Joe's Valley 5/9/2007

I left Ft. Collins yesterday morning and made the 8 hour or so drive to Joe's and have arrived safely. I made it with a few hours of light and found a place to camp at the Black and Tan boulders parking area:

After getting camp set up, Josh showed up shortly thereafter. When he finished getting his trailer set up we decided to do some late evening bouldering in the last available light. The UMWA area was just 1/2 mile up the road so we headed there. We climbed a V3 called Reach Around and a V2 called High Ride before it got too dark to see anything. They were both pretty fun ways to start the trip. We also tried Rug Rat, a really nice looking V5 but didn't get it last night.
Here's Reach Around:

And here's Josh on the rail of Rug Rat:


Today we got up and returned to the UMWA area. There were quite a few people on that boulder so we walked across the road to the Small Boulder. Warmed up on a fun V2 and V3 and then tried a V4 called Pee Wee. The first move was really hard for me and I finally stuck the move after about 15 tries and sent the problem. Really fun. After climbing all the easy stuff on the Small Boulder and briefly trying Runt, a V7, we walked back to the UMWA boulder. Today I sent Rug Rat on my first try which felt really good. Josh sent it too. I also tried Walrus, another V5 right next to it and did all the moves but just got too tired to put it all together. I'm pretty tired now having climbed at least a few moves every day since Friday.

This afternoon we'll probably go check out a massive boulder field I found while driving on an 18 mile stretch of dirt road on the way to Orangeville - a "shortcut". I was pretty blown away by the boulders right on the side of the road and am anxious to go check them out. No fences or signs indicating to stay out either.