Climbing Indian Creek

Landon had his fall break after Woody's wedding. So I took a few days off of work and we headed into the desert.

Indian Creek is just outside of Moab, UT, and is a world-class climbing destination. We are fortunate to have the Creek just a few hours from Salt Lake City. The thought of spending 4 days in the desert was never very appealing to me. Landon went climbing at the Creek during his fall break last year and his stories and pictures convinced me that I would probably survive.

The thing that is so amazing about climbing Indian Creek is that the park is miles and miles of sandstone cliffs with huge cracks reaching up into the sky. "Crack Climbing" is a specialized type of climbing that I am very NOT accustomed to. It involves "jamming", which pretty much just means cramming your hands into the cracks until they get jammed and pulling yourself up on that jam while you cram your next hand into a jam. Because of his, every morning we taped the backs of our hands so that we wouldn't rip our skin off. Watch a bit of the video below to get an idea of what I mean.

Here's a video of Alex Honnold climbing in Indian Creek

We both left with rock-burns on our fingers and landon's entire fore-arm was raw and is still healing (although he's climbing the Wasatch as we speak). It is a more painful kind of climbing but also very fun and challenging. 4 days of climbing was too much for me - i couldn't even do easier climbs come Sunday morning - my body was absolutely fried. A lot of people spend several weeks  at a time climbing at the Creek. There are hundreds and hundreds of cracks. It never ends.

We camped next to a wonderful Swiss-German man that was traveling around the U.S. for 4 weeks looking to go climbing. So we climbed with him for a few days. Here's a glimpse of some more crack.

We tried to keep Duvick in the shade as much as possible. Even though it was Autumn, it was still in the 80's during the days, which was only magnified as the heat was radiated off of the rocks. Hot.

Dooney sorting our the gear. Notice the dirt - we were in the desert after all.

Sunset from our camp site.

Dooney and Adrian. There is a river that runs through the middle of the park that is a wellspring for Cottonwoods. Kind of beautiful.

Sorry no pics of Doons climbing - he is the real rock star. But when he climbs, he is not hooked into the anchors as I am, so I don't take a chance to take a shot of him. He took one whipper on his very first climb which made both of us a little more careful for the rest of the trip.

Thumbs up on my way down. Had just sent my first 5.11, which in climbing world, is nothing. But in Hannah world, it's epic.

We found a crack in a cave. It was awesome.

Eating lunch beside the stream.

 We arrived home Sunday with our beautiful car, all of our possessions, and our own bodies covered in a crust of red desert dust. Dirty and exhausted, we were happy to be home. Although, Landon was itchin to get back out there.  We both a a great time and Duvick slept for 2 days straight.

Notch Lake

Another beautiful weekend was spent in the Unitas. Truthfully, we were skiing in the Uintas all the way into June (they didn't even get to plowing the road until June), so we couldn't do any over-nighters in the local mountains until late summer because everything was still covered in snow up there until mid-July.

The mountains here are extremely accessible. We can drive for 45 minutes and be at a trail head off the Mirror Lake Highway that runs from Salt Lake to Wyoming right through the heart of the Uinta Mountains.

We have climbed/backpacked to Ruth Lake in the past and we love it - very beautiful area. So we decided to hike to one of the other many lakes that are in that similar area. Notch Lake was a very easy 1.5 mile hike slightly downhill (not kidding - more difficult to hike out than in!).

Notch Lake itself was beautiful and less crowded than Ruth Lake. And the rocks there actually are in the sun for a good amount of the day, so it's a much warmer climbing destination than Ruth Lake, which is in the shade year-around.

I took this picture immediately upon waking. I just can't believe that we have beautiful experiences like this all of the time right here near our home. I had someone message me this summer and ask about all of the "exotic" places that we are always visiting. She thought I had a gazillion vacation days (or was unemployed). I explained to her that all of these places are just weekend destinations within an hour or so from our house. She couldn't believe it. 

It never rained on us

They love each other

Duvick didn't sleep a wink the entire time. 

We put our tent right on the edge of the lake. 

I even went for a quick (and extremely cold) swim after an afternoon of rock climbing.

The tent was also right on the edge of the climbing cliffs. We could walk up and do a few climbs, swim in the lake, climb some more, eat lunch, climb, etc.... Can you imagine anything better? (besides, maybe, skiing?)

A lot of the climbing was steep and juggy so I had a more difficult time with it since i am a weakling, but i just love to watch dooney send these climbs - he's a really incredible climber. 

He thinks he's a mountain goat.

Duves slept for 2 days straight once we got home.

City of Rocks State Park

This summer was different than any others.

#1: we didn't move. This freed up a lot of time. 

#2 Husband taught a summer class 

#3 I continue to work 40 hours a week 

With this being the first time (ever - not kidding - EVER) that either of us have had a 40/week 9-5 job during the summer, we didn't make it to Georgia or Colorado for weeks like we usually hope to. Instead, we made some weekend escapes to some fun places nearer Salt Lake City.

We took a 3 day weekend to City of Rocks State Park, Idaho (3hr drive) for some amazing rock climbing. The rock there was beautiful. It was nice and cool. The climbing was extremely accessible (read - not much hiking) and the camping was spread out and secluded but in designated spots (read - not much hiking). Which made for a fun trip full of relaxation and enjoying being together.

Looks like a climbers paradise, eh? it was!

Seeing the snow up there made me wonder if we could bring our skis next time. Probably not. Very pretty though, huh?

As a novice birder, I do get excited to see birds that I am familiar with in the wild. We saw plenty of Turkey Vultures. They were lovely.

Doons setting up a rappel. Isn't the rock beautiful?

