Buddy's Myth

The whole rock stacking thing is a natural offshoot of my love for rock climbing. I love the feel of the rock, warmed by the sun, the shapes, the possiblities. I have an enormous respect for the rock. You never beat it, you just get to enjoy it in different ways at different times if it finds you worthy. You can't force it, you can't make it do what you want, you just hope to find a place where you are existing together in harmony and happiness at the same time. Like some other great things in this world. Here are some pics from a trip that the Toner, Mike (aka Jumbo Mug, aka Fruit Pie--see the nickname discourse in a previous post), and I took to Moab, Utah in May of 2002 to climb a tower in Castleton Valley.

This is Owl Rock in Arches National Park. Arches is my favorite. It's an amazing place. Owl Rock is 120 feet and goes about a 5.8 on a scale of 5.0 to 5.14 in difficulty of climbing. Read on...

Me leading Owl Rock. Note that my belayer seems to have no hands on the rope. My pal.

This is our first view of Castleton Tower as we drove into the valley. I mean really, don't you want to climb that sucker? We camped at the bottom ( where the bushes are) and then it's a 1000 foot elevation change to the bottom of the tower. the tower itself is 400 feet.

Me at the base of Castleton Tower. We spent four hours at the base of this climb (after a hellish hike up the talus cone) with sustained winds of forty miles per hour and gusts up to sixty. We finally had to bail and then go to Wall Street. Wall Street is a mile long stretch of cliffs along the Colorado River right outside of Moab.

Climbing at Wall Street. This is a route coalled the Snake. Slippery but fun. Like a snake, I guess.