TR (long) Family trip to Red Rocks and Zion
Dean Elliott
July 24th - August 2nd 2001
I've never really posted a "trip report" anywhere before. I guess my
idea of a trip report in the past has generally been to print the photos and
draw route topos. Perhaps this belongs more on "rec.backcountry" than
"rec.climbing"; but since most consider "vertical hiking" to be
climbing here it is...
As we unloaded luggage for the flight to Las Vegas and were hauling the
old huge red duffel stuffed with gear out of the trunk, I was really
wondering if it really was worth the hassle of dragging this 100 lb. beast
with me on a 2000-mile family trip. With two kids, my wife, mother-in-law
and father-in-law all going along, it seemed that it would take nothing
short of a small miracle to actually go climbing on this sabbatical thing
some folks like to call a "vacation".
In years past, the gear bag had been given the slightly dark nickname of
"the body-bag" as almost anyone can be zipped inside. The name stuck. The
attendant-checking luggage at the airport had a slightly bewildered look on
his face when one of the kids said, "I can't believe your bringing that
body-bag". This trip the "body bag" was once again stuffed with rack, rope,
packs, and all the other stuff needed for gaining a few days of warm (I
would soon find out just how warm) weather desert climbing.
After the flight, airport, rent-a-car, and get to the motel ordeal
ended; we were finally in Nevada. The next day was for the most part spent
recovering from the travel. Eating, sleeping, and having a few drinks at the
bar was the order of the day. Bored with the Casino, I called Desert Rock Sports
and asked for Mike Ward. I think he was more than a bit surprised when and
re-introduced myself! Mike and his brother had been kind enough to loan my
partner/mentor at the time and myself their living room floor and apartment for
most a month while we climbed in the Red Rocks a full nineteen years ago.
Mike was a veritable walking talking guidebook, which was helpful in to us
newcomers and he pointed us to plenty of classic lines to do in Black Velvet
Canyon, Willow Springs and the Calico basin. Moreover, we generally had a
great time!
The next morning the family was left to do the "Vegas Thing" and I
headed for a nice morning of bouldering in the Calico Basin and Kraft Rocks.
A "rec.climbing" usenet troll before the trip had generated no information
on a place I only knew of as "Kraft Boulders", so I really had no idea if I
could even climb there when I arrived. As if guided by some higher power, I
happened to turn right on Calico Basin Road. Even though the Calico Basin
area had changed dramatically since last visit, I was shocked that I went
right to the boulders. There were a lot more houses, concrete, picnic areas,
and fences. Fearing that I may be trespassing I quietly left the van with a
pair of boots. On this morning, I appeared to be the only climber in the
area. I felt truly lucky to get to go up the "Split-Boulder" and "the Cube".
The Cube had thwarted me on my one and only prior attempt since I was not
willing to down climb anything on it! This time the descent was obvious.
Almost twenty years is a long time to await a second chance at a climbing a
desert boulder! So at least one solo went just great, and with that, I
decided that the whole trip was worth it. Later that morning I drove back to
the city for supplies and stopped by Desert Rock Sports where talked with
Tim Ward, surprised that he remembered me without the long hair and nearly
twenty years later. One of the few things I really remembered about Tim was
being stepped on when he came in late one night and tripped over the
vagabond climbers in the middle of his living room floor.
Now armed with two guidebooks to the Red Rocks and seven gallons of
water I pulled the mini-van into the Sandstone Quarry. Conspicuously I saw
no other climbers. The sun was high now, and I pulled on my boots and went
bouldering to look around for some moderate short-leads or top-ropes. After
45 minutes I was really, starting to appreciate just how harsh the heat was
(since I was near heat-stroke level) and headed to on down to Willow Springs
in search of shaded rock and the first climbs I did in Red Rocks in October
1982.
Sitting under the willows for an hour, matching up guidebook pictures
with the crags, and marveling at the awesome beauty of the area I broke
trough my procrastination habit and headed over to the Ragged Edges cliff.
The temperature was around 110-115 on the desert floor, but was completely
tolerable once in the shade of the wall above. Despite the many tourists, no
one seemed to stay long, and I was really surprised to be the only climber
in the canyon. The solitude was wonderful.
As I wandered around in the cool breeze among the Junipers, I was awed
at how little the place had changed. It was even stranger that it was
exactly as I remembered. Memories sometimes get distorted with time, this
day it was as if time had stopped. Surprisingly there was almost no chalk on
any of the climbs; the area was not bolted up. Now there were fairly good
climbers trails, and everything was amazingly clean. I found the first climb
I did in Red Rocks, a nice 5.10 just right of the Ragged Edges Crack. Even
though it was peak tourist season, I was apparently the only climber about
in the area. After a few hours of traversing, bouldering and doing a short
but beautifully desert varnished solo at "the Children's Crags"; I debated
going back and getting my rack, but (after a water check) wandered up to the
top of the first crag for some "third-classing".
