Moab (Climbing & Off-roading) March 16-17, 2018

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This trip was THE BOMB!!! Two of my friends and I had been planning this for a few weeks and were excited to get away from "Happy Valley" for a few days. Friday, we all had class until mid-afternoon. We met up directly afterwards, and drove South.


We got into town late and headed up the west canyon. From the west canyon (UT 279), we drove up Long Canyon to the BLM land to camp. The drive was fairly rough in some spots but super fun. We found a campsite in the dark and were surprised at the amount of campers up there. After dinner, we settled in for the night. The morning was nice and clear and we packed up and drove down Long Canyon. None of us had been there before and we were amazed at the views from the top. The huge boulder the road goes under is awesome. We drove some side roads and rallied around in a sandy area. I'm glad we drove my buddies Toyota Tundra instead of my VW Jetta!



Back in town, we realized that the day was getting kind of warm. We opted to go to a shady area to climb, so we headed up Hunter Canyon to an area called the Ice Cream Parlour. On the way up, we stopped by the Birthing Scene Petroglyphs.

Birthing Scene Petroglyphs

Ice Cream Parlour Wall

After climbing up Hunter Canyon, we drove up the east canyon to a climb we had been scoping out on previous trips: The Spear of Destiny (5.9). We parked below the road then hiked up the boulder covered slope to the cliffs. The hike was pretty intense, especially for me since I was carrying 40 pounds of climbing gear. But, we finally made it!


The Spear of Destiny is a 90 foot flake that sheared off the main wall and stuck into the ground at the base of the cliff. The climb is all stemming and varies from 2 feet wide up to almost 4 feet in some places. I lead the climb and was psyched out of my mind. 


At the top, standing upright and looking down is insane. The canyon floor is hundreds of feet below you with the river winding down the canyon. I didn't trust myself to bring a camera or a phone to the top, so no pictures from up there.



Once we had all climbed the route, we moved a few hundred feet South to some fun climbs and did one or two there. After climbing to our hearts content, we packed up our climbing gear, and trekked down the hill. Back at the car, we all realized we were starving. The sun was going down, so we drove into town and stopped at the Atomic Lounge for their awesome burgers. It was the first time we had been there but I had heard good things about it. I'm not sure if the burgers were really all that good since I was so hungry. But they hit the spot anyways. We drove straight home after that, arriving in Provo close to midnight. Tired, but happy.


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