Moab, Ut

Tuesday morning we packed up camp and left Crawdad Canyon early. The canyon technically closes after Labor Day to the public, but can rented out for a fee. We kind of had to leave since there was a group who had rented the canyon out for the week. It was obvious that they wanted to set up camp where we were. They were staring at us all morning as we were breaking down camp. We didn't want to rain on their parade so we packed up quickly and left. We exited the canyon and started heading north toward Salt Lake City. We stopped by the gear shop in St. George again right when they opened to check out a guidebook for the northern part of the state. We ended up selecting a guide for the Uinta Mountains which is just east of Salt Lake City. The guy at the gear store recommended a place called Ruth Lake, and said we should check it out. While we were there, we also checked out another rope, since we had to cut the one we had be using for a while. We ended up purchasing one there that was on sale. We opted for a 60 meter rope since we still had some good life in our 70 meter. We left there with some great knowledge and armed to tackle the Uinta climbing scene. We jumped in the car and drove 5 or so hours till we hit Provo Utah, which is about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. Once in Provo we first headed over to the local gear shop and got some local beta. The guys there were really helpful and felt really good about heading up to climb the next day. After the gear shop we headed into town and got another oil change on the rental car. With all the driving we had been doing we had to keep up on all the vehicle maintenance that was required. Once Jiffy Lube finished with the car we headed into downtown Salt Lake City to check out the Black Diamond Headquarters. Once there we entered the store and took a look around. The store was pretty cool, and full of great gear. I ended up buying a new pair of climbing shoes, since two of the three pairs I brought on the trip have been wore down pretty bad. We left there and headed back to Provo, where we set up camp at the KOA just outside of town. I spent most of the evening updating the blog, while Jodi did a load of laundry. We went to bed a little earlier that night to get some good rest for the next day.

Wednesday morning we woke up early as usual and headed an hour and a half to Ruth Lake in the Uinta Mountains. We parked the car hiked in about 15 minutes and found the crag to climb. Ruth Lake is at about 10,500 feet above sea level and the high for the day was around 40, where in Salt Lake the high was around 80. We threw on some warm clothes and started climbing. The rock was freezing and quickly realized we couldn't take these conditions all day long. We got in close to 20 laps before we called it quits. Below are some pictures of the climbing crag at Ruth Lake.

We headed back to the car and decided to head over to mirror lake for a quick stroll. Once there we hiked around the entire lake and had a wonderful time. Below is a picture of Mirror Lake.

After the hike we headed back to Provo, but made one more stop to check out the Provo Falls. Below is a picture of us in front of Provo Falls in the Uinta Mountains.


On our way back to Provo, we headed straight for the climbing gym to get a couple of more burns in. We spent close to 3 hours there and got in another 30 laps. By now it was close to 9pm, so we headed back to the KOA to get a good nights sleep.

Thursday morning we said goodbye to Provo Utah and headed east to Moab. We drove for several hours and pulled into Moab around 2pm. We set up camp in town at a really nice campground. We had most of the afternoon to kill so we decided to head up to the Canyonlands National Park. It took us close to an hour to get there because we stopped quite a bit to take pictures. Once there we entered the park and drove to all the viewpoints and took several pictures. We spent all afternoon and most of the evening exploring the park. Around dark we headed back to Moab, grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Moab Brewery, and headed back to camp for a good nights sleep. Below are some pictures of the Canyonlands National Park.

Friday morning we woke up early and headed down the street to the Arches National Park. We entered the park and headed straight for a tower called Owl Rock. I was talking with a guy at the gear store the day before, and he told us Owl Rock was a great climb and should not be missed. There is only one route on the Owl Rock, it goes at 5.8 all trad, climbs a crack with slopey handholds on the face, and is about 90 to 100 feet tall. We found the rock and scouted it out for about 30 minutes. I tried to examine the rock to see what kind of gear was needed and also to talk myself into it. After about an hour or so, I was ready to tackle the climb. I racked up all the gear I might need and went for it. About halfway up I was realizing the gear placements were not that great, and was getting a little sketched. I manged to keep it all together and push on to the top. Once I clipped the anchors, Jodi took up rope and on my way down I looked at some of my gear placements. Of the 14 or so pieces I put in, I would say 5 of them I would have fallen on. Most of the gear was crap and didn't have the time to fool around with it and try and make it work. I was a little disappointed in the gear, but was super excited that I made it to the top of my first "tower". Below is a picture of me at the top of Owl Rock in Arches National Park.



