Moab II Day 2

DAY 2 - Climbing

Wanting to ease into the climbing portion of the trip we picked Looking Glass Rock as our first objective. The beautiful sandstone dome sits in relative isolation, south of Moab. Evan led the 5.5 route in fine style and quickly we found ourselves atop the rounded summit.

Then comes the cool part! While you can easily rappel the route you climbed, the feature attraction of Looking Glass Rock is an exhilarating free hanging rappel through a large gap in the rock near the summit. The crux consists of an awkward move or two to get away from the rock and into the rappel. Evan went first, making it look easy. I followed……best rappel ever!! It was a totally cool experience dropping through the gap into an open amphitheater of wind and water-eroded rock.

Ready to leave, Evan discovered that his phone was missing He thought he might have dropped it near the summit. There was no choice but to repeat the route – bummer!….not!!! We happily re-climbed the route, but unfortunately couldn’t find the phone. The only other scenario was that the phone had fallen out of his pocket during the rappel. Decidedly bad news - the rappel is approximately 37 m in height and ends on rocky terrain – not much chance of a phone surviving that kind of fall. We both rappelled down and lo and behold there was the phone. The screen was smashed and the whole phone was bent. Shockingly, it was also still functional although texting was not possible – well done Apple!

After returning to the campground for our staple lunch of a hot dog for the main course and another hot dog for dessert, we made our way into the Kane Creek Valley, in order to attempt a very short and supposedly easy aid climb. Happy Turk (Devil’s Golfball) is another of Moab’s innumerable unique rock formations and goes at 5.8, C1. We had a blast on this climb, but found it to be far from easy. Stick clipping the first bolt was a lengthy exercise in futility – hats off to Evan for his perseverance and skill in getting it done. Hats off to Evan also for climbing a good section of the “ball” and setting up the aid ladders. We didn’t finish the climb, however, the experience was invaluable and also fun.

For the third part of Day 2, we turned northeast and headed to the Fisher Towers, one of the most spectacular areas in southern Utah. This was a reconnaissance mission to check out the route to the base of Ancient Art – one of Moab’s most sought after and unique summits. Yet again, the scenery was jaw-dropping throughout the hike.

A phenomenal day!

LOOKING GLASS ROCK