Of course, I had to get one of my boys being "loving", as we call it. Duvick LOOOOOVES being outside: camping, hiking, skiing, and rock climbing are his favorites. He's in the right family.

Climbing Fergie with Snakes

Ferguson Canyon is one of the only canyons that allow dogs around here, so we've been up there to rock climb quite a few times.

(me and Duvi enjoying shade and the view of the city)

After we unloaded our gear out of the car and put our packs on, a few ladies approached us and gave us warning of a rattle snake in the middle of the trail at the top of the hill. She said, "I wasn't even thinking about the fact that it is rattle snake season." Hm. Nor I.  Now, I'm not afraid of drowning, I'm not as afraid of heights as I used to be. I don't fear spiders or bugs. Large animals of prey keep me on my toes when i'm in the woods, but I still hike and climb and camp. Snakes on the other hand..... Snakes absolutely terrify me. They are my one greatest fear. My husband is a brave man who used to be a little boy slathered in snakes. He has no fear of snakes. I try to convince him to find us a different crag to climb. I am absolutely astonished that he thinks it is fine for us to continue our plan up this narrow dirt trail that happens to have a rattle snake in the middle of it.

(Salt Lake City valley)

As we hike up the trail my body is going through tiny convulsions and I am trying very hard not to cry. My fear had totally taken over my body and mind. All the while, La-dee-da-Landon is jovial as he looks over the Salt Lake Valley and talks about the crag up ahead, "encouraging" me to, "learn to take control of your emotions," and "face your fears." I tell him that if he or Duvick or I get bit by a rattle snake I will never trust him again.

a side story:

we went climbing Saturday and on our hike out, we decided to divert from the trail and ford the river (which has previously been absolutely roaring, but has finally died down) just to see how much time it would cut off of our hike. we usually have to take a trail beside the river deeper into the canyon to cross a foot bridge and then hike back the way we came on the opposite side of the river to get to these neat multi-pitch climbs that are on top of a boulder field. anyways, we decided to attempt at a short cut. after we crossed a stream and then the main river (which was so fun and so wonderful to cool off our hot feet!), we followed a trail through the woods that very quickly identified itself as a moose trail. "This is probably our best chance at encountering a moose all year," I said. Landon was a little excited by the idea. "I would rather take my chances in a place that I could actually have room to run through," I worried, although Landon liked the idea of just climbing one of the trees if we see anything. I don't know how to climb trees. We walked through lush undergrowth and very mucky mud and ended up in a opening with about 12 spots in the grass where moose have bedded down. Landon insists that there surely aren't 12 moose, but rather just a few that have made several beds (he ran into a mother and baby moose on the trail in that area last month). That made me feel better, but i'm not sure if he was right. we quite literally walked into a moose den. We had climbed a 5 pitch 5.10a that day and the scariest part of the day was our hike out through the moose bedroom. 

(Landon on rappel) 

The snake must have slithered away because we never saw him. Although, I was looking for snakes during the remainder of our hike to the cliffs. When I reached the top of the climbs I even looked around to make sure there was no snake nestled next to the anchors before I secured myself to them. And I was listening for rattles our entire hike out, never hearing a thing.

I hate snakes. Landon thinks that we need to befriend a few and keep them as pets for the great benefit of helping me overcome my fears. I wish he would leave this particular fear of mine alone.

Climbing American Fork

Yesterday we went rock climbing after church. We usually go rock climbing on Sundays because the crags are surprisingly not crowded on Sundays. A lot of the great climbing near Salt Lake is in Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. However, no dogs are allowed in these canyons because they are the water source for our town. So we still climb there, but we try to go places that Duvick can come with as often as we can. Yesterday we drove just a bit south beyond The Point of the Mountain to American Fork Canyon. Last time we came here was with Janelle last September!

Landon is so awesome. And we met some neat people. And got to put our feet in the river again. It was fun.

yikes. sorry all these pictures are smudgy.

The limestone has really neat features - isn't it beautiful?

I love this.

On our drive home we saw some amazing sky

And mountains too, of course

Climbing in "Secret"

(we climbed the cliffs behind me, opposite the lake)

Cecret Lake is a beautiful mountain lake nestled between quartzite cliffs at the top of Alta Ski Resort. Only a mile hike from the highest parking lot, it is a crowded destination over the weekend, especially with the very hot temperatures we've been suffering in the Salt Lake valley.

It was a beautiful hike full of wild flowers, streams, and my favorite smell in the world: pines in the sun!

Most people were just taking a Sunday hike up to the lake. I had to laugh at all these people with their trecking poles and hiking boots - this mile hike was very undemanding on a well worn trail. 

(view of Cecret Lake from the cliffs)

The lake was beautiful. I can only imagine the freezing temperatures as this lake is made entirely of snow melt. It is, after all, located in the middle of a ski resort. 

We saw many meandering streams leading down into the lake (and coming from the lake)

We even saw snow that was dirty and compact from the ski season (some with fresh ski tracks, even!)

We climbed on a few walls. One was above the lake, with beautiful views. Our stay there was short because the only other party on the wall was a family of 6 (adults) and they were ridiculously obnoxious. 

We went to a second wall that was just below the lake with a bustling stream, snow, and a lot of other climbers.

 

I wish I had pictures of Landon climbing instead of me belaying while he is climbing. I tried to take a picture once (with landon's cell phone - we forgot our camera again), and almost pulled landon off the rock for lack of climbing slack. So, no pictures of climbing, sadly.

Here's a picture of my mountain man reflecting on yet another wonderful day on the mountain. Actually, I think the words coming out of his mouth at this time were something about how he would "huck that cliff" come ski season.