried not to worry. As her group, the last of the day, geared up for their rappel down the waterfall, Michelle remembered that her fēnix® 7X Pro had a built-in flashlight.

Wanting to have both hands available while she rappelled, she pointed her wrist toward the bottom of the fall and relied solely on her fēnix flashlight to help keep an eye on the rocks around her.

“… The whole area is very slippery, but it gave me just enough light to be able to see where I could tell it would be less slippery,” Michelle said. “There’s a lot of moss in certain areas and less moss in certain areas that were dry rock.”

With no light left, she said the excursion could have been potentially dangerous without the help of her Garmin smartwatch.

“I think that’s probably what ended up getting (me) down the waterfall safely because I can’t even imagine trying to do it basically blind. That is what it would have felt like,” Michelle said.

After seeing Michelle use the flashlight feature and how helpful it was for her in a situation like this, two of her friends went home and purchased a fēnix 8.

“They immediately saw the value in how that could come in handy,” Michelle said.

For Michelle, being able to use the flashlight saved a trip with her friends and “turned a sketchy descent into a story we’ll laugh about for years.”

Be prepared for your next outdoor excursion and browse all our Garmin adventure watches. Check out the Garmin blog to learn more about our smartwatches with built-in flashlights.