11/6/2014 – 11/9/2014
Our 4 day Moab trip was conceived only a few weeks before leaving. The four of us had gone to the climbing gym Sunday morning and then grabbed a cup of coffee and sat out by Clear Creek in Golden when I suggested it might be fun to squeeze in a weekend trip before winter really arrived. Thankfully the time off worked for all involved and we met up at Dan’s around 2:30pm for the 6 hr drive to Moab.
Dan’s Outback was stuffed full. We were car camping so packing light wasn’t really on my mind but on top of all the climbing and riding gear combining the cars at Dan’s was a challenge.
We managed though and after about 6 hours on the road we we pulled into Sand Flats Recreation area for the first night and hit the sack. Friday morning, Dan and Ashley went into town to rent some bikes while Megan and I hung in camp before the ride. This was my first time in Moab (aside from the White Rim ride a few years ago – I didn’t go anywhere outside of Canyonlands) and Megan and I spent a while scrambling around the campground enjoying the rock.
Friday: Slickrock Trail, Sand Flats Recreation Area
The world famous trail in Sand Flats recreation area lived up to the hype. It was awesome. Ashley and Dan were both newbies to mountain biking and I have to admit I had my reservations about how it was going to go with them. We started out with a lap around the practice loop before heading out on the main loop. It was a bit slow going for the first half but I was having a blast. The traction on the sandstone is incredible and that along with the technical nature of the trail was great. As would be expected we also saw quite a few people in Jeeps and on dirt bikes which made me think that a motorized version of our trip might need to be added to future plans. Megan and Ashley both did surprisingly well on the technical parts and Dan was able to hang with me for the most part as well.
The 10 mile trial took up most of the day though and we didn’t roll back into the lot until close to 4pm. Throughout the weather was great, 70 degrees and clear sunny skies. It was almost too hot! We all went into town after relaxing a bit. Dan and Ashley had to return their bikes and we had forgotten the breakfast burritos Megan had made so a trip to the store was needed for breakfast stuff.
Our campfire Friday night sucked. The gas station wood just wouldn’t stay lit, and even when it was burning the light and heat were marginal at best. It was ok though since the other 3 were beat and we called it a night not too long after dinner.
Saturday – Sunday: Granary Canyon, Near Dead Horse State Park
I was pumped to try this. I suggested to the group that canyoneering might be something new and fun to try and once agreed I just got more and more excited. It felt like it had been a while since I had had a real new adventure. While technically I had a lot of experience with the individual elements of canyoneering (rappelling and hiking) the idea of committing to something you can’t really climb out of, was really exciting. I also was interested to find that the canyoneering community is quite secretive. While researching online to find a place to go before the trip, I had a hell of time even finding a decent trip report about Granary. This turned out to be good though. We had a GPS reading to give us the confidence we were at least dropping into the correct drainage but the rest was a bit unknown and only added to the excitement.
We rigged the first rap from a tree near the edge and Dan did the honors. Its weird but I think we all felt like total beginners. As Dan said after the first rap, everything that followed that day while fun, wouldn’t be quite like the first rap of the first canyon you’ve ever descended. You can never really relive those moments. I kept thinking about the idea of the beginners mind, full of possibility and questions and its something I realized I hadn’t had for a while.
Once in the canyon the rappels were quick to come, fun, and numerous. The rock surrounding us was typical of the area, smooth and interesting with natural arches and balanced blocks up near the rim above us. We all swapped the first rappels and had plenty of scrambling and down climbing as well. On one particular step in the canyon, Dan and I both down climbed what the girls were hesitant to. To save time we agreed to have them slide down to our hands and then step down our help. Megan went first and she basically slid slowly down until she was standing on my shoulders, laughing uncontrollably the whole way. Ashely then proceeded to repeat Megan’s technique with Dan.
After a great day and about 5 hours in the canyon we came to an opening and what we thought was the end of the canyon. Soon though we realized we were only half way! We had had a great day though and since it was around 3:30 we decided to call it a day and begin the hike out up a little used 4×4 road back to our car and campsite at the top of the canyon.
The pinon pine burned great and we had a roaring fire Saturday night in the middle of nowhere. Looking out down the valley we saw the setting sun light up the clouds over the La Sal’s to the East, saw the milky way, and then later saw an incredible full moon rise which lit up the desert again. A great soup dinner and campfire talk capped off one of the best days I’ve had for a while.
Before arriving in the area our plan had been climb on Sunday before heading home around noon, but at Dan’s suggestion we all decided to go do the lower half of Granary instead. This was a good call. The lower half had even better rock and rappels than we experienced Saturday. Numerous long free hanging raps in great alcoves back to back had us all really excited again. A few notable mentions: the pool concealing our anchors and descending down in between really featured rock. We finished the lower half in a few hours and were back to the car just a bit after noon for the drive back to the Front Range.
Overall this was an incredible trip. I was looking forward to some time at home after a whirlwind 2 weeks including NYC, work travel, and this Moab trip, but before we even got back home Dan and I were both talking about the desire to spend more time out exploring desert canyons.
This entry was posted in Travel and tagged Camping, Canyoneering, Moab, Mounain biking, Mountain biking on by Jon.