Indian Creek: Part 3

As the dawn of our fourth day warmed our pleasant gulch with the light of the sun we each rose keenly aware of our fatigue. We had decided that it was time that we took a rest day to regain our invigoration. Furthermore, our gas tank was running low enough that we would have to now in order to have enough range to reach the next gas station. The Californian crew having arrived a day later than us decided the would continue climbing. After a slow and lazy morning we drove into Moab and set about our errands.

In the desert there is one element that manages to unavoidably pervade every crevice of your existence....sand! It was impossible to completely remove from dishes while water was a scarce resource. You would find yourself chewing bits of it in your meal, accumulating on the rim of your newly opened beer can, constantly grinding between your toes, and brushing it out of your sleeping bag before bed. The desert sands insidiously crept into every imaginable place. So while in civilization in Moab we worked find peace from the sand by washing our dishes clean of it.

Myself climbing at Potash Rd

The warmed the earth more than it had done all trip. Given the weather we could not help but at least do a small bit of climbing on what was to be our rest day and headed to Potash Rd in Moab. Sevve took to leading a 5.11 finger crack and I followed his lead. Meanwhile Ben and Matt worked on leading some sport. We arrived back at camp welcomed by the firelight of our west coast companions our stomachs already satisfied by the Moab Brew Pub. I slept with a renewed hunger for the morning and the climbing that would follow.

Yet when the morning light came to my eyes, I peeled back the layers of my bivy to see an ominous looking horizon. By the time we were all awake, a dark line of clouds was organizing in the western horizon and rumbling with thunderous threats. While the West Coast crew had decided to take a rest day, we remained optimistic and began driving towards the climbing area. But the landscape became shrouded by the encircling grasp of the sky's unsettled clouds. The winds grew angry as we turned our vehicle and headed back to camp to ready it for the rains. As we sped down the back country roads, a wall of what was first sleet and soon transitioned to snow. The landscape was abruptly adorned in a veil of white starkly contrasting the red stone of the desert. We abandoned all hope of climbing and drove to Moab.

Copyright Burgess Norrgard... Tree Against the Ominous Sky

Yet in Moab we found hope in blue skies and sunshine as the weather abruptly and miraculously changed. We decided we would climb in Kane Springs Canyon and the "Ice Cream Parlor" climbing area. There we found a day of lie-back training as Sevve had ascended the area's namesake... the ice cream parlor crack.

Matt Climbs...

It was a a crack of loose fingers and provided little potion other than to lie back all 60 ft of it.  On my first attempt I had to stop twice for rest as I had been moving to slowly and with poor technique. Wanting a better run at the route I rest and went back at it having a more successful ascent.

Myself on Ice Cream Parlor Crack

We ate in civilization before returning to our abode in the quite isolation of Indian Creek..

I went to bed that night with the cracks of Indian Creek calling to me in my sleep. The next day would be our last in Indian Creek.

Sunset over the desert