Utah to Tennessee

Utah road

All the photographs in this post were taken with my point and shoot that still has dust on the lens hence the dark splodge in the middle of the sky sometimes. They were also mostly taken through the windscreen with one hand, all completely safe though! So apologies if they are not the best quality.

My last few days at Joe's were not as full of climbing as I had hoped due to bad weather. On Wednesday 28th April I drove to Salt Lake City to give a friend back a crash pad I had borrowed. I needed a rest day so it was a good opportunity to get a short reprieve from Orangeville. The drive was fairly unadventurous apart from the snow that had started to fall on the high passes. I arrived at Steven's about midday and asked if he would mind if I stayed over rather than drive the 2 and a half hours back in the dark and the snow. He said yes so I thought I would just drive back in the morning and get 2 last days before leaving on the Saturday for Tennessee. I woke the next morning to about 3 inches of snow covering my car and it was still falling. I stayed an extra day. He has a very comfy sofa so I was not complaining. I occupied my time in SLC helping him with a 5ooo piece jigsaw that he was in the middle of doing and caught up with his usual funny stories.

I travelled back to Joe's on the Friday hoping to try and finish off a couple of problems I was getting close to completing, but alas by the time I got there snow was in the sky again and it was very windy, so the rock felt very moist and no good for the friction I needed. So once again I have unfinished business in Utah.

A very cold Saturday arrived and it was time to hit the road again. I set off towards Colorado, a road that I have driven a few times now so I knew where I was going and I expected some snow on the passes through Aspen and Vail which are both above 10,000 feet. I was right, there was snow but the roads were clear so the drive was not too stressful. I was only going as far as Boulder on the first day so it was a relatively short 8 hours. I was staying at another friends house, sadly he was out of the country but he very kindly let me sleep in his bed.

Colorado snow

More Colorado snow

I set off early Sunday morning and was just going to drive as far as I could. I managed 12 hours and got all the way through Kansas and 50 miles into Missouri.

The drive through Kansas was not very exciting a very long straight road and with not much to look at. I was hoping for a yellow brick road to follow but sadly the roads were just gray with a yellow line along the edge. The impression I am left with from driving through Kansas is, that it is very flat and basically just one big farm. Clearly a very religious state with many billboards telling me Jesus lives, weeps and can be trusted. I believe these are traits that apply to many people other than Jesus but nobody else seemed to get a mention. They also seem to be extremely pro life.

No yellow bricks to be seen.

lots of flatness

Did not stop to meet the Tin man.

Jesus is real apparently

Next was Missouri, very similar landscape and billboards to Kansas, it just took less time to cross. They did have a town called Emma so not all bad.

A slight hill, whoopie.

Emma has moved from Leith.

Indiana, thankfully was less dull to look at and had beautiful trees and fields of yellow rapeseed. It was strange to actually smell scents in the air again, there are surprisingly few in Utah and these smells reminded me of home which was comforting. It was starting to get hot though and my lovely Saturn does not have the luxury of air con so I was melting slightly. My impression of Indiana is that they are still fairly religious and pro life but on the other hand also like their adult stores. They also have a large number of very large firework stores. Weird. There is a town called Santa Claus in Indiana, or at least I think it was a town maybe now I think about it Santa might live here in the Summer months to get away from the cold...

Trees

Colour

Santa Claus

Not too much in Kentucky fairly similar to Indiana, although I did hit Louisville at rush hour which was lots of fun, I had to change gear and everything.

I also passed London, Manchester, Livingston and Birdseye.

131 miles to go.

Then finally Tennessee. Yippee. It was mostly dark so I assumed it was pretty similar to Kentucky. I arrived in Knoxville about 10pm and found a motel for the night. Sweet.

The next morning I was meeting Matt and Justin, the very nice Southern boys who persuaded me to come visit the South, and we went to a local crag called Obed where we did some sport climbing. I managed to lead a couple of routes which I was quite proud of as I have not been on a rope in a long time. I did get pumped by about the 2nd bolt but it was good fun to do more than the standard 6 to 10 moves of a boulder problem. The day concluded with a trip to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and margaritas. Happy days.

The only thing that annoyed me about driving all those miles was the mother truckin tail gaters. People will actually drive 2 feet from the back of your car on a 2 laned open road where they can over take and not just car drivers either the huge trucks do it too. I may have sworn a few times, but hey they will just think that I am some slow Canadian driver.

So far I am loving the South it is a sea of green lovliness.