The heat was intense and already a full gallon of water had been used.
About one hundred yards above lay shade under the huge arch above the
University wall so up I went. It had been all third class to here, now I was
working up chimneys and some really awesome little towers left and above a
climb called "the Graduate". I'd left my pack, water, boots, and the few
pieces of climbing gear I'd hauled along on a ledge below and ventured into
some more technical rock. It's a sport that's not quite climbing. more like
bouldering your way up cliff after cliff, making things as safe and easy as
possible, and REALLY trying to not forget key sections and moves for the
getting down part!
After perhaps 100' of easy chimneys and off-widths (one with a
particularly spooky chockstone move) I traversed left, stepped around an
outside corner and began moving into a second traverse into another chimney
when the exposure kicked in. As I gazed out I noticed that the Van was
smaller than a "hot-wheel" toy, the rock was vertical, and was NOT 5.6
anymore, this was no place to get stupid. Deciding that I really didn't have
any business venturing any further un-roped, I down climbed very carefully
back into the safety and shadows of the chimneys and slabs, retrieved my bag
and headed over to the top of the Case Face.
The sun eventually took its toll, and I headed down. While descending back
to the parking area I stopped under a shady pine high above the desert to
marvel at a huge agave sitting among a high blooming prickly-pear cactus
field, guzzle water and have a smoke. Then the air exploded and the whole
canyon shook. Recovering my senses after diving under an overhang in terror
of potential rock-fall, I leaned back against the old pine and chuckled to
myself thinking a jet must have passed over and the sonic boom scared the
crap out of me and any other living creature on the mountain. Then I turned
toward the valley and the words "Holy Sh*t!" echoed across the walls as I
watched an HUGE cloud of dust expand and rise from the desert floor miles
away. The dust cloud expanded seemingly for miles, and rose perhaps 1000'
into the air. Being a bit freaked out now and wondering what blew up (I
never found out, but suspect it was Gypsum plant blasting).
I headed back to the van making a mental note that most of the walls started
getting shade about 1:30 pm. Part of me wanted to grab the rack an go do a
nice climb now that things were shaded, but hedonism ruled and I was soon
back in the Van, A/C full-blast and heading toward Mount Wilson. The Wilson
parking area was desolate. It was late afternoon so things were only around
105 now. I filled the pack up with water again and headed cross-country When
I got to the base it was time to head back, I climbed up a nice boulder and
was just watched the colors change with the Sunset; mesmerized by this peak.
This was for another day. Next day found me going into Pine Creek. I'd hoped
to climb the Solar Slab. After hiking in with five gallons of water, I soon
abandoned all hope of that idea and settled for some bouldering instead.
Made a mental note on the long walk back not to do that again when it's 110
degrees. The best part of the day was crawling into dark chimney and
drinking water for about 30 minutes.
Saturday was family trip day to the Red Rocks, on the way I stopped and
bought a new rope, let Jared play in the Rock Gym a while, and then had a
fun day hiking, sight-seeing, and climbing with the kids at Willow Springs
and other small crags. Sunday was spent traveling into Utah and checking out
the tourist sites, Virgin River Gorge, and getting to Springdale.
Zion held me in awe from the time I arrived; I was just blown away by
the immensity; like the first time I saw Yosemite. Utter, complete awe. The
next morning I awake to wonderful cool temperatures and hit the road by 5:30
am to have a nice breakfast after bouldering. The rock was far more solid
than I'd expected and since I really did not even know where to start. I
just got on the "Magic-Bus" to go for a look.
I'd only intended to ride the loop road and just see the park from the
ground so I'd brought no water or gear: just shorts, t-shirt, sandals, and
sunglasses. Red Arch Mountain was just too cool, and I was as excited as a
kid so I jumped off the bus and headed up the trail in the relatively
(compared to the Mojave) moderate weather intending to take a short hike.
One thing lead to another and I found myself heading up to an awesome wall
left of the creek. The higher I climbed the more blown away I was by the
majesty of the walls above and the expanding views of the valley below. Now
on game trails, the approach grew steeper and some "real" climbing was
required. So, after a long rest under what appeared to be the last shade I
saw, I left my sandals, socks and sunglasses under a stunted old tree and
headed for the base of the wall barefooted, marking a few in obvious
traverses with cairns so I could retrieve my shoes. The terrain was not too
harsh and the steep sand underfoot was nice and cool. I was moving faster
now that I was mostly on rock, but I didn't have a clue as to what I was
approaching.
