From Joe's Valley to Maple Canyon

A lot has happened since our last post. The heat came quick in Joe’s Valley. Our friends Regan and Josh went back home to Calgary and Ben’s old climber buddy Brian came from Calgary for a little climbing vacation.  Brian was down for about a week, and most of that time the three of us spent the day hanging out in Brian’s air conditioned motel room watching Million dollar rooms. $20, 000 doorknobs, futuristic Jetson’s style kitchen, and a ball room/garage…none of this compares to our hundred dollar room with a view!  

The kitchen

Ben, pre-coffee

Today we feel like enjoying breakfast outside.

This is our reading space/tanning salon

 

But for a change of pace, hanging out in a motel room with air conditioner, running water, toilet, shower, tv, beds and a fridge was pretty nice. The night sessions were fun too (we saw a scorpian!).

Ghislain arrived for the weekend and he brought some cooler temps with him. So we went from night sessions back to full day climbing. 

Ghislain sending Stir the Pie V9

Krissy on the Angler V2

The heat was on its way back so we took a couple days to finish up some projects. Krissy sent Wills of Fire V6, Vertical Ice V6, and Baldwin Bash V7 on her last day and Ben sent Beyond Life Sit V12 on his last day.  

"Hey everyone, come see how ripped I am!"

Sending Baldwin Bash V7!

Before we left, we checked out some of the beautiful sights of the San Rafael County. The petroglyphs and pictographs were amazing and mysterious; the Wedges Overlook was just beautiful.  

Rochester Petroglyphs in Utah

Very cool!

Close-up of some of the characters

Hippo?

What is the story here?

Pictographs! The chests of these were etched out...reason unknown

San Rafael country

Wedges Overlook, Utah

Holy cow!

The huge coal power plant outside of Castle Dale

So we packed up and barely fit everything in the car (we acquired an extra crash pad and table from Regan and Josh).  Maple Canyon was our next stop. Switching it up with a little bit of sport climbing, something we haven’t done since our honeymoon last August! 

Time for a change of scenery...jam-packed!

 

 

A pass on our way to Maple Canyon (this one was 9655 ft).  Still lots of snow in May!

 Maple Canyon, what can we say. The rock looks bad, but climbs amazingly. It’s a little weird climbing on cobbles that look as though they would break off at any second, but they don’t! Not usually. The well traveled routes are pretty solid, but the newer ones may have a foot break here or there.

Endurance climbing is the name of the game here. Very different from what we are used to in Rumney. We’re having a lot of fun here, so this may turn into a three week stay rather than one.

The cobbles, so weird, but fun to climb on.

Too hot for pants, too cool for a t-shirt!

Climbing the cobblestone at Maple Canyon, Utah.

Our current home.

"Hey everyone, come see how pumped I am!!!"

The top of the climb named "49", graded 5.12a. Pumpfest for about 90ft.

Rest day activity

 

 

 

 

Looking across the valley toward Maple Canyon.

A very lucky woman.