After we cleaned up the climb on Owl Rock, we spent the rest of afternoon and evening exploring all that Arches had to offer. We went on several hikes to see all of the Arches, and ended the day with a sunset hike up to see the Delicate Arch. What an amazing site to see. We couldn't help but to think how we could climb this natural wonder, but it is off limits. Instead we got several pictures and really enjoyed ourselves. Below is a picture of Jodi and I in front of the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.

Here is another picture of the Arch itself.

We finished touring Arches around dark and headed back to the Moab Brewery for a quick bite and a brew. After dinner we headed back to camp and turned in for the night.

Saturday we woke up, fixed a quick breakfast and hit the road to check out a local climbing area off Potash Road. It wasn't that long before we turned onto Potash Road and found the climbing area. We set up a couple of climbs and it wasn't long before the crowds started rolling in and the weather got hotter and hotter. Most of the climbing was in the sun and offered very little shade. We climbed till 2 pm and couldn't take the heat anymore. It was 104 and it felt like the rubber on our shoes was melting to our feet. We packed it up and headed down the road to an area which had some good bouldering. We pulled into the parking lot and found only one other party there. We found some boulders that were in the shade and climbed for an hour or two before we called it a day. We headed back to camp, cooked a nice dinner and spent most of the evening sitting around the camp fire. Below is a picture of the climbing right off Potash Road.

I know I'm very far behind on all the updates. Internet access has been quite the issue for us. I will try and get everyone caught up as soon as I can. Thanks

Climbing In Southwestern Utah

Saturday morning we woke up early from the campground right outside Zion National Park and headed for the town of St. George, UT. We drove for about an hour and a half and made it to St. George. We looked around for a gear shop, until we found one. We told the employee there that we were heading up to Crawdad Canyon, and that it was recommended to us by another climber in Arizona. She said the place rocks, and that we would have a great time. She also gave us some accurate directions on how to get there, and that it would only take us 20 minutes or so. We left there pretty pumped, and had the whole day ahead of us to climb. We headed down the road for about 20 minutes and found Crawdad Canyon. There is a sign for it right off the road, and the funny part is that it is considered a "climber's resort". We didn't know what that meant until we got down in there and started to climb. We drove down into the canyon, and checked in with the camp hosts. We told them we would be staying a couple of days, and wanted to climb. We payed for our camping upfront and also our climbing. Yes, we had to pay to climb. It was only 8 bucks per day, but all the money went to the Southwestern Utah Climbers Coalition, for anchor replacement, so we didn't mind. They told us where we could put our tent so we pulled down and set up camp. As we were setting up camp we looked around, and found the climbing was right next to us. Literally, you could belay from your tent if you wanted to. Upon further examination of the guidebook, it looked like all of the climbs were within 2-3 minutes from us. We were super excited, and couldn't wait to climb. After setting up camp we grabbed our climbing stuff and went to it. We chose the "Cartoon Crag" as our first stop, since it was right next our tent. Yes, we are getting lazy. Anyways, we started all the way over to the left and worked our way the remainder of the day to the right. As an added bonus, at the start of most climbs was a plaque that stated the climbs name and the grade. How cool is that? We really didn't need the guidebook at all. Now we knew why this was called a "climber's resort". There were 10 climbs at the "Cartoon Crag", and we picked them all off. There are too many climbs to name, but we fired off (1) 5.8, (1) 5.9, (2) 10a's (1) 10b, (1) 10c, (1) 11a, (1) 11c, (1) 11d, and (1) 12a, all clean. We ran laps on many of them, and lost count after 30. Jodi had a banner day, and lead her second 10b, as well as other 5.8's and 5.9's. I was especially excited, because of the 12a (first go) send. This was my hardest send since my finger injury, and it was nice to see some improvement during the healing process. We climbed until dark, then fixed some camp food and hit the sack.

