TR: Fun on Rocks

[Cayuse]

First some background...
When I got the vacation time back in June I thought it was going to be a couple week climbing trip with my regular climbing partner and I put in for a permit to hike into The Wave on somewhat of a lark figuring it would be a good rest day activity if I beat the odds. The within a two week span in July I got an email saying I'd been drawn for The Wave and my climbing partner messed up her knee wakeboarding and became unsure whether or not she was going to be able to go so I told her the spot was hers until she gave me a definitive answer.

Fastforward to early September and the knee is healing but not well enough to go on the trip so I texted a friend in Las Vegas asking if she wanted to join me on the hike and go camping for a weekend. The response came in about a minute with an enthusiastic YES! so that part of the trip was taken care of but no climbing partner.

I started making plans for a solo trip and figuring on trying to meet up with people at City of Rocks and do some hiking in Bryce and Zion along the way when a very chance encounter with a friend led to the possibility of her joining me on the trip. She committed to the trip three days before I was planning on leaving and now that the boring narrative is out of the way on to some pictures....

First up was a couple days at City of Rocks where we played on some granite:


The views were spectacular


It got a bit windy up high


But the climbing was fun


Then it was time to head south. This is Mystic Hot Springs in Monroe, UT. Only shot I took but well worth the stop if you are travelling through the area.


The travel/rest day was complete with a trip to Bryce


When your travel partner is a former collegiate gymnast you get some interesting photo ops


A night a Bryce and we left early the next morning for Zion where after getting a campsite we headed back through the tunnels to climb Led By Sheep (5.7, or 5.4 compared to the City)








Once we were down we headed to town and Zion Canyon Brewery where the food was better than the beer (3.2 sucks even if it is microbrew).

From Zion it was off to Las Vegas where I dropped partner one off for a few days of climbing at Red Rocks and picked up partner two for The Wave and a trip out to Tuweap.














After dropping partner two back in LV and picking partner one back up (somehow swapping partners just doesn't sound right), we left the next day for Indian Creek where we spent a bit of time exploring...






...and getting cleaned up


Then decided that we would climb South Six Shooter the next day


We climbed the South Twin Cracks (5.9)






The truck was a long ways down...


We then headed to Moab for the next day. Wall Street was baking in the sun so after doing one route there we headed to Arches where we were able to get a permit for The Fiery Furnace, what a cool place, like a giant playground for climbers...













Sadly after all the play it was time to head home so the next morning we packed up and got on the road and 14 hours later arrived back at my place in Spokane and partner one who had never been to Bryce, Zion, Canyonlands or Arches before is now a confirmed desert rat!

Thanks for taking the time to look.

[powdork]

Thanks for posting. Heading on a trip next week from Tahoe to Owens/Red Rocks/Zion/Moab/Colorado.

[that dude who did that thing]

Awesome trip, awsesome TR.

So, are you suggesting that the City of Rocks ratings are sandbagged? I ask seriously as I'm considering heading down there this weekend, and I'm a weak climber.

[Cayuse]

Awesome trip, awsesome TR.

So, are you suggesting that the City of Rocks ratings are sandbagged? I ask seriously as I'm considering heading down there this weekend, and I'm a weak climber.

Not sandbagged necessarily, just old school ratings. We only climbed trad routes there and the ratings were definitely stiff, not sure how the sport routes compare. I will definitely go back but it is a long drive for me.

[powdork]

Awesome trip, awsesome TR.

So, are you suggesting that the City of Rocks ratings are sandbagged? I ask seriously as I'm considering heading down there this weekend, and I'm a weak climber.

I found the ratings to vary wildly there. Delay of game was crazy easy for a 5.8. Right next door Norma's Book was definitely tougher than a 5.5. I thought Fred Rasmussen was tough for a 5.8. I thought Rollercoaster (5.8/9) was barely a 5.7.

edit- reading that, I notice the trad climbs seemed tougher than the ratings, and the sport climbs seemed easier. I doubt you could use that across the board however.