Joe's Valley, Utah
September 26, 2009
Boysize, Mansize, UMWA, Buoux. Posted by Sean. We printed off a Doctor Topo before leaving Colorado to help us find some of the better boulders in Joe's Valley. The guide gives sketches of boulders and grades along with a few vague descriptions of the type of bouldering we would experience. What we found was some of the best bouldering we have have done in some time. We had three days to enjoy the beautiful sandstone, ancient junipers and intense sunshine.
Day one we descended from our chilly campsite down into the desert and pulled off the road next to a wash. The four of us walked up the wash and found the faint trail that skirted around a large juniper. Walking out of the wash we were confronted with the first boulder field. We warmed up on a few easy problems and decided on a project. A V5 seemed like a good grade and we found a very nice line shaded from the sun (ed. Mono E Mono, Boysize area). I got on the problem first and tried to work out the beta. Amy got on it and, well, on-sighted the thing.
That was kind of the main story of our trip to Joe's. Amy sent pretty much everything and with ease. We found a couple of things that eluded us but we were climbing all day in the desert and became more tired as the sun sank behind the canyon walls and the temps dropped. But this place, the sandstone and climate, really brought out Amy's bouldering skills and it was a joy to watch.
The other story of Joe's was the beauty of the place. We would wake up in the mornings with the whole day ahead of us, and that really did not seem like enough time to take in the place. Sometimes after a day of bouldering we would just hike our hang out near one of the streams. But the boulders always seemed to call us back. And we will be back.