As a side note, most of the climbs in the canyon where on the short side. With 50' being the standard height. Most climbs were between 4 and 7 bolts. We also found that most of the climbing was very bouldery, and that a lot of the climbs packed some serious power into such a short distance. This was a nice, because we needed a change from the long, pumpy, sustained routes that we have been climbing.

Sunday morning we woke up, fixed some breakfast and hit the cliffs again. We walked across the stream to the other side of the canyon, and checked out an area known as "The Pipelines". We climbed 4 of the 6 climbs over there and each ran several laps on each. The climbs were (2) 5.8's, (1) 5.9+, and (1) 10a. They weren't the best of climbs, but we both had a load of fun. Those climbs took us to about noon, so we headed back to grab some lunch and plan out the rest of the afternoon. We fixed lunch and then decided to head over to an area known as "Sunshine Buttress". These climbs, were on the other side of the parking lot, where more camping was. Again you could have belayed from your tent. Actually, on one climb we belayed next to someone elses tent. That is how close you are to the cliff. We spent the whole afternoon over there and climbed the whole buttress out. There were 6 climbs in total and we did them all. (1) 5.8, (1) 10a, (1) 10b, (1) 10d, (2) 11b's, all clean. Again, we lapped several of them to get a really good workout. It was close to 7pm, so we decided to call it a day, and go back to camp and fix some dinner. As we arrived at our camp spot we noticed a "fiesta" going on. It turns out several locals had decided to set up a picnic right in front of our camp. There were about 25 in total and were grilling out and playing music. Jodi and I thought it was kind of cool so we started talking with them for a while. I guess we were so nice (or maybe they felt bad for taking over the place) but they brought us over a plate full of food for us to split. We talked with them a little more, and really had a cool time. They all left around dark, and to be honest, we kind of missed the "fiesta". Anyways, we watched a couple episodes of "The Office" on DVD before turning in for the night.

Monday we woke up early again, fixed some breakfast, and then off to climb. We hiked over to an area known as "The Rubicon". This was the cream de la cream of the canyon. Every line looked amazing, and most in the 11a-12d range. We warmed up on the only 5.8 there, then pushed on to the harder stuff. We climbed (2) 11b's (1) 11c and (1)12a all clean, before we started to show signs of fatigue. I was happy with the way my finger was holding up, as it allowed me to send another 12a. (again first go). By now it was getting close to mid afternoon and we really didn't have much energy left. On our way back we stopped and put up a climb called "A Little Help From My Friends" (11a). We were looking at the line since we got into the canyon, but never managed to get over there to do it. This was our chance. I put it up first go, but had a rather interesting/scary time doing it. To make a long story short. I was going from the last bolt to the anchors when I stepped up on a hold and it broke. I didn't fall, because my other leg (left) was still on something pretty solid, and the hands were pretty good. I though I kicked off a small piece, but as I looked down it was huge. I yelled "rock" and Jodi moved at the last second. The rock slid down the rope and hit the ground, right next to Jodi. I'm taking inches away. I looked down at Jodi and made sure she wasn't hit and that she was ok. She told me she was fine, but also told me the rock hit the rope. I told her to check it out the best she could, while looking for any damage. She told me she couldn't see any, so I pressed on to the chains and clipped them. She lowered me back to the ground and pointed to the rock I just kicked off. No joke this thing was 2 feet long by about a foot wide. A boulder if you ask me. Definitely wouldn't have been pretty if it hit someone. We sat off to the side for a couple of minutes because we both were a little shook up. We toyed around with climbing something else but quickly lost the desire. We headed back to camp to inspect our rope with a fine tooth comb. As we were inspecting, we did find a section of the rope that had a "bubble" in it. We both have never seen anything like that before in a rope, and weren't going to take any chances. We cut it to check it out, and it ended up being a core strand that lapped over itself. It is very hard to describe but we both knew it wasn't right. The rope was in dire need of retirement anyways, this just confirmed it. The rest of the afternoon/evening we hung out around camp. We cooked some dinner, watched some "Office" and headed to bed. We both were feeling pretty lucky after today. Below is a picture of our camp site next to the "Cartoon Crag". Pretty sweet!!!!

