We had a long drive south in the morning down the Interstate and then off onto smaller roads on our way to Goblin Valley State Park. I was really hoping we would see a gas station once we got back on 70 for a little bit, but we didn't and we were very low on gas. I was worried driving down these roads where there clearly aren't any gas stations for a long time. I do like the way they look though.
We left the paved road for a bumpy dirt road that traveled back into Goblin Valley. We weren't sure we'd be able to find our trailhead, but it made itself known, with one other car there parked under a tree. We put on our hiking clothes and boots, packed up some food and were on our way down the trail. This is where we got a little mixed up, as we missed the turnoff for the canyon and walked an extra mile in the wrong direction. We would have looped around, but we came back and started where we had planned to.
We came across the other people shortly after climbing up the first incline. They told us we would have a great time and they turned out to be right. It wasn't long before we came to our first obstacle: a slot filled with water. It was time to test out my stemming abilities. I was able to overcome the first couple of obstacles with no problem.
There was one area that was either very difficult or impossible. Definitely the former, because if I had been more confident in my technique I could have done it. I pulled up my pants and stepped through the almost-waist-high water to get across this section. Once I gave into it I didn't mind.
There continued to be different obstacles challenging us at every turn. There were wide bowls and very narrow gaps to squeeze under and through. There were some high ledges to climb over and then some big rocks to overcome.
The canyon was beautiful, with sweeping, carved rocks holding reflective pools of water. It wasn't exactly what I thought it would be when we read about it, but it was definitely awesome.
Some of the obstacles required dropping in from above and slowly stemming wider across the water until it was impossible to stretch any farther. It definitely pushed me to flexing limits I didn't know I was capable of.
After traveling up Ding Canyon, we headed down into Dang Canyon. We came across a drop into a large bowl with a rope affixed to a belay point. I checked the rope and it seemed sturdy so I went in. It was a blind drop below my feet so I was feeling around for footholds, but it wasn't so bad once I got to the next big ledge.
I guided Joanna down the lip after taking a lot of foot shoots while she was on the rope. We came around a few more narrow slots that we had to descend into pretty easy, soft sand.
There were another couple of drops over deep water and one area that took us a while to figure out the best route. I tried to go over and drop in from the far side, but it was a precarious drop so I opted for the other way, which would have gotten me wet as a worst case scenario.
We reached the final two long obstacles, which were both long, narrow slots filled with water. I stemmed in every possible way I could, switching from both feet on one wall, to an X technique, to counter pressure, and whatever else worked. I made it across both long gaps without touching the water so I was happy. My hands were a bit rough, but I wanted to do it again.
Joanna was not so fortunate as to make it all the way across without water damage. She couldn't figure out a comfortable way to stem across and eventually ended up submerging and walking it out. I was sad to see the slots go; mostly because we had about two miles of desert walking to do to get back to the car. This was the worst part of the hike and it seemed to go on and on. It was so nice to finally get back to the car. We changed out of our hiking clothes and hoped the car would make it back to the highway without running out of gas!
I had to stop and take some photos on the long, empty road on the way back. I got some feet shots and some fun shots. We really didn't have to worry about seeing other cars.
On our drive out of the valley there were huge storm clouds rolling in. Lightning started cracking off to the west and I realized I would regret it forever if I didn't stop and try to capture some of the bolts. We sat on the side of the road while I shot continuously for such long stretches that it was funny. I got hundreds of photos of nothing, but I got a big handful of amazing lightning strikes. It was totall worth it. The whole time we never even really saw any rain. I was glad we stopped.
We somehow made it back to a gas station off the highway before breaking down. After that relief we drove into Moab and right back to our favorite little campground along the river. We set up camp and spent a little time eating and watching Breaking Bad before retiring for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment