From North to South

Much more exciting than it seems. PC JDStylos

These past few days we have gone from high desert, cold starry nights to high altitude summit passes with snow covered roads and have now found our way to southern Utah in the outdoor mecca of Moab.

We left City of Rocks and found our way to Tremonton, Utah where we borrowed some electricity and wifi from outside the local library and soon found ourselves in the middle of no where to find a place to sleep. We awoke and went on down to The Golden Spike National Monument (you can find more about Golden Spike HERE) where we arrived an hour before it opened so we enjoyed a walk around the outside of the sight before heading inside to the museum. It was cold and we had heard rumors of it not actually being anything very exciting but after all was said and done we both really enjoyed our time and its quite a cool part of history. Plus right before we left the rangers told us about the tour that takes you to go see the trains. So we hopped in the car and headed to the facility where they work on the maintenance of the trains for about 6 months each year. The trains are replicas of the ones used for the actual ceremony but were very impressive and I was taken aback by some of the facts about the trains!


We left to Logan, Utah where we ended up finding a great campsite and waiting out the bad weather

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for a couple of days for climbing in the canyon. Needless to say Logan Canyon was a bit of a bust for climbing as by the time we actually got a chance to climb it was still so cold that on the one route we ended up doing we froze our butts off. It was called "Lost Bolt" a 5.7 sport route on the First Practice wall when you first enter the canyon. The route itself would've been awesome if we weren't so cold, but with smooth limestone and numb fingers you couldn't exactly feel how good our holds were. After a cold one climb for each of us we decided to pack it up and move it out.

PC JDStylos

PC JDStylos

Joe had looked at the map and saw some great back highways that would take us through the Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest where we hoped to get some snow and maybe some good photos. So we hopped on highway 89 where we eventually went through the corner of Wyoming (where gas is insanely cheep!) and merged onto highway 150 that took us into the national forest. Basically the moment we hit the forest a mother moose popped out of the woods with a young calf behind her. Was SO exciting to see as I don't ever remember seeing a wild moose before. We passed quite a few empty camp spots then opted to turn around for the night as it was getting late and the snow was really starting to come down. We stopped at Butterfly Lake to get some quick photos then made our way to a camp spot right by the river. It was crazy cold. So after some hot cocoa and Annies we quickly hopped into bed and started listening to the second book of Harry Potter on tape and hit the rack. The next morning we awoke to clear skies and fresh snow and hopped in the car and drove through the rest of the pass. Not without stopping for a couple more pictures and seeing another massive moose along the way, of course!

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We had a long day of driving ahead of us and now were headed for Moab. We did make a couple of pit stops, one being at an old abandoned cabin and the other at a library in Duchesne, Utah. The best pit stop was at the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum where we enjoyed a break of driving and some super cool history on dinosaurs and archaeology from around the Utah area.

Once again we hit the road and finally arrived in Moab. What a difference from waking up in snow to watching the sun set against the red canyon walls.

PC JDStylos

Waking up in Moab the next day we did a bit of research for some climbing at the local library and headed out to a popular climbing place in Hunter Canyon called "Ice Cream Parlor" (a big slab). We found it and much to our disappointment a guide service was there and had top roped all the routes. Though we didn't get the chance to climb we did stop and get to do a small bit of hiking in the canyon and came back to the Suzuki that happened to not start. Long story short, the gear was in between 4WD and 2WD and after some fidgeting around and problem solving she started up no problem! WHEW...

PC JDStylos

We spent the rest of the day in Arches National Park where we scoped out some great night photography spots and hiking along the way and seeing the arches. You can see why it would be so popular as there is not many words to describe natures way of carving such landscapes!

Today we tried once again to climb at Ice Cream Parlor and with much more success. Heading to the canyon early we arrived to be the only ones there. We were stoked and started climbing! We both climbed 5 routes. All rated a 5.7 (which we both lead) except one route that was a 5.9 that we set up a top rope for as it was harder than both of our outside climbing comfort levels are. Plus the top rope sets quite the peace of mind for the both of us. Joe climbed its twice and climbed really well where as I on the other hand was very glad to be on top rope as I fell a couple of times at the beginning and the crux at the end. Overall though we both got to lead some routes and practice anchor setting along with rappelling. Was basically exactly what we were looking for in today's venture.

Finally a photo of Joe!

After a few hours and some very tired muscles we made our way back to the car. The sun had finally hit the wall and it was getting hot so we were glad to make our way into town where we stopped at the "Lazy Lizard" hostel to grab a shower and headed to the local park. Its been about 10 days since packing and the car already needed a reorganization so we pulled almost everything out and found everything a new place which is much more accessible and made way more sense. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a regular thing throughout the trip as we get more savvy at packing and just living out of a small SUV.

The evening plans are to celebrate our first successful climbing day in Utah with some dinner at "Milts" then head to Arches National Park to hopefully get some good night photography.

We have so much more climbing we want to do here in Moab, including going back to Ice Cream Parlor so I wouldn't be surprised if we stayed another week here. Its such a cool place and we're both really enjoying our time here! Fingers crossed for some equally as good climbing in the coming days!