Zion NP, UT

Friday morning we left the Flagstaff KOA and started heading for southwestern Utah. Before we headed north, Jodi and I wanted to check out the town of Sedona, which is just south of Flagstaff. Jodi has been there before and she told me I would really like it. We took a small detour south through Oak Creek Canyon until we hit the town of Sedona. We drove through for a while and checked out the town. What an amazing place, with amazing views. After we spent an hour or two there we headed up north, and back on track to southern Utah. Below is a picture of Sedona, AZ area.

After a couple hours of driving, we crossed over the Colorado River via the Navajo Bridge. We pulled over in the parking lot, got out, walked across the bridge and took a couple of pictures. Below is a picture of the Colorado River passing under the Navajo Bridge.

Once back in the car, we pressed on through the desert until we hit Zion National Park. We entered Zion National Park around 2pm and headed straight for the visitor center. The visitor center is on the other side of the park, so we drove through and took lots of pictures. Again, most of the roads in the park were under heavy construction. This gave us lots of time to snap photos as we waited in line for the one way traffic. Once at the visitor center we talked with a park ranger and asked what there was to do. She recommend we take the shuttle bus up (can't drive through the canyon anymore, because of heavy congestion) through the canyon and check out some hikes. That sounded like a great idea to us, so we caught the next shuttle heading up into the canyon. As we were riding through the canyon, we were reading the trail guide to see which hike we wanted to do. We decided to take the shuttle to the very end, and do the "narrows" hike. This hike was the most popular and gave you the greatest sense of the canyon. There were plenty of others ones we could have chosen, but given the time of day we opted for this one instead. Sure enough we took the shuttle to the end, got out and walked the mile or so to the start of the narrows hike. The cool thing about this hike is you can go as far as you want upstream, then turn around and head back. We didn't have much time until dark so we hiked upstream for about a half mile of so. We then turned around and headed back to the shuttle. Once at the bus stop we grabbed the next shuttle back down to the visitor center. We got out one more time to check out the popular "Moonlight Buttress", and snapped some pictures. Caught the next bus, then headed back down the visitor center. Once we got back to the visitor center it was dark. It was close to 8pm and still we needed a place to stay. We drove out of the park and to the next town, which is like 2 miles down the road. Found a great campground and set up camp. We were a little hungry from the jam packed day so we headed into town for a pizza and a beer at a local restaurant called "Pizza & Noodles". The food was great and so was the beer. We left there after dinner and headed back to camp for some sleep. Below is a picture we took on our "narrows" hike.

Here are some more pictures of Zion National Park.

Grand Canyon NP, AZ

Saturday was a rest day from climbing so we spent most of the day hanging out in the Looney Bean Coffee Shop where we caught up on the blog and other things. Around 2 or so we decided to head up to North Lake, which is very popular with the fishing crowd, and check it out. We heard it was beautiful from some of the people in our campground. We left the town of Bishop and took the 20 minute drive or so up till we hit the North Lake parking lot. Since we were at a much higher elevation than Bishop it was quite cold, as we both needed to put on sweaters and such to stay warm. We hiked around North Lake for a while and took tons of pictures. There were lots of fisherman up there as well. Almost every spot around the lake was filled. We were actually kind of bumbed that we didn't have a fishing pole, because it looked like so much fun. After our hike around North Lake we headed back to the car and back down toward Bishop. Below is a picture of North lake.

On our way back down we noticed lots and lots of boulder fields all around us. We pulled off on many dirt roads just exploring and checking out these boulder fields. We explored for over an hour then decided to head back to camp. We were not too excited about heading back to camp and just sitting there. At the last minute we decided to continue past camp and head for the ski town of Mammoth Lakes. We wanted to head up there to check the mountain out and look around. We drove up there and it was cold, around 40 degrees. We drove around the ski town for a while and then decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the Whiskey Creek restaurant off the main drag. We each had a beer and shared some appetizers then headed back down highway 395 to camp for some sleep.

