A Week in the Creek

Evening light on the Disappointment Cliffs

With only a week to burn, Kristin and I recently made a dash for southeast Utah and the splitter cracks of Indian Creek.  Our most recent and only prior trip was in the fall of 2010, and we had been dreaming and scheming of our return even since.  Having sworn off of recreational air travel for the year, 2013 was the perfect time to make it happen.  The opportunity to plug into an incredible landscape is one of the great attractions of climbing, and Indian Creek did not disappoint.

The Desert Diaries - Indian Creek

You only get one first time.  In the midst of that new experience, the doors swing wide open and you suddenly perceive a new reality, new opportunities, and just maybe a new part of your life thereafter.  The rush can never be duplicated, but each time you return to your new found pastime, you try to recreate the unmatched eye opening feeling of having a life-long veil lifted off of your head.  Those moments, the feelings, the sensations, the little details, stick with you for the rest of your life, and if you’re lucky you get to experience that rush at least a few times before you move on.  If you build it up too much ahead of time, searching out that high, you might just be disappointed.  But when you take things as they come, those rare fleeting moments catch you by surprise and create memories that sustain and inspire you for the rest of your life.