I would have stopped, but I had a good pulse and glide going. When you get an empty road like this, you have to take advantage of it.
Bryce and Arches were really just side trips on our way to Shelf Road in Colorado. Shelf Road is an old dirt road carved into the hill sides leading into Colorado gold country. Shelf Road is an attraction of its own, but our objective was Shelf Road Rocks, the limestone outcroppings in the distance. Limestone is entirely different to climb than our normal sandstone, and also different than the cobbles at Maple Canyon in Utah.
Pitching the tent. The rock in the distance is our climbing destination. It was only 0.3 miles away, but only if you could fly. Less than 100 feet behind our tent there was a 300 foot drop to the bottom. Sleepwalking was not a good option.
Cactus Cliff, the crag in the distance, and our climbing destination. To get there we had to hike a series of switch backs to the bottom of the canyon, traverse a dry gulch, and ascend another trail to an old BLM service road. A half-mile hike up the service road brought us to the base of Cactus Cliff. A small trail along the belay ledge lead us three-quarters the way down Cactus Cliff to our destination.
"Okay, so this is a cactus, and that is a cliff. We must be at Cactus Cliff, but is this the right spot?"
Our recon expedition over, we are back at camp. Looking over at Cactus Cliff, the place we will climb the next day is the tall sun-lit column to the right of center.
Ascending the trail toward Cactus Cliff. It's hot and our gear is heavy. One of our surprises in Colorado was how fast it got hot in the morning. We would be eating breakfast in three layers of clothes, then the sun would pop up and suddenly it was too hot to climb comfortably. Somewhere in Colorado there is a big switch labeled "Too Hot/Too Cold".
My wife Deb at the top of a route. This photo should be called "Me making my wife emote at the top of a climb." Deb is Swedish and Norwegian, with all of the emotional restraint associated with Scandinavians. I had to yell up to her and say "Now reach up and put your arms in the air and look excited." Sheesh, it should be easier to get good photos.
Looking back across the canyon at our campsite (under the red arrow). Note how the ground rolls off toward the edge of the cliff. Everything in our campsite leaned toward the edge, except for the little tent pad.
Another look back at Shelf Road. From this photo it is easier to see how the road was cut into the side of the hills.
Hot and tired after a lot of climbing in the broiling sun. Shortly after we took this photo, I was spit off of an easy climb. That was our sign that we were done for the day. The hike back to camp was long and slooooow. Our campsite is across the canyon and is visible between the trees above Deb's left shoulder.
Relaxing back at camp, perched just above the lip of the canyon. You could easily turn this into the world's most exciting sled ride with one of the camp chairs and those little round stones.