Sunday morning we woke up early and were really looking forward to getting a full day of climbing in. The weather had cooled down significantly over the last several days. We were now looking at a daytime high of 80 degrees. We packed up the car and headed back to the central gorge where the highest concentration of lines were. We hiked down the gorge floor and headed back over to a climb called "Nirvana" (10a) that we did a couple days before. Jodi wanted to head over there because she was interested in leading it. I led it first and ran a couple of laps on it. Now it was Jodi's turn. She pulled the rope and fired it. She looked very smooth and solid all the way up. Once at the chains, I lowered her back to the ground and she was so stoked. Inspired by her lead, I decide to head just to the right and get back on "Darshan aka Ripoff" (12b) to see if I could fire it. I tied in and was off. I passed the first 11d crux with no problem. I clipped a couple more bolts until I reached a pretty good rest before the final push through the cruxy 12b section. I shook out and fired past the section I was having trouble with a couple days prior, but found myself in a situation where I had to really bare down on a right hand crimp. It really felt uncomfortable so instead of trying to push through, I took the fall and sat for sec. After the throbbing in the finger resided, I pushed through that section and finished the route. It wasn't a clean send, but it was major progress for me. My finger felt a little stronger than it did a couple of days prior, but still didn't need to take any unnecessary risks. I cleaned the route and we headed over to the "Pub Wall" again for some afternoon shade. This was quickly becoming one of our favorite crags at the gorge. It was stacked with tons of long sustained 11's. Once at the "Pub Wall" we jumped on an 8 bolt, 90' very steep jug fest called "Hammered" (11b). I ran it first go and liked it so much, I ran 4 more laps afterword. We pulled rope off of that and decided to put up a short face climb around the corner called, "Wonderbar" (10d). It was pretty short, 4 bolts, but proved to be very stout. It was also pretty technical the entire way, and really didn't let up. It wasn't our favorite climb over there, so we each ran 2 laps and moved on. To the right of the previous route was a climb called "Gary Gray" (10b) which looked really fun. It was more or less a face climb with a juggy roof finish. I led it first and then Jodi climbed it after me. This was a great route to do some laps on since it was kind of long, 7 bolts, and was super fun. Jodi ran 2 laps and was super stoked. I ran 1o laps up and down, and had a blast. After a pretty good workout we headed back to the right side of the crag for one final climb of the day. We opted for a 5 star classic 10c called "Light Within". This was a 70' sustained vertical face with some pretty small edges. I led it first and then Jodi climbed it. Jodi especially liked the climb, since it fit her style perfectly. Smallish kind of holds with some pretty delicate movement. I liked it as well and thought the climb was worthy of the 5 star rating. We each ran a couple of laps on that then called it a day. We packed up our bags and headed out of the gorge and back to the car. Back at camp we fixed the world famous pasta, salmon, and brown gravy we had earlier in the week. After dinner it was a relaxing evening sitting around the picnic table watching another episode of "The Office".