More soon.

Peace x

Just in case any of you ever need directions from Utah to Tennessee here they are;

I - 70 East

I - 64 East

I - 75 South

Done.

Orangeville

The Food Ranch

Orangeville is the closest town to Joe's Valley. It is the home of the Food Ranch where you could buy food, petrol and guns, it is also where I washed for most of the time I was there and most importantly it was a good place to get a hot drink and sit in the warmth.

Although very much (for want of a better word) a Hick town, it is one of the friendliest places I have ever been. Every single person was incredibly welcoming and always keen to chat. They were continually amazed at all these climbers coming from far and wide to visit their small town and play on rocks.

One very cold and snowy Friday we took shelter in the one and only pub in the county called Chicks Rock and Roost. We initially went to get warm and play some pool but ended up staying for about 7 hours and having a very pleasant time being bought lots of drinks by the locals. An excellent time was had. Many would not have survived the amount of alcohol consumed were it not for the 3.2% Utah beer. I however was quite chirpy due to the tequilla and sprite!

We also took shelter for much of our rest days in the local library where you could chill out all day use the internet and the bathrooms for free. Awesome!

Dining area

Spot the Black Diamond poster

Main street Orangeville

Housing

Garage

Wide streets

So long Utah. Till the next time.

Home, sometimes not so cosy.

Well once again it has been too long since I last updated, but this nomadic lifestyle is just so busy that it is hard to keep up with the demands of modern technology. What have I been doing? Trying to keep warm for the most part as it has been so cold, I think, if my conversions are correct I reckon it has been as cold as -10c some nights and in the shade of the canyons it has felt like that during the day also, and as many of you may be aware I do not deal well with the cold, especially when I am trying to climb. These cold desert conditions have made me realise that a four season tent is really needed, not only to keep the dust out, but to keep you slightly warmer. What else? We think we had a mountain lion snooping around camp on a few nights. We did not actually see the cat but we saw eye reflections in our headlamps and rather large paw prints quite close by in the mornings. I will not lie, I was quite scared and even more scared after people started recalling tales of mountain lion attacks, bear attacks etc around the camp fire. I decided that my best form of defence was a no drinking of any liquids after 8pm approach, in the hope that it reduced my chances of having to get out my tent for a pee in the middle of the night. Apparently you are your most vulnerable in the squatting position! Not good for hydration but reduced the risk of a mauling. Although apparently it is possible with a little practice for women to also use a gatorade or similar wide mouthed bottle in emergencies, so I may give it a try!

I have now left Utah and the amazing boulders of Joe's Valley and am currently living the life of luxury in LA again for some warmth and hopefully a little spot of indoor training before heading to Bishop, California, for some tricky granite rock. I had mixed emotions about leaving Joes, firstly I could not believe that I had been there for nearly 40 days and I think i had hoped that I would achieve so much more in that amount of time, so I suppose I was kind of sad to leave with so many unfinished problems. That being said I had an enormous amount of fun and completed many excellent climbs. The thing that I find hardest when on an extended trip like this is that you do have to rest, even if you do not feel physically tired from the climbing the camping and all that goes with it is tiring in itself. I also found that my skin just could not cope without some time to heal, all of which I found to be quite frustrating. What I do know is that I have unfinished business in Joe's and hope that at some point I will be able to return and kick ass. It is an amazing venue and I wish it was my local area.

Here are a few random photos.

Home in the snow!

A big hack in my thumb. Pretty.

Split tip.

Thin skin.

Sharka the wonder dog.

Michaelangelo (V3). High but groovy.

The down climb, scary.

Wes considering the down climb.

Kelsey on Wills a fire V6. One of my unfinished projects.

All photos by Caroline Harvey

Skin so S**t

Firstly apologies for the lack of any photos with this post, soon I promise.

I am sadly having to take another rest day today because the skin on my finger tips is getting too thin. I took a day off on Monday, then climbed yesterday and now have to take another day off today. This is frustrating as I do not feel too tired from the climbing it is just that I can not hold on to anything because my skin hurts. It seems to be one of the biggest problems with many climbers who just have soft skin, but there is no real solution to toughening it up. I should probably wait until it is properly healed but at the rate that I heal that would take far too long and time is too precious for that, as I seem to be gathering unfinished boulder problems at quite a rate. Some of these admittedly are due to lack of physical strength, technique, height, reach and a million other excuses rather than skin, but frustrating all the same. I seem to have been here in Joe's a while now and my tick list is not as extensive as I maybe first hoped it would be. i hope that over the next few weeks I can go back and put a few of my "still to finish" list to rest.

