Maple Canyon

We left Colorado down one, as Casey purchased a truck in Denver and made his way to Yosemite to pursue his dream of climbing a big wall in the valley.  Our manlessness did not last long however, as we picked up our good friend Eric in Reno on our way back out to Utah.  We headed to Maple Canyon to pull on the unique cobblestones that make up the walls there. 

We arrived late at night, got some sleep and woke up psyched to climb.  The weather wasn’t looking too promising, but I put on my harness and shoes, racked up with quickdraws and began to climb.  About 30 seconds after I started climbing, it started to rain.  Not wanting to leave any gear behind, I just kept climbing so I could lower off the fixed anchors at the top and retrieve all my gear on the way down.  The rain just kept getting harder, the rock slicker, and my glasses more spotted with moisture.  Little did we know then, that the rain would not stop for the rest of our time in Maple.

Although the weather was soggy, we were still able to do a fair amount of climbing due to the overhanging nature of the rock in most of the canyon.  Even if we weren’t able to climb, it would have been enough just to hike through the canyon and admire the beautiful fall colors.  There were vibrant leaves lining the roads and paths and watching over us from the trees above. 

The canyon was void of people, except one other campsite, which was full of neon orange clad deer hunters.  They waved at us jovially each morning, and we smiled back at them, but it was clear that we were in separate worlds, neither group quite understanding the appeal of what the other was doing.  After a few days, one other pair of climbers showed up who were also on a road trip.  We enjoyed a full day of damp climbing with Max and Dan.  That night, we went to sleep and were kept up for most of the night by a torrential downpour.  The downpour turned to snow and we woke up in a winter wonderland!  Everything was covered in fluffy light snow at least an inch thick. 

Max and Dan met us at our campsite and we dug our stove and cooking utensils out of the snow on our picnic table.  We shared a delicious breakfast of eggs and pancakes and packed up camp with frozen fingers.  Although I didn’t climb too hard or too much in Maple, I had an awesome time running through the rain, playing with the dogs and enjoying the company of Chelsea and Eric. 

Eric is an amazing climber and I am so glad he got to join us on this leg of the trip.  Watching Eric climb is like watching a combination between a well-choreographed ballet routine and football player taking down a brick wall.  Grace, smoothness, and infallible technique mixed with pure, raw power.  Eric moves quickly and efficiently up the wall, making onlookers think, “I could do that” until he explodes upward and dynos for an impossible sloper, grabbing it while his feet dangle below him.  Watching him climbs definitely inspires me to improve.

After packing up we headed towards Salt Lake where Eric would fly out the following evening.  We picked up a guidebook for the next leg of our trip, caught a movie, met up with some friends, and prepared to head south where we hoped for warmer temperatures.