When I got to the base of the wall it was shaded, and awesome lines were
everywhere. The view of Shunes Buttress on Red Arch was awesome! I weaved
around on the easiest ground I could find and managed to the get to the top
of a pillar a few hundred feet up, surprised at how cool the weather was.
Then the sun came blazing between the top of the peaks towering above and it
seemed that the temperature rose 20 degrees in a matter seconds. I lingered
for a while but soon decided I'd really better get back down before I fried
in the heat. After a descending a few hundred feet I realized I'd descended
far left of where I'd come up so I started to traverse back across in search
of my shoes, the sand and rock was getting hotter..
After perhaps one-half hour the sand was burning the soles of my feet, I
was being parched and poached like an egg. This was turning into a fire
walk! Retreating from a traverse after a big flake collapsed into my hands,
I headed down a rocky gully on the most direct path to the stream below,
abandoning my sandals and sunglasses. What a relief to finally fall into the
cool water! I hiked back out to a bus stop and scared some tourists when I
dragged into the parking lot barefooted and covered with red dust, drinking
from a water fountain for about a full ½ hour before riding back into
Springdale. Life was good.
After a long rest (and soaking my fried feet in a ice bucket), I grabbed
a pack of water and gear and went back up with my wife to retrieve my
Birkenstocks and sunglasses. This time I wore tennis shoes, took a soloist,
one rope, and a super-light rack. Since Angie has real acrophobia, I left
her by an idyllic pool under the trees by a sandy beach among the boulders
to read a good book and play with the hummingbirds. After a way to much
looking around, I finally found my own footprints and managed to backtrack
to find my stash. I headed back down in the cool sunset, spending the rest
of the evening exploring the canyons with Angie, until the moon came up and
we caught the last shuttle back into town.
My last day in Zion was spent hiking with the family, at the end of the
day I saw the only person climbing that I'd seen the entire trip. Someone
Cragging around at Big Bend after 6:00 pm. It was nice to know that it
really stayed light until 9:00 pm. I'd really hoped to get a few pitches on
Space-Shot, Touchstone or something, but as it turned out it was more of an
adventure to do some of the dumb and easy stuff I did. I certainly got in
more vertical footage scampering and third classing easy stuff that if I'd
spent my time working on a one pitch 5.11 or aiding a few stretches of C-1;
that's for the next trip.
The trip finished off with a visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon,
exploring Checker-board Mesa and some wonderful canyons around Kanab before
heading back to Vegas. After one more visit to Red Rocks to check out
petroglyphs, climb a bit at the "Children's Crags", and finally watch the
sun set on Mount Wilson we headed back into Vegas for the all-night return
flight.
Now recovered from the return trip and planning the next "real" climbing
trip back to the same places come fall, I remind myself that it's always a
good climbing trip if: "You don't get hurt, and don't you lose any gear"!
Dean Elliott - August 2001
Michael A. Riches
deane...@elliottinfo.com wrote on 9/1/01 6:09 PM:
> I've never really posted a "trip report" anywhere before. I guess my
> idea of a trip report in the past has generally been to print the photos and
> draw route topos. Perhaps this belongs more on "rec.backcountry" than
> "rec.climbing"; but since most consider "vertical hiking" to be
> climbing here it is...
Hey...Our idea of a great trip report is just what you have done...excellent
form and great story. Thanks and by all means, post all the tr's you can.
That is the one thing that keeps us all sane, kind of a bridge between the
flamefests...
Again...thanks,
That RatDhuuude...
AdeBK
Nicely done TR, and extra points for taking on the LV heat this time of year.
Anne K
Karl Baba
One suggestion, which I was flamed for myself some years ago, is to put
some white space between paragraphs so the guys trying to sneak a read
in at work (which means lots of rec.climbers) can find their places
again after they finish answering the phone and whatnot.
You get extra inspiration points for hauling record insane amounts of
water on day hikes.
Thanks and Peace
Karl
--
Guide Guy
http://member.newsguy.com/~climbing/
Stephen Prouty
deane...@elliottinfo.com says...
> Trip Report - Red Rocks, Nevada & Zion, Utah
> July 24th - August 2nd 2001
>
> ...here it is...
>
> ...Then the air exploded and the whole canyon shook.
Same thing happened to me last time I was out there. I was on the
Great Red Book when KA-BOOM! Talk about adrenalin rush.
> ...After hiking in with five gallons of water,
I'm impressed. You can haul er, I mean climb with me anytime you
want to.
Thanks, it was a good read.
Stephen