after Joe's

well, here's some pictures:

those were of Indian Creek. The last picture doesn't look real, but the green ball was just an airsoft pellet that was hanging out there. The things are everywhere!



These were a bunch from Arches National Park. We did the sweet hike that almost all the arches were in, than a small hike to see Delicate Arch from afar.

We saw lots of wildflowers too!


Then it was off to Bryce Canyon National Park - the scenery was amazing!:


Zion National Park came next. It was so out of place in the desert with all it's trees and water (Ross, I think even YOU'd like it. Also, some of these geology pictures were taken with Sophie in mind):


After Zion, Red Rocks, NV is still cool, but not nearly as beautiful (in other words, we didn't take very many pictures). Micah wasn't looking forward to going there, but soon he was asking to stay longer! We were there over Thanksgiving and we got to meet some awesome people! Danny Rider (has been putting up FAs in Red Rocks for 25 years) and Aaron (hie daughter's boyfriend) were bouldering the day before Thanksgiving near us. When they found out we'd been on the road for 3 months, they invited us right over for Thanksgiving dinner the next night!! It was amazing to have good, homecooked food for the holiday. Anyway, here's some Red Rocks pictures:


And the drive down to Hueco: Also, we saw some beams of light (like sunlight breaking through clouds) coming from the ground (to the east... in the evening). My guess is that Jesus was reborn at that spot. We forgot to add the picture to the computer, but it probably didn't look like much anyway.

Well, this is our last stop: Hueco. We'll be home within 10 days! But the adventure isn't over yet. We've got some visiting to do in Columbus, Wooster, Cleveland, Central Pennsylvania, the New, then onto Chattanooga for the winter. Spring break with WOODS, then a climbing tour of the Northwest USA next summer! I'll try to write again soon!
I love you all,
Stella
PS: Micah made an awesome movie of Red Rocks and our quick trip to Oak Flat (bouldering area at Queen Creek and home of the old Phoenix Bouldering Comp. You'll be happy to note that nothing got stolen out of our car, even though I have had previous problems with the area).

You can find the movie at chetroy.com in the blog section. Also, I added a permanent link to chetroy.com so you can always find it.

A couple videos

I can't add pictures right now, because it will take forever and we can't spend anymore time inside on this beautiful day. Right now we are in Red Rocks, but we've been all through Southern Utah since my last post. I'll write another post with pictures soonish.

First off, I made a movie of Joe's. Micah doesn't like it, but I had a fantastic time making it. Here it is for your enjoyment:
(click for video)

Straight from Joe's we went here (I made my own movie. It's very shaky due to bad camera skills):
(click for video)

Peace out, homies.
-Stella

Joe's Valley!

So Joe's Valley, UT.

It's sandstone here, which is really nice because I know how to climb on sandstone! With other rock types (not sandstone) the small feet that you'd think you can stand on are all super slippery. It's nice to have not-so-slippery feet. I'm not as scared to try to use them.

Apparently I have a certain type of climbing that I'm good at (that sentence end was for you, Ross). There are two boulders right across the street from eachother near our campsite. We went to the one we saw in our guide and I made it up the V0-. The V0 was too hard! All the V3s there were pretty crazy hard too. I was so frustrated, but then we went across the street to the other boulder, and apparently it's much more my style. Out of the 10 problems we saw on the boulder, I sent 6 of them that day. We later read that two of them were V3s. I flashed one of them, and the crux move for me on the other was a move that I accidentally added before the climb was supposed to start. So I guess I did an extended version of the problem that was harder? By the end of the trip I did all the problems on the boulder but one. A V7. I can do it from a stand start, but the first move, going from sitting to where I can do it is too hard. Here's a photo of me attempting, but failing:

The scenery here is pretty nice:

especially the rocks. They are all different colors:


This rock is actually an airsoft pellet. They are all over the country:

I got too excited with the camera and took these (I'm throwing the metal horns in the first one, but you can't quite see them):

This problem is really famous, in fact, we have a mock set of holds at the gym to re-create it. It's called Black Lung - V13. Micah did not actually send it:

This one is called Trent's Mom. Unfortunately, Micah tried really hard, but didn't do Trent's Mom:

This problem that Micah's looking at is called Marble Cake. Any guesses why?:

The Rail is a super classic Joe's problem. It's only V2 (supposedly), but just look at the surroundings! Beautiful:

Most of you already know that Micah and I put up some first ascents!!! I'm so excited about it! They should be in the next guidebook to Joe's Valley. Micah's were Gorilla Liberation - V8ish and Treeble People - V5ish. Mine were The Dreaded WOODSian - V1ish and The Om and the Avatar - V6ish.

I feel like most people maybe misunderstood The Dreaded Woodsian. It has a double meaning. One meaning is me (because I always said I'd name my first FA Stella and that's close enough). The other meaning is because where there's one Woodsian, there's usually at least 15 more close behind. Thus, to other climbers (like, for instance, in the Black Corridor in Red Rocks), we are dreaded. Get it? Anyway, here's a picture of me doing The Om and the Avatar:

The bouldering guide to Joe's is actually a bouldering guide to all of Utah. We finally broke down and bought it, only to find that another famous area was under 30 minutes away! A couple days later we took a day trip to Triassic. All the pictures are of Micah because I like the camera more than he does, I guess. Basically, it looks the same as the Joe's rock, but there are no pines and the boulders are super concentrated, which is sweet! Not much hiking:

When we got back from Triassic, we had a visitor! Here's a picture of him on a hike with Micah:

Here's a picture from the front:


It was Nate-Dogg! He had just finished his job in Colorado, and was only about 2 hrs. from us, so he stopped by for a visit.

We also made a long video for Joe's. It shows a lot more climbing than the pictures do. Hopefully you won't get too bored!
(click for video)
for some reason it isn't working. I'll update it again in a few days and try to make it work. Maybe it will mysteriously start working in the meantime. Good luck!

I hope everyone is doing well! Don't forget to check out chetroy.com for Micah's blog. Leave lots of comments!
-Stella