For our first weeklong break from academia and job hunting, we skiddadeled down to Moab to spend some time soaking up the sun (and eventually, some rain). We hiked to Delicate Arch, drove the 4x4 road up Long Canyon, and hung ropes on some moderate rock routes at Wall Street. Here's how it all shook out:

Putting up ropes on Wall Street

On Monday, we started our road trip to Moab with Morgan's grad school friend, Leah. The inspiration for our trip was Wall Street, a dense mile of climbing routes just west of Moab in Potash Canyon. The canyon walls come right down to the road and are decorated petroglyph panels, so there is a fun mix of tourists and climbers. It’s thought that the petroglyphs were carved by the Fremont (600- 1300 AD) and Ute people (1300- 1880 AD), and our guidebook had some strong language for climbers who have ventured onto the carvings.

With so many cameras around, it felt like we were also on display and I think we were all proud of our performances. Every morning, we would wake up, head to the wall for a few hours before the heat set in, poke around Moab and Arches until the afternoon, and then put more ropes up. Here's what we all got up on:

• Potstash 5.9 sport: we all took a couple laps on this fun route to practice a few of the awkward moves. There are some moments where it feels like you are stepping out into space and the swing factor brings a sense of urgency to the climb.
   
• 30 seconds over potash 5.8+ trad
   
• Slab route 5.7 sport
   
• Yogini 5.7 sport
   
• Top 40 5.9- trad: our favorite route and Leah’s first outdoor crack climb! A pair of women came to watch us while Evan was setting up the rope. Their son is a Yosemite climber, and we weren’t sure if we gave them more or less peace of mind about that. We finished this climb in the dark with headlamps.
   
• The right way 5.8 sport: we roasted on this route around noon, but the features (crack, pebbled slab, and limestone pillar) were just too fun to skip.

Camping at the crag

It’s a beautiful thing when you can camp three minutes down the road from the best climbing routes. Without a government to help us reserve a campsite, we decided to just head down to Moab and take our chances at the DNR first-come sites. Luckily, we found a peaceful wooded campground in Potash Canyon to hang up our string lights.

First aid at double arch

We wandered our way into Arches on the second day. It was a little strange to drive through the gates without any park rangers and feel like we had free reign of the place, but all visitors seemed to be on good behavior without supervision.

We saw all the rocks! We eyed up Owl Rock (5.9 trad), agreed to come back when everyone knows how to rappel, and joshed around in Double Arch. On our way back to the car, we came across a woman who had just twisted her ankle. Evan jumped into wilderness responder mode—having taken his WFR recertification course three days prior. He taped the swollen ankle while Leah convinced the daughter to take photos to capture the moment. Evan and her son carried her out on their shoulders and tucked her safely into her car to head off to the hospital. We joked that we should’ve given her our numbers to get feedback from the nurses about Evan’s tape job.

Long Canyon 4X4

Amid one hot afternoon’s stupor, Evan proposed that we head out for a drive. We followed the Colorado River deeper into Potash Canyon until turning off onto a rough 4X4 road. Evan hollered out to a bunch of Jeep drivers that were smoking nearby:

Where does this road go?

Oh, all the way up if you want. You’ll even reach the highway if you go far enough.

Do you think we would make it?

You’ve got 4WD? Yeah, you’ll make it. You might want to let some air out of your tires, though.

Then, with Morgan’s prompting:

Is it worth it? Are the views up in there better than here?

Yes!

With that, we started up into the valley, traversing a rocky road along the floor and surrounded by imposing cliffs in three directions. 

Bumping, squeaking, and grinding along, we realized about 20 minutes in that we hadn’t thought to ask the Jeep guys how far it went. We climbed steadily out of the talus deeper into the canyon not knowing what lay before us.

About halfway up, we rounded a hairpin corner to suddenly find a bunch of climbers. Evan described it as a warm hug from an old friend after we had spent so long in the land of ATV people. 

We flagged down another Jeep and sought advice from its nonchalant Tennessee driver. He warned us about a big rock that we’d have to drive under up ahead and his wife assured us that we only had 5 more miles to go. Even with the roof box, we squeezed under the massive boulder that had fallen over the road and finally escaped out onto the mesa plain.

Arches at night

We thought we were really smart when we went back to the park to catch the Delicate Arch at sunset, but it turns out that everyone has that idea. It was really fun navigating the three mile trail by the light of headlamps. After skirting along a walkway carved into the soft limestone, we found a small crowd settled in around the arch. The stars came out and Evan set up his camera tripod to snap a few shots before the giant full moon started to rise. The milky way appeared and then was quickly blown out. On the way out, we found spiders, frogs, bats, and kangaroo rats.

Flood in the desert

We emerged from our tent on the last morning to find the air suspiciously warm and the sky concerningly dark. We fired up our jetboils and hoped that the weather would hold for a few hours until our climbing objectives had been reached. At that moment, lighting struck right across the river and the thunder was instant. Everyone sat for a moment with their mouths open. Then the rain started hammering down. Like ants, we scrambled around shoving things under our tent flies and then ran for the truck. From our safe spot atop rubber tires, we watched lightning strike all around us and water runnels pour off the tops of the cliffs. The drama was done after just a few minutes and then it was time to pack up our soggy possessions. 

We promised to be back soon for these routes:

• 90 paces 5.9 sport
• Peanut butter 5.9+ sport
• Brown banana 5.9 sport
• Potash bong hit 5.9+ trad
• Nervous in suburbia 5.10a sport
• Flakes of wrath 5.9+ trad
• Bad moki roof 5.9+ trad
• The importance of being varnished 5.9 sport
• Stego slab 5.10a sport
• Seibernetics 5.8+ trad