UTAH!!!! May 29-June 10

Howdy....

Moab was our first destination in Utah where we discovered just how hot the desert can really get. Firstly we finally had the first shower in about 10 days- wooohooo. We take the meaning of dirtbagging it literally. After a yoga party, we hiked out to a remote area in the arches passing animal holes about every couple feet in order to get to sunshine wall. Elan and I did 2 amazing slab climbs that were 160 feet. It was at this wall that Elan grew some balls and clipped into pitons and angles as opposed to bolts, and had many runouts including a 30 footer to the anchors. The next day we tried wall street (a popular climbing area) but we didn't get too far because the rock was burning and the sun was blistering and basically we realized that you have to hit up the crag either before 10:00am or after 4pm to avoid the heat (we never seemed to follow this rule and suffered unnecessarily instead). Before leaving Moab we drove around the arches which was amazing and then checked out canyonlands. A couple Czechoslovakians who we hung out with one night recommended us to go there on the basis that it was nicer then the grand canyon (which it isn't, but nonetheless it was amazing). The arches had really cool rock formations due to water eroding the sandstone, and canyonlands was a really cool canyon that had different levels.

Animal sightings: Jack hair rabbits, lizards

Interesting moments: A tumbleweed roadblock- those old wild wild west movies are not lying, tumbleweeds are everywhere!!!

Quotes: Ryan- "How much do you think snakes camouflage."
Ryan- "Ants in Utah work really hard. That was the 5th ant i've seen carrying something."
Czechoslovakian dude: "USA is going downtown [ 1 minute pause] I mean downhill. I was trying to make expression."
Czechoslovakian dude: " We were in a 10 minute sandstorm and it felt like needles on our legs and you had to cover your faces and the sand got everywhere and it hurt so much........it was beautiful"

St George
St George was the next stop on our list. Using the couch surfing website we actually were able to hook up with a guy in St George named Nephi who let a few good looking strangers crash on his couch for a couple nights. He also made us dinner and let us use his shower which was awesome. (Note: by June 2nd we had a total of 3 showers). We did a couple routes at some local crags, Elan even finished a 5'12b and then we decided to move on to bigger and better things. Before we left we had a little dinner party at Nephi's and followed up with a friendly game of poker (I won). We also stopped at the local public swimming pool for a dip where the average age was about 8 and where Elan failed to learn how to do a back flip even though his instructor was over 10 years younger then him.

Next we headed over to prophecy wall which was more remote and had a great little camping spot by a lake right by the cliff. The next day we took a day off and headed into town where Best Buy gave me the verdict on my laptop which previosuly suffered from the blue screen of death. They told me that my laptop was toast and that my hard drive was destroyed and I lost all my information. Then, it decided to rain on the one day we left our tent cover off because we were convinced that it never rained in the desert. The next day however made up for the day before. We headed over to prophecy wall and did 2 multi pitch sport routes that were about 200 feet. They were amazing routes with nice overhangs, a ton of flakes, and beautiful belay stations and top outs. I grew some balls in this area where I led one of the pitches and did a 15-20 foot run out. Later my laptop mysteriously started to work, and Snake (Ryan) ran into a snake (snake vs. snake).

Quote: Elan- "My stash is really coming in now, today I woke up and there was snot on it....it was a big moment."

Zion
Due to a major windstorm at prophecy wall we decided to pack up a day earlier then planned and we headed over to Zion national park. The time we spent in Zion was epic!!!!!!!!!!! Firstly Elan, Ryan and did an awesome hike past a few pools and waterfalls which was gorgeous. Next Elan and I headed over to a crag to do a multi pitch sport route that was a 10d. This route was 600 feet and 5 pitches. It was perhaps the single most incredible experience of my life. Surrounded by towering sandstone red cliffs as opposed to small crags, we actually felt like those bad ass climbers you read about. It took us about 5 hours to climb it. The whole thing had insane runouts, traverses, and exposures. It also had some nice flakes, slabs and craters...altogether it was an incredible route. But the fun doesn't stop here. On the way down it was pretty sandy so you could actually surf on the sand. Elan set up the camera to get a shot of my sandsurfing skills when a couple boulders came loose and threw me backwards. Luckily, instead of going tumbling down the canyon with boulders coming after me, I was flung onto a large boulder that broke my fall. Elan was heading my way when the boulder (which was larger then me) came loose and headed straight for him and would have completely obliterated him if he hadn't dodged out of the way. This was our first near death experience and we got it all on film.

The next two days we spent canyoneering (Ryan joined us) which was a fun break from rock climbing but equally challenging in its own way. Our first canoneering experience was at keyholes which involved some sketchy downclimbs and a 60 foot swim. Note: when a ranger highly advises you to wear a wetsuit, you might want to listen to him. The water was freezing!!!!!!!!!!! That night we hung out with some other travellers at our awesome campsite by the river. One of them has been hitchhiking around the world for 24 years and has made it to 120 countries and basically had a story for everything- he was Ryan's idol. The other guy has been climbing since he was 12 and works in every outdoor field possible and also had the craziest stories- My idol.

Our last day in Zion we decided to do a more technical canyoneering route even though our first experience wasn't so great. It took us about 5 hours and it had awesome views and a 100 foot free repel. When we finished the route, and after getting lost trying to find the road and finding ourselves in multiple situations that resembled our near death experience, we actually came out in a spot about 2 miles from our car which was on the other side of a tunnel that no pedestrians were allowed to walk through. And that was how I came about my first and hopefully not last hitchhiking experience. Yes that's right, I held my thumb out until someone stopped and picked me and elan up and it was fantastic.

Interesting moments: I beat Ryan and Elan at 2 games of poker (I won a total of two treats)

That about sums up our amazing experiences in Utah...Next stop- =LAS VEGAS