Joe's Valley

Last Saturday, on September 21st, a group of my friends and I loaded up our cars with climbing shoes, chalk bags, crash pads, and food and headed down to Joe's Valley, in southern Utah. For the last couple of years I have heard over and over, about how amazing Joe's Valley was for bouldering. Bouldering is just what it sounds like, climbing up boulders, this means you don't use ropes or quick draws, you just lay out crash pads, so if you fall you don't get injured.  Joe's Valley is a pretty well known climbing area, but this summer I never made it down there since summer is not the best climbing season for southern Utah, it is so hot! 

Anyway, Blake my boyfriend and I drove down with Teancum Bryant, Merto Asuncion, and Merto's old mission buddy Eric Johnson, in Merto's trusty Outback (which is newer than mine and much more reliable). Our other friend Jonny Wilson drove with Aaron in Jonny's truck, that way the four crash pads we had would fit! 

The first couple areas that we warmed up in were really fun. The climbs were interesting but bouldering is  a lot harder for me than sport climbing. The moves are way more technical and powerful it is wild.

Unfortunately later on in the day the storm clouds rolled in and the rain started to fall (and hail). Quickly we all found cover where we could. Joe's Valley doesn't have very many trees that are good cover in the rain, so we found shelter in the rocks. Teancum quickly fell asleep, which was weird. I just like this picture because it looks like he is sucking his thumb :)

Blake, Eric, and I found a little cave between the rocks. 

Everyone else ended up under a ledge!

This is Stoich, he is cute and an amazing dog. <3 I love when he comes on climbing trips because he is very well trained and adventurous!

Merto ended up getting bored under their ledge so he built his own shelter with a crash pad.

The most funny thing that happened while it was raining, was Stoich got restless and wandered up on the rock that the crash pad was laying on. The picture above was taken from my cave so I watched the whole thing unfold. Stoich being the adventurer he is, walked right out on the crash pad. The one side was not supported by any rock, so when he walked on top of it, the pad started to fall, the look on his face was so priceless. I yelled out his name to stop, but to no avail (since he is a dog and doesn't know what I am saying), he tumbled down along with the crash pad. Luckily even though he landed on a bunch of rocks he didn't get hurt! 

Finally the rain stopped but the rock wasn't drying out very quickly. The bad thing about Joe's Valley is in the rain sandstone isn't very good to climb on. This is because, while wet, sandstone becomes a lot weaker and breaks a little easier. Eventually it dried out and we moved to a different area.

I was pretty tired at this point so, I did a couple problems, then just played with Stoich, the dog. There were a bunch of cows walking up and down the dirt road next to the boulders and Stoich was growling at them. I was trying to convince him to get closer to the cows, just to see what would happen. He was to afraid though, that dog is all bark and no bite. 

Honestly, I think the hype about Joe's Valley might have ruined it for me. I thought it would be a lot better than it was. It could have just been the weather though so I am looking forward to going back and seeing if it is as amazing as people say! Maybe it will be!