After a full rest day and the burning desire to find a body of water to dip into, Kristin and I chatted over morning coffee about a game plan. The conclusion, wrap up the morning, pack up, go rock climbing for a half day, then head to a body of water somewhere around Salt Lake City.

A bit lost and confused looking for a rock climb. Photograph by Dalton Johnson, follow him on Instagram.

A Quick Climb

Most of the time I go climbing, I have a guidebook, but for City of the Rocks, I don’t own one. So, we were relying on Mountain Project to lead the way. Which is a great app for those who are visiting an area, but, the catch, without service and areas downloaded we had no pictures. During mid-week climbing days, The City of Rocks is empty, so we couldn’t really ask people which climb they were on for us to orient ourselves on the walls.

Walking around the Breadloaves, we looked for something to climb. Thankfully, we stumbled upon a family climbing and chatted with them about what they had been doing. Turns out, they were on the climbs we wanted to start the day with; Carol’s Crack (trad, 5.8). The only thing, the anchors were kinda sketchy with a thirty foot traverse to the right for Kristin to top rope once I climbed it. At least that is what we were told.

Accepting the warning, I slid into my shoes with a bit of pain. On my pinky toe, I had a scab forming from that random acid drop at the sand dunes in Winnemucca, NV and every time I put climbing shoes on, it tore it off a little bit. Scrunching my face in pain I slid into the left shoe, I was ready to quest up the warm up climb. As I tied in, my only thoughts were, hopefully this goes a hella lot better than our first climb two days ago.

Chestnut was tied up nearby and Kristin put me on belay. I was off.

Traditional climbing is my favorite kind of climbing because there is a craft in placing gear, mental strength, and, well, a sense of adventure. While during sport climbing you follow a bolt line, climbing on gear means you get to feel like you are the first person to climb this route. There are no bolts, the cracks are often dirty, and I get that feeling of wonder as I discover how to climb something.

Carol’s Crack is a cool climb with several cracks you can use to get to the top. The bottom is blocky and doesn’t protect well, but there are a few nut placements you can find. At the top, with the several cracks, you can easily protect most of the crack to the top. However, the anchor is 30 feet to the right, so you can’t really plug gear at the top if you plan to use them as the rope drag will be incredibly heinous.

Thankfully, I was warned by the family that this was the case and did everything I can to help Kristin safely top rope the route after me.

“Okay Kristin, you can lower me now.” I shouted with the multi-directional anchor fully built and ready to be lowered back to the ground.

At the bottom of the climb, Kristin and Chestnut greeted me with smiles. The day of climbing was already lightyears ahead of climbing two days ago. With everything set up for Kristin to warm up for the day, she got the case of the giggles. Maybe it was a throwback to her days as an Alpha Phi, but she started throwing peace signs and being silly as she tied into the rope.

Together we laughed and I went over what she needed to do at the top, once she climbed above the last piece of gear to avoid a cheese-grated swing. Lighthearted, yet focused, she understood the risk and headed up the climb, now fully blasted with wind.

Kristin soon to make the 30 foot traverse to the anchor of Carol’s Crack. Photograph by Dalton Johnson, follow him on Instagram.

Questing her way up the start, Kristin started talking in silly voices, letting out her nerves with humor. Together we laughed as she made it over the bottom bulge and to the cracks. At first, the cracks stumped her, but she figured it out after a minute, or two, of trying different techniques.

After the last piece of gear, she began the traverse right, to the anchors. “That is SO far away.” She shouted.

“I know, but you got it!” I shouted back.

And Kristin continued across the slabby rock, reaching the anchors safely. Within the next minute she was back on the ground. Day two of climbing was actually off to a great start!

After the successful first climb, we climbed a handful of other routes on top rope using same anchor:

Flesh for Fantasy (mixed climb, 5.11a)
Adolescent Homosapien (best crack in City of Rocks I’ve climbed, trad, 5.7)

Maybe, just maybe, we could be climbers?!

Hello Utah. Photograph by Dalton Johnson, follow him on Instagram.

To The Water We Go

Packing in the climbing gear for the rest of the trip, we started bouncing down the dirt roads away from City of the Rocks for Utah. Dreaming of rinsing off in a body of water, we set the GPS for a small town not far from Salt Lake City. While we are not city people, I needed to attend a work conference in the area, so off we went. But first, we stopped in the strangest town of Mantua.

When I say strange I mean the vibe is unlike anything I have experienced before. The people walking around all look the same, the houses are massive, and this reservoir is known to have a brain eating bacteria. The good news, at the time of arriving the brain eating bacteria were not present. So, I took a “shower” in the water, crossing my fingers I wouldn’t go crazy and gave Chestnut a bath because plumes of dirt trailed him every time he ran around.

Now, who is the strange one? Obviously me!

Accepting this, we both got clean and headed for the camping spot for the night.

Feeling refreshed after almost four days without a dip in water, I started the nightly routine of importing images, editing, and making notes about the day. Overall, today was a great day on the road and I am very happy that climbing was fun because two days ago I was ready to hang up my harness and never climb again. However, after today, I am excited for the next days of climbing.

Tomorrow will be an early morning as we head to Salt Lake City, so, for now, goodnight.