All is not lost on these rest days though as tis morning I went for a short run with another climber girl, Kelsey, and then cam into town for a spit and polish in the Food Ranch sink, so now I feel all pretty and cleanish again.

On another subject I had a good weekend as my friend Sarah was in the Valley for the weekend and it was a great surprise to see her. As usual Sarah was super psyched and strong and made swift work of quite a few of the problems that I have been working on and more. Sadly she had to leave on the Sunday evening and is flying back home to the UK on Thursday. Short but sweet visit, but good fun with lots of giggles. Thanks Sarah.

Hopefully I will be able to hold on to some of this excellent sandstone again tomorrow and with any luck send something groovy

Canyons, canyons, canyons

Lopsided horizon and me

I have done quite a lot of traveling over the last few days. After leaving the sights of Wendover on Monday morning I crossed back across towards SLC and onwards to Moab.

Moab is an outdoor activity town and you can do everything from skydiving, quad biking and mountain biking to white water rafting and climbing. I however did not do any of those things, instead I toured some of the National parks.

On the Tuesday I set off South to one part of the Canyonlands National Park, where you pass through Indian Creek. I had wanted to go and have a look anyway but was also recommended by a friend before I left. Indian creek is famous for its many huge red sandstone crack climbs and they were not disappointing. How anyone manages to climb those things is incredible. I have never really had the opportunity to hand jam, but even if I was fit I don't think I would like to start there first, a little scary! However amazing to look at all the same.

I drove further into the park and paid the $10 entrance fee and was looking at the map of the area, when I realised I had made a very grave error in my haste to leave in the morning. I had not refueled and my quarter tank was now looking a bit poorly. I had failed to notice because I was too busy looking at the scenery that you kind of forget how many miles you have covered.

So I had to leave and hope that I could reach the petrol station back in Moab before I hit empty. About 20 miles from Moab the low petrol light came on! Ooops. Luckily much of that is downhill so I managed to cruise in neutral for a few miles and made it back just in the nick of time.

Once refueled there was still much of the day left so I went North a few miles to Arches National park. I can not really describe how amazing and vast these parks are and I am not even sure if my photos really do them justice either.

The following day I hit the trail again and went to another area of Canyonlands where I got my monies worth out of my previous days unused pass that was still valid. Awesomeness. I kind of felt very small and insignificant looking at these huge landscapes. Again hard to describe.

My final destination was Dead Horse Point, where cowboys used to corral the wild horses. I stayed there till sunset hoping to get some good photos of the rocks turning bright red but sadly the sun sank below a low could just at the wrong time. Still spectacular though.

I left the wonders of the Canyons on Thursday and have travelled back to Boulder in order to bring my hire car back. This 8 hour journey was made all the more exciting as it was snowing through the high ski resorts of Vail and Breckenridge, approx 12000 ft above sea level. The temperature has dropped quite dramatically this last week and even around Boulder today there was snow and icicles hanging from the rocks. Brrr.

I managed to get a little climbing today as I hooked up with two guys from the UK who invited me out. They lead some trad routes and I did 3 top roped routes. I was pleased as I was still in one piece at the end of the day and I tried finger locking for the first time. Sweet.

So the next plan is to leave here and catch a bus and then a train to LA where I am meeting up with my friends from Joe's and then heading back with them to Utah and the J Valley. A very round about kind of way to get there, but it is cheaper than car renting again and having just driven back in mid October I would hate to have done that drive in mid November when I do not have a 4x4. I reckon it would be impossible and impassible.

Heres hoping that I will get to climb more than 4 days this time. Fingers crossed.

Till next time xxx

All photos by Caroline Harvey

Salt flats and Wendover

Salt flats and Accent

Self explanatory sign post

Salt

Salt flats and weather

Bored in Wendover

What to do?

No gambling, no drinking. Oh wait yes I can just step over the line.

I have a thing for signs at the minute.

The bat phone and bible, just in case.

Plastic grass, nice.

That's nice of them, didn't know they liked the internet.

Crap fast food. Endless.

Don't know Mr Stewart so will take the cash.

I may be a monster truck but Jesus will save you if I hit you. Doubt it!

Not your average trucker, the 10 commandments were also printed on this truck.

He was certainly carrying God size tyres.

All photos by Caroline Harvey