We camped the whole time in the gorge where, for only $5 you can pick up a permit to camp anywhere in the canyon for three days. The campsites were actually fairly well developed, and some even had bathrooms. Not bad.
Early on Saturday morning we went to a local gas station and asked about where we might buy a climbing guide. The gas station attendant looked at us like we were a little bit crazy and said that they didn't even know you could climb 'round these parts. Another guy in the gas station told us to check up the road at Miguel's Pizza, "where 'bout five hundred cars are parked." We went up there, and to our utmost joy found a camp-four-like setting with literally hundreds of climbers meandering around through the camp behind the pizza parlor. We gathered what information we could about the area and drove off to the cliffs.
The climbing there was nothing short of wonderful. The rock was sandstone with a lot of good iron ledges and pockets. Also a lot of good, near-perfect cracks splitting the walls of the gorge. We climbed all day on Saturday, taking only a little time to eat lunch in between climbs.
Sunday was our day off and we decided to relax, read, and do a little bit of hiking in the mountains. The hiking turned out to be beautiful, and we got to see many natural arches and expansive vistas. It is so green here that the mountains look like giant broccoli sticking their heads up out of the ground.
On Monday we hit the crags again and climbed until early afternoon. The drive home was uneventful other than a crazy lady accusing us of running into her car (we didn't) and then driving off. Also, it should be mentioned that there are a few Taco Bell's around here that serve Chili Cheese Burritos, and we have learned to plan our trips accordingly (for those of you who don't know already, Rachel has a not-so-mild infatuation with Chili Cheese Burritos).
Here are some pictures of our great weekend:
This is me in front of "Blue Runner," a beautiful 9+ trad line that I did.
Rachel, getting ready to do some serious climbing.
Us at Natural Arch. This was a pretty cool hike. The rock behind us is actually a big arch.
This was a very busy climbing area we went to on Monday. We actually had to stand in line for the climbs! Rachel is in the bottom right of the picture.
Here is where we camped the first night. Rachel is eating breakfast in our makeshift kitchen.
It looks like you had a fabulous weekend!
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