Monday morning we woke up, and since this was going to be our last day in town, we decided to treat ourselves to a good breakfast. We headed down the street to a little breakfast place we spotted a couple of days prior. We ordered our food, and when it came out, it was huge. I'm talking plate overfilling huge. We did our best to polish off the plates, but both fell short. After our breakfast we felt like we couldn't even move, let alone go climbing. We took our time getting to the gorge, allowing our food to digest along the way. We reached the parking lot and slowly started downhill. Once at the bottom, we both started feeling a little better and decided to climb. Since this was our last day, we wanted to check some other areas out, to get a good sampling of what the gorge had to offer. We headed over to an area known as "The High Tension Towers". Once over there, we noticed we had a couple of hours before the sun came over the cliff and started baking us. We first jumped on a pretty popular climb called "Brothers in Arms" (10d) for our warm-up. It was a pretty cool climb, but we were wishing we had something a little easier after such a enormous breakfast. We each ran a couple of laps on that and then decided to move on. To the left of the climb we just got off of was a climb called "Sparky Does Power Tower" (10b) which looked really fun. After reading the guide book we noticed it was a 2 pitch climb, but could be done with a full 70 meter rope. I really wanted to try and see if we could do it with a full 70. The first pitch was 4 bolts, 5.7 to sport anchors. Then it was another 10 bolts of 10b to a second set of sport anchors. 14 bolts in total for one really long, 115'-120' pitch. I led it with no troubles, and just about used every draw I had. It felt like I was climbing forever. Once at the final bolt, I looked down and asked Jodi, "How much rope do I have left until the middle marker". She replied, "You have about 6 feet". I looked up, and that was about how far I had to go until I reached the final set of anchors. I punched it to the chains, and clipped in. I looked down and asked Jodi again, "How much till the middle marker". She replied, "About a foot, give or take". I sat back into my harness and asked to lower me, and to keep a close eye on the end of the rope. I made it all the way back down to the ground with about two feet to spare. We have never used a full 70 before on a single pitch, it was kind of cool to do. After we finished those 2 climbs the sun was inches away from getting us so we packed it up, crossed the stream and headed back over to the "Pub Wall". Once at the "Pub Wall" we checked out a climb we haven't done yet which was called "Homebrew" (11d). It was 9 bolts of a gently overhanging face with a cruxy section near the top. We threw the rope down, I tied in and fired it first go. I was so happy not only with the way the finger was holding up, but with my endurance. I decided to push it a bit, and ran it 4 more times after that. I was really feeling the burn after the last lap. We pulled rope from that and moved next door to a fun climb called "Not Too Stout" (5.7) We both needed something a little chill, so we both ran some laps on that for a while. After that climb we hung out for a bit and chatted with some of the locals down there. After our break we headed slightly uphill and to the right to a climb called "Set Free" (10c). This was one of those climbs you see from the ground and you say to yourself, "I have to do that". It starts off with a little seam to an arete, back to a seam/crack, then fire through a pumpy bulge with big holds. It was about 80' in length and was ultra classic. The guide book only gave it 3 stars which we found surprising, we both thought it deserved a little more. Jodi ran a couple of laps till she was done. I ran 8 laps up and down until I was done. We were getting ready to leave, and at the last minute we decided to do one more climb. The climb was called "Hardly Wallbanger" (10c). It was the 5 star, stand out climb for the crag. It was a 90', 9 bolt, bolted crack, the guidebook called "the steepest 10c in the gorge". Every time we went over there to climb it, someone else was on it. Since it was later in the day, and nobody was on it, this was our chance. We set the rope down, I tied in and led it. The crack was full of hand jams and jugs. I was so tired that I thought a couple of times I was going to rip, but didn't. I cleaned the climb up, we packed up our bags, and headed back up to the car. We got in our car and headed into town to the grocery store for a quick sandwich, since we both were too tired to even cook. We ate back at camp around a camp fire we had started. We both sat around the fire for an hour then hit the hay, we were exhausted.

Tuesday morning we fixed a quick breakfast, packed up our things, said goodbye to Bishop, and headed toward Arizona. Our goal for the day was to drive to Flagstaff, where we would set up camp and then check out some climbing areas. We drove a couple of hours and stopped for some lunch right outside of the town of Needles. After lunch we continued on and arrived in Flagstaff around 5 pm. Our first objective was to find a gear shop and get some local beta. We found a gear shop/gym right in downtown. Parked the car and walked over there to check it out. The guy working there was super cool and gave us a ton of beta. We told him that we were looking for mostly sport climbing, but were up for whatever. He told us that there wasn't much sport around, but that there was a newer (1-2 years old) sport crag that was still being developed. Since there was no guidebook for this area, he drew us a hand sketched map of how to get there on the back of a hand sketched route guide. The locals called the area "The Peaks". We figured why not give it a shot, that was really our only option. We left the gear shop/gym and started heading back to the car. On our way back we spotted a local restaurant called "The Lumberyard" which was there local brewpub. We went in each ordered a beer and an appetizer and had a enjoyable dinner. After we ate, we got in the car and drove a couple of miles up the road until we spotted the KOA. We pulled in grabbed a camping spot, set up tent, and hit the hay.

