Emery County

We arrived at our campsite 30 miles north of Joe's Valley in desperate need of a shower. It was dark and difficult to find the campsite. There was nobody there but us and the campsite manager. We parked the car, walked to the shower house and were surprised with wonderful clean hot showers.
The next day we woke up to a beautiful autumn sunrise, surrounded by trees with unusually yellow leaves. We enjoyed a coffee at the campsite, topped up our water supplies and then set off for Joe's Valley. On the way we stopped at the Food Ranch, a local supermarket that also sells climbing gear and exceptionally good donuts and coffee.
First we went to the campsite to see if there was room for us and luckily we got the last spot available. We paid for two nights and then headed up the Left Fork. Joe's Valley is basically split into two valleys, each with a long road to nowhere. At a junction at the beginning of each valley, the two roads split, creating a left and a right fork.
We spent our first day of climbing looking for good warm-ups, which turned out to be quite difficult as we didn't know the area at all. After failing to warm up in The Sandbox sector, we went to the Riverside Boulders. The lines were high and polished. On the way back to the campsite we stopped at a famous boulder called "Worst Case Scenario", V9, which is right next to the road but a few metres above it on a sloping ledge. A few moves into the boulder you have to put your foot over the ledge and in the worst case scenario you could slip and fall onto the road. This is, however, very unlikely as you are climbing on jugs at this point. The crux of the boulder starts just after this infamous foot placement and is really safe. It was really fun to work on the moves and finally send them.
The second day we started in the Boy Size area (Right Fork). It was hot, but we found some lines in the shade. Eventually we had to move into the sun where Birte did "Mono e mono", V5, and "The Rich", V4, and I did "Golden Plates", V8. After a coffee break at the campsite, we spent the afternoon in the Man Size area, where I surprised myself and the crowd projecting "Finger Hut", V10, with a flash of this famous crimping test piece. Birte started with "The Great White", V6, a beautiful line with big moves and compression between crimps under the roof and slopers on the shark fin shaped arete. She was hooked, but not yet able to do all the moves.
We started the third day at "The Great White". Birte made new links, but the sun came out earlier than expected and made it much harder to keep the necessary grip and tension. We had to stop and come back later.
Next on our list was The Perimeter area, but we couldn't find a place to park, so instead we went to see an old house by the coal mine. We changed our plans and drove a few hundred metres back to the "No Substance" area. On the way to the warm-up block we were stopped for a while by a small snake guarding the steep path. After the warm-up I climbed the line that gives the sector its name: "No Substance, V8".
Joe's Valley is a desert of dust. There was, and still is, a lot of mining in the area. Much of the vegetation was destroyed in the last century, and it takes a long time to regrow in the desert. So everything was covered in dust all the time. The pads, our car, our clothes and of course ourselves. We were constantly thinking about water. I had to cream my hands several times a day. Even Bepanthen absorbed into the skin within minutes. So we decided to go back to the campsite of our first night in Joe's and have another nice shower. We paid online and drove the 30 miles north, parked our car in the same spot, packed fresh clothes, towels and shampoo and went to the shower house. And it was closed. What? We walked over to the camp host's RV and asked if we could get the keys to the showers. "Sorry folks, they turned off the water today. There is no water in the campsite, no water in the toilets and no water in the showers. We're closing the campsite tomorrow. Shit, we needed a shower. Panic mode on. We checked Google Maps and found a state park campground 20 minutes away. Since we had already paid for the campground, we figured we could shower at any other place run by the county. We drove to the state park, sneaked in in the dark, went to the shower house and checked the water. It worked. We showered, sneaked out of the campsite and drove the 20 minutes back. The things you do for a shower...
The next day was a busy one. Birte wanted another shot at "The Great White" and we had to drive down to Bryce Canyon to meet Manu and Lisa who had just landed in Las Vegas and hopefully see the Pando Aspen Tree on the way.
We set the alarm for 6am and drove to the Food Ranch for coffee and a dozen donuts. At 7:20am we walked up to Birte's project, arriving before the sun was over the opposite mountain range. Birte warmed up and got a few good burns. Then the sun came out and it went from fleece and sweater temperatures to shirt temperatures in a matter of minutes. Between attempts I covered the arete with a pad to extend the time of cool rock as long as possible. At 8:30 Birte was on top! Woohoo! What a way to start the day!
Enough time to stop at the Pando Aspen Tree at Fish Lake on the way to Bryce Canyon! 😬Read more