We left Brant and Beth’s house this morning with plans to climb a four-pitch sport route in Maple Canyon called Tachycardia. When we stopped for gas just south of Provo, I ran the numbers, and we hit over twenty MPG for the first time. That brought our average MPG up to 17.45. On the downside, We are paying $3.79+ per gallon out here.

We rolled up in the canyon after lunch, and surprise, it was full of people. I thought about Chris as we rounded the corner to see the Heart Rock. We found the parking area for the climb Maddie had on her tick list, and there were only a couple of cars there. We decided to give it a try. The hike was brutal. I would call it more of a bushwhack than a hike. We had to go up a forty to sixty-degree scree field with trees beating us in the face. Scree fields or talus slopes are never fun. The ground is constantly moving under your feet. Most of the talus that I’ve walked on in the past have been flat or blocky. It still moves under your feet, but Maple Canyon is made up of conglomerate rock. The best way to describe it is river rock from half of an inch in diameter all the way up to truck tire size rocks cemented together to make up the walls. Some of the slot canyons there are a few hundred feet tall, and you can touch both walls at the same time.

Imagine walking up a very steep hill on marbles and jacks (older folks like me will remember the ball and jacks game) with limbs trying to knock your nose off for twenty minutes. To put things in perspective, this approach was about an eighth of the distance of the twenty-minute approach in Wild Iris…just brutal.

We made it to the climb after much complaining on my end to find two young ladies from Salt Lake City starting the route. We waited about twenty minutes until they were starting the second pitch before we jumped on the route. Have I mentioned my dislike of sunscreen? I have been climbing in long sleeve “sun hoodies,” but today I was wearing a short sleeve sun hoodie. Maddie tried to get me to use sunscreen, but I can’t stand that stuff. Needless to say, I now am sporting a Farmer’s Tan…Burn. I will rotate back to long sleeves for our next outing.

Maddie led the route like a champ. The third pitch has an overhanging section that leads to a vertical wall with two hundred or so feet of air below you. It is very exposed! She cruised through it. We made it to the top, and she signed the register. Some longer climbs have an ammo box at the top with a pen and a journal.

There were three rappels to get back to the ground. After the first rappel, we had a moment. Our ropes got stuck eighty feet above us. This is one of the scariest things that can happen on a descent. After a few hard tugs, I said, “Praise the Lord!” as the rope came free.

Our second rappel was interesting. After about twenty feet, it was free hanging until we reached the other side of the slot canyon about ninety feet down. The third rappel put us in a steep gully between the two walls. This is where our skiing trip began.

The talus was tough coming up, but it was scary going down. Maddie had her first two falls of the trip, and it wasn’t even on the wall. She only got a few scrapes, and she is okay. The same trees that I wanted to cut down on my way up were a blessing on the way down. They saved me several times. Once, both of my feet were sliding, and somehow I didn’t fall, even with one leg going almost over my head. We loved the climb, but the approach and descent are for the birds. With the crowds in the canyon and wanting to go to church in the morning, we packed up and headed for Moab.

Our camping spot for the night was a little out of the ordinary. We stopped at a pull-off on I-70 in the San Rafael Swell to eat supper. We had a cell signal, so we decided to stay there for the night. We watched a beautiful sunset while we ate black beans and chicken. The picture at the top of the post is just after the sun went down.

Maddie is doing a few videos of the trip. If you would like to see them, you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/@mad_dog_shenanagins

Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

My trend has been to get most of the blog post finished before I go to bed and then finish it up in the morning. I added Psalm 106:1 last night as I thought over the day. The Lord God is good all the time. When I crawled out of the Jeep this morning, a young Hispanic man and his family were parked beside us. He motioned for me to look at his car. His yellow engine light was on. He didn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Spanish. We were able to communicate with our phones. Yes, God is good, all the time. Please pray for this family. They have a twenty-eight-hour drive ahead of them. I’m missing worshipping with my church family today. I hope that you all worship in Spirit and in Truth!

Because He Calls, Old Climbing Dad