My first trip to Indian Creek

I just went to Indian Creek for the first time last weekend and let me tell you how awesome it was, in fact I'm rounding up the whole clan for next weekend, and we'll be there for all of spring break.

For starters, we just drove off the road under a tree to camp. Nice soft crypto soil everywhere. At first I thought the no camping sign post would work great for tieing up my pack of dingo-wolf hybrids, but then I realized I could just let them run wild like nature intended. They even brought back a calf to barbecue one day. It was great kicking back with a roaring fire under the stars every night. That sage-brush sure burns well, and it is easy to collect - just wrap the end of a chain around the base and yank them out of the ground with the ORV. In fact those ORV's are made for the creek, you can just cut straight from camp to your favorite crag (cut the barbed wire fence the first time, but then it is a gravy run). With a bit of momentum, you can usually make it to the top of the talus slope, and the built in stereo keeps the tunes thumping all day (sure, you have to run the engine to keep the battery charged, but that 2 stroke engine is music to my ears). I also ran the generator back at camp to power the satellite TV, microwave, and stereo.

Then it is time to climb. This place is great, I mean the routes aren't taped like in the gym, but since it is mostly just a crack, you don't need to have the holds taped, and the chalk shows up pretty well, I use blue and green chalk to mark things I might miss, and the rock is soft enough that I was able to make a few critical finger and toe edges with my hammer. I was even able to get my hardest trad onsight yet by shooting a few key holds onto the route from the ground with my rifle. Speaking of tape, that crack climbing can hurt, so I use lots of tape. Then when I get down, I just shove it into the crack. Once you get the rope up through the anchors, everybody gets a chance to climb and hang on it. There were a few smelly guys that needed some new threads and a shave that seemed to want to lead, but ripper, fang, and the pack (the d-w hybrids) shut them up pretty quick.

I was a bit put-off by the lack of facilities at first, 'til we hitched up our toilet seat over the creek - another problem solved. Speaking of problems solved, the wind here is great, just toss the trash out on the ground, and then the wind takes it away. What a magical place. I think everyone should come here as soon as they can.


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