Wednesday morning we got up, both grabbed a quick bite and headed for "The Peaks" to climb. We followed the map the guy drew for us, and after about 30 minutes, we found ourselves in the pullout for "The Peaks". We packed up our climbing equipment and headed into the woods with nothing more than a sketch leading the way. About a mile into our hike we still didn't see anything that resembled a crag, there were some nice boulders along the way, but that was about it. We continued for a couple more minutes then as we came out of a shallow gully, we noticed a cliff off to the left. We headed in that direction and sure enough it was the crag we were searching for. We did the best we could identifying the routes but quickly gave up since there was several more bolted routes then what was on the paper. We pretty much started from the left side and worked our way to the right until we were back to the trial. I would say there were about 50 routes there, and lots more potential. We climbed a couple 9's and 10's before some locals showed up and told us what each route was. That help us out a lot. After talking with them for a while we fired off a couple more 10' and 11's before calling it a day around 6pm. The climbs weren't the best quality, and were not much fun, but we still had a blast. We got kind of spoiled at Owens River Gorge I guess. We hiked back down to our car and headed back into town for some dinner. We liked the "Lumberyard" some much we decided to go back there and have another beer and split an appetizer. After an hour or so of hanging out and eating, we drove back to the KOA, and hit the sack.

Thursday morning we woke up and decided today was going to be a rest day. Over breakfast we decided that the best option for the day was to go a see the Grand Canyon, which the locals call "The Ditch". We finished breakfast and plotted our course for the Grand Canyon, which looked to be about 1-1/2 hours to the south rim. We gassed up and headed straight there. Once at the park entrance we picked up a map and continued on to the visitor center. Once at the visitor center we got out checked out some hikes and proceeded to the rim for some photos. Below is a picture of Jodi and I on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

After shooting some photos we walked back to the car and started looking for some trail heads. We really wanted to do a quick hour or two hike down into the canyon, then back up. We searched around for the trail heads, but quickly realized most of them were only accessible by bus. You had to wait for a bus to take you to the specific trail head. We both thought that was kind of lame, so we starting looking for trail heads that you didn't need to take a bus to. We found one that looked promising, so we headed down the road to the canyon village. Once there we tried to find a parking spot, and couldn't find one. What was really frustrating was the fact they were doing some major construction up there and most of the roads were closed or were one way only. It took us close to 30 minutes just to circle the village and still couldn't find a parking spot. Instead of going through that mess again, we decided to abandon the hike and just drive around and stop at overlooks and take pictures. Once out of all the chaos, we headed east till we found a lookout point. We got out and hiked the rim trail for a little while and took tons of pictures. We got back in the car and continued east until we hit another lookout point. Again we jumped out walked around and took some more photos. By now it was close to 3pm and to be honest we were getting a little tired of looking at "a hole in the ground". There really wasn't much more to see from where we were. The best way to see the canyon was to get down in there and explore, but that we would have to save for another trip. We decided to leave the Grand Canyon and head back to Flagstaff and figure out something to do. Below is a picture of the Grand Canyon from one of the many lookouts.

On our way back to Flagstaff, we were tossing around the idea of getting some climbing in, but where? It was hard for us to swallow, but we decided to head to the gym in Flagstaff and get a good evening workout in. We rolled into the gym around 5pm and started lapping it up. Their gym is much smaller then ours at home, but still had 40' walls to train on. After 3-1/2 hours of continuous climbing I turned out 50 laps, half of which were 10 or harder. Jodi stepped it up as well and cranked out 30 plus laps. After our session we talked with one of the employees there for a while and he recommended a couple places to climb in Utah, which was our next destination. We picked up a guide for the Southwestern part of Utah from him and headed out. By now it was close to 9pm and we were feeling pretty tired. We headed back to the "Lumberyard" for a brew and a quick bite, then back to camp for a good nights sleep.

Sorry not so many pictures, we have been slacking.