In November Kirsten and I loaded up the tacoma and drove south-west to the Utah desert. The plan was hopefully meet up with some friends, and hopefully climb some desert cracks. Luckily for us both of those were abound on our trip. We didn’t exactly know what was in store for us, neither of us having spent any time climbing in the desert before. We found some good climbs, great friends and plenty of desert inspired shenanigans.
Our first night in camp enjoying what was about to become a very warm bonfire. I’m holding Mary’s super cute and sleepy mini-goldendoodle puppy. She was a terror in the sand, every day turning into a literal dust devil.
This is Kirsten top roping a 5.10 hand crack at the end of our first full day of climbing – Blue Sun on the Way Rambo wall. Everyday had the same basic schedule: wake up around 7 or 8 and wait until the sun came around the walls, then get out of the tent and make coffee and breakfast. We’d relax and stretch out in the sand for a bit then get packed up and head off to climb, usually stopping at one of the few vault toilets at one of the trailheads. Then we’d climb until we ran out of sun, head back to camp, make dinner and enjoy some food and beer by the fire.
The parking lot at the end of the day, tacomas and vans were the vehicles of choice for many.
There’s no cell service in the Creek so everyone leaves notes on a message board to let their friends know where they are. Tip for next time – leave a map to your campsite on the note.
We spent six nights sleeping in the tent. Being the desert in late fall it got fairly cold at night. We slept in puffy pants and a puffy coat each night and on the colder nights put some handwarmers in the foot of our sleeping bags to keep our toes warm.
Our toilet aka “thunder bucket” for the week.
North (right) and south (left) Six Shooters at sunrise from our campsite.
Crowding into Mary’s van to stay warm.
Working my way up a cruiser hand crack.
We spent our one rest day on a six mile hike through Canyonlands National Park. Feeling the effects of some combination of exhaustion, dehydration and desert mysticism we ended up sharing lots of laughs and spending more time playing in the sand than actually hiking.
Bear’s couldn’t believe she was about to lick a dinosaur bone. We found a bone in a dry river bed and all licked it – turns out a fossilized bone has quite a strange and sticky texture that your tongue can pick up.
Sean demonstrating the best way to crawl into any given cavity.
Sean enjoying some wiggles in a particularly good patch of sand.
On our way out through a short slot.
I managed to run over a screw and get a flat tire while driving out to the wall one day. Little did we know that the flat tire would be the easiest part of the day. We were about to spend an hour and half on a completely wrong hike to the cliff. Luckily the climbs were extra tasty that day.
Sunsets and the red rock combined to create a beautiful view each night.
North Six Shooter from a different vantage point up high on the wall. These phone shots don’t quite do it justice, it was an incredible sunset that night. We stayed at the base of the wall well into the dark and watched the sliver of the moon set shortly after this. Then it was a long hike and bumpy ride in the bed of truck to go rescue our truck that was still at the wrong trailhead.
You’ll have to zoom in to find her, but here’s Kirsten up high on a tight hands crack.
And just like that, we were off! We had an amazing week in the desert. We got to spend time with some of our favorite people and we met plenty of new friends as well. We didn’t exactly know what to expect going into this trip, but we got everything out of it that we wanted and more. We’ll certainly be back (hopefully sooner rather than later) and until then will be dreaming of some sunny desert cracks to get us through the winter.
