Saturday early morning, I woke up to the sound of RAIN. Bummed and a little tentative, I packed my lunch. Met Barry in the parking lot and we jumped in car to escape the drizzle. We drove for about 100 miles and we got to Nephi. The weather down there was clear. Partly cloudy, but we could see blue!
We ate breakfast at The One Man Band diner. You pick up the red phone and call in your order. There is ONE dude (as the name implies) cooking, so it may take awhile to get your food. But for 5 bucks total, I had two eggs, toast, and hash browns. Yum.
After food, we drove another half an hour to Maple Canyon. It’s out on the edge of a bunch of turkey farms. There are feathers on the road, and a bunch of cute old farmhouses.
We paid 3 bucks for day parking and drove up into the canyon. Quickly we found out why it is such a popular summer destination. Almost all the walls face North. There are very few climbs in the sun. Just walking around was neat; the cobbles are amazing. It looks like somebody covered the walls in concrete and then chucked a bunch of cobbles upwards. It makes for some very exciting climbing. And, I was very happy that I brought a helmet for belaying!!!
We found a really neat wall called Zen Garden (?). It had quite a few 10s, and we quickly got on one. I got the flash, but the rock was so cold my fingers were numb about 15 feet into the climb! I had a pocket warmer in the chalk bag, but the cobbles sucked the heat right out once I grabbed them. Cleaning the metallic draws on the way down didn’t help either!
After that climb a bit of a breeze found it’s way to us, so the chill really set in. We walked up to another wall in hopes of finding sun, but still it elluded us. Barry put up some really heinous 12- route, stopping at every bolt to work out the next sequence of moves. It was friggin cold, and this route climbed out the lip of a small cave. It was very steep, and Barry looked like a bat pulling the last 3 clips. I passed on account of not being warmed up enough to jump on such steep stuff.
We decided to head back to the Zen wall where Barry put up a fun 5.10c ish route. If I could feel my fingers I would have lead it, but since it was still friggin cold, I just TRd it. I thought it was a lot more fun than the previous route, and the moves were great. It struck me as odd, that I could stem my way up something that was a face-because of the cobbles sticking out!
After that, we wandered back down the canyon, in an effort to locate a two pitch 5.9 (maybe the top would be in the sun!?!
We never found it, but we did bump into a delightfully scary 5.10- route. It was dirty, the cobbles were loose, and it has a 15 foot runout at the top. Then, to reach the anchors, there is a burly mini ceiling which gets the heart pumping as the cobbles CREAK as you pull the lip. Standing in a steep little gully surrounded by rotten cobbles, the thought of rapping down is creepy. Happy I had my helmet, and also that I knew how to set up an auto block!
Above is a picture of a more soundly protected route, and this one had more gymnastic moves. It was a 10+, with a delightful crux (involving a bulge). It was our favorite route of the day.
The sun was getting low on the horizon, the breeze had picked up and I was too cold fingerwise to stay in the game. Barry thought about climbing some more, but then we figured it was getting late, and with the drive back to SLC being long we took off.
But not before checking out “Box” canyon. If you’ve ever seen pics of people climbing at Maple, it is probably of climbing in Box. The snakelike canyon wanders away from the road, sucking you further and further from the car. Crag after crag after crag of STEEP, BULGY, RIGOROUS climbing awaits. There are tons of chalked up holds, and draws left on some of the harder routes. I’d be surprised if there is anything easier than 5.11 in this canyon. Except at the mouth of the canyon, where I think we saw a couple 5.10+ (?).
Anyways, it was neat to venture in there. It reminded me of Mt. Charleston, NV, except with obvious features. (Not that the cobbles are huge bombers-it’s just that you can spot them from the ground whereas Mt. Charleston it’s hard to see anything until it’s right in front of your nose).