MOAB ADVENTURES!!
















So my "work" trip to Moab, Utah was ok, unless you like great weather, awesome mountain biking, climbing and hiking and no paperwork for a week, in which case it was spectacular!!

We flew into Grand Junction, Colorado on Saturday, March 25th and then drove straight to Moab (about a 2 hour trip). The drive in gave us a great preview of the canyons that surround Moab and some of the areas that we'd be exploring over the next few days.

After a comfy night in a local hotel (which may have included a few to many local beers) we met our two guides, Peter and Travis, from The World Outdoors guiding company. I was hoping for an easy morning but after a quick trip to Poison Spider Bicycles to pick up our bikes we headed off to our first ride of the day - the Monitor & Merrimac Trail.

I'd like to say that all my running of late made the ride a piece of cake, but the 5000 foot change in elevation and at least a couple of the beers from the night before had me sucking for oxygen on the 900 foot climb!! However the reward of our first downhill on slickrock was worth it! We'd decided at the start of the trip that we'd all throw $5 into a pot to be awarded to the biggest wipeout of the week - unfortunately there were no takers on this ride but Nevil had a spectacular rear tire blowout that almost put him in an early lead for the cash! An hour and a half later we were back at the trailhead enjoying a much deserved rest and lunch before heading out for our second ride of the day.

The climbing on the Klondike Bluffs trail definitely made our first ride look like an easy warm up! The bulk of the 1350 foot ascent came in one very long slickrock face. I'm pretty sure that the most humbling experience on the whole trip for all of us was when, about 3/4's of the way up the climb, a group of ladies that could have been our mothers/grandmothers passed us while shouting words of encouragement- but heh, we were still getting used to the altitude!! Once at the top of the climb we jumped off our bikes and hiked into Arches National Park where we got some great views of the Moab area. Another great slickrock descent (love those full suspension bikes!) and we were back down and on our way to our new home for then next 5 days - Big Bend campground.

Day two started with a refreshing dip in the Colorado river before heading into town to meet up with the guys from Desert Highlights, our guides for the canyoneering portion of the trip. Our goal for the day was Negro Bill Canyon and, more importantly, the Medieval Chamber and Morning Glory Arch (the 6th largest natural bridge span in the US). On the hike into the canyon our guide, Aron, stopped to preach the virtues of cryptobiotic soil and how important it was to avoid stepping on it. This rule obviously didn't apply to animals as while we were receiving our biology lesson, Aron's dog Fred was busy destroying about 100 years of soil development while digging for rats!! We reached the entry point to the canyon, which for us was a 100 foot rappel into a small chamber. Despite our best efforts at trying to get everyone to rappel directly into the large puddle at the bottom of the chamber (2 inches Ben!), everyone managed to stay dry and we moved onto the arch. Here the guys with a fear of heights were put to the test as we did an open air rappel over the middle of the arch to the ground below. I think simo-rappelling over the arch has got to be one of the coolest rappels that I've ever done - definitely going back to try that one out again! After a leisurely hike out of the canyon we headed back to the campsite and ended the day with some near by bouldering.

Day three - the world famous Slickrock Trail - this is why people come to Moab. Slickrock is basically petrified sand dunes that grip your bike tires like, well sandpaper, allowing you to continue riding on extreme angles of ascent. The Slickrock Trail (map) is like a roller coaster ride on rock, as seemingly endless short steep climbs lead into mind blowing, edge of control descents! After a not-so-quick lap of the practice loop, thanks to an uncooperative derailleur and a few more blown tires, we got into our groove on the main trail. Tom quickly established himself as the front runner for the Best Crash money as he performed a picture perfect face plant into a sandpit - I think he's still picking sand out of his teeth. The riding was spectacular and by far the best of the trip for me. Overall, we rode 9 miles, gaining 1500 feet in ascent and descending a little over 1600 in just over 3 hours - no land speed records but lots of fun!

As the day was only half over, we headed back into Arches National Park and after getting yet another lecture on not stepping on cryptomoronic soil we ventured forth into the Fiery Furnace. This cool labyrinth of crevices, notches and arches provided some awesome photo opportunities - unfortunately my camera battery had died the day before and was currently being recharged!! Hopefully I'll get the other guys' photos soon and will back post some of them.

Day Four - our only day with rain. Three of us with climbing experience had planned on heading off on our own and climbing Fisher Towers - Ancient Art route. Unfortunately rain has the nasty effect of making sandstone very brittle and unsafe to climb on, so this route will have to wait for a future visit. With climbing out of the picture, Peter suggested that we hike into a place called Hidden Valley and check out some petroglyphs that he knew about. The hike started with a 600 foot climb up a ridge but then opened into this beautiful (big surprise here) HIDDEN VALLEY - who would have guessed? The hike was part of the Moab Rim Trail and offered some spectacular views of the Colorado river area. The best vistas of the day were from a Native American crowsnest that was used by the Indians to spot herds of game and possibly a cowboy or two to ambush! The petroglyphs were really interesting to see - I was surprised at how many of them there were. While some had faded away with time, others were quite vivid and easily spotted. It would be interesting to go to a place like that with someone who knew the history of the local Native people and get the real story on what the petroglyphs were describing. Best part of the day though had to be the shower back in Moab - nothing like washing off 3 days of grime to make you feel clean again!

Day 5 - The sun was out in full force once again giving us the perfect day to make up for the climbing we'd missed the day before. Fisher Towers was still out as one of the other climbers in the group, Dom, had flown out the night before. We stuck together as a group and headed of to Kane Springs. Our climbing guides for the day were from Moab Desert Adventures and included the co-owner of the company Dave Medara, who coincidentally was featured in this April's Climbing Magazine! Needless to say he was a great climber and had us on some fantastic routes. Although most of the guys decided to cut the climbing short at noon and head off to ride the Amasa Back trail, myself and a couple others stuck around. This turned out to probably be the best decision of the trip as the next climb was by far the best of the day! (plus we missed out on the grueling climb that starts the Amasa Back trail - suckers!!). The climb is called Ice Cream Parlor Crack and is rated at 5.11a. A cool boulder-like start led into a perfect layback crack that went straight up for about 80 feet. Finish it off with a bit of an off-width at the top and you've got one cool desert climb. After a climb like that, all I could think of was how soon I was going to be able to get back to Moab to tick off more of the desert classics.

After heading back into town to meet up with the rest of the guys and drop off our rental bikes, we bid Moab farewell and started the trip back to Halifax. Although I had been to Moab before I had not taken advantage of all the area had to offer. The amazing part of this trip was that although we went pretty much non-stop for five days, I still don't feel like I've done more than explore the tip of the iceberg - I mean we never even got to the Tomcats! Hopefully with a little luck, and a bribe of outlet store shopping, I can convince Nardine that this will be a great place for our next family adventure - better start sucking up now.