Sedona Spike + Climbing in Flagstaff at The Pit

Sedona

Sedona

My CREC hat!

Sedona

Courthouse Butte--we primarily worked on the trail around this landmark

Sedona is truly gorgeous

Tools in Sedona

I can't remember what these specific rock formations are called, but they are awesome

Me leading my first route in Flagstaff!

Me climbing

Andrew, warming up on the route I had just finished

Barefoot man

Brian--my crew leader for the next 6 months

Brian coming back down

Ellie and Andrew, Ellie's first time climbing outdoors

Sun going down over the pit. 

Sticky, wonderfully smelly Ponderosa Pine sap

Dan preparing to climb. He has been climbing for over 5 years and used to be an instructor.

Feet

Ryan belaying Dan

Ryan preparing Sam. He used to lead trips in Red River Gorge.

Lava boulder field

Ryan rescuing scared girl

    Here I have posted a mix of pictures from Sedona and from my most recent outdoor climb time in Flagstaff. Almost all of the people I climbed with are from CREC, a couple are in my crew specifically, but for the most part we met more generally through CREC.

    From Flagstaff, it takes less than an hour to reach the incredible sandstone formations and desert weather of Sedona. Technically, the spike in Sedona was a training week, but everyone picked up the skills so quickly that we really kicked some trail-building butt. My favorite part of trail building so far involves smashing the crap out of rocks with a double jack. The double jack is the heaviest tool we have, and to use it you swing it much like you would an ax, starting with hands separate but bringing them together during the moment of suspension in the air to achieve maximum velocity and power while coming down to break/crush things. It gave me a lot to think about--with my CREC crew, we do all of this trail work to help support and maintain trails in order to protect the wilderness in general, but I moved and broke tons (in weight, literally) of rock that took hundreds of years to form. Depending on the age, the sandstone broke in different ways. Some of it was quite dense, and broke in defined lines, while other younger rocks crumbled with hardly any effort, and ended up looking like piles of sand. When it comes down to it, I do believe that my work does help the environment long-term, but throughout the week I had weird feelings that made me question moving boulders and crushing them after they had spent thousands of years forming. 

     Much of the trail work in Sedona is done in order to protect cryptobiotic soils/crusts. Crypto is totally amazing. It doesn't look like much--it looks like little dirt chunks covered in black dust. However, it is a huge part of desert ecosystems. It takes over a hundred years to form and can be destroyed with a single footstep. It is alive! It feeds the soil and retains moisture, allowing other plants to grow. It was around before dinosaurs. I hadn't even heard of crypto before this week. I now have a greater appreciation of the importance of well-maintained trails.

     A few funny moments from Sedona: Firstly, I managed to lean against a prickly pear day 1 and ended up with a bunch of spines of different sizes in my right thigh and butt. It was uncomfortable, but mostly hilarious. Mike offered to tweeze them out of me, but I told him I wasn't quite prepared to take off my pants for him. Ha. Later in the week, I ended up with a few prickly pear spines in my toes that went straight through my boots. No joke. Prickly pears have developed an amazing defense mechanism in those spines! They are awesome. I have yet to try prickly pear jam, but people around here love it. Day 2 a woman walked up to me and the guys I was working with and she decided to tell us that she is divinity--the female incarnation of Krishna. She literally said, "I am divinity," and proceeded to balance on one leg and to pretend to play the flute. I am certain I have come across divinity in my life, but before that moment, nobody had ever told me straight-up they are divine. After she walked away, my woods boss, Chris, who hadn't heard what she said but had seen her strange flute pose asked is she had told us she was the female incarnation of Jethro Tull. Hilarious. Multiple times on the spike I was brought to tears from laughing. Awesome. Another funny moment happened the last night we camped. I was the last one awake with two other guys, and we were sitting around the campfire talking. We heard a rustling, and discovered a skunk going for the trash about five feet from us. We jumped to the other side of the fire, and John threw a stick at the skunk and it immediately sprayed the nearest thing, which was the bag for the big stove. Luckily it waddled away, but that bag is permanently skunked. When I returned to Flagstaff, there was a dead skunk in the road a few blocks from my place. It made me a little sad.

     Overall, the Sedona spike was awesome. On Wednesday I'm heading out with my crew to Black Canyon City, which is a couple hours south of Flagstaff. The following spike we're heading to Coronado National Forest, which is near the AZ/Mexico border. Apparently it is beautiful, and I am super excited! My crew is awesome, there is one other girl and seven guys. A hilarious, badass crew. 

     The other pictures I have posted are from a climbing area just outside of Flagstaff, called The Pit. This was the second time I'd climbed outside here, and it is gorgeous. After parking, you have to hike about a half of a mile through a dense population of pines before emerging near the walls of limestone. There is a lot of snow and ice on the trail, and it is a little dangerous because it is probably only a 16-inch trail with an immediate drop-off, so we took it super slow. After reaching the rock walls, we hiked/scrambled/climbed up to the bolted walls. It was a clear, sunny day, and most people were shirtless because it was so warm. After climbing through a snowy pine forest, it was pretty strange to strip down only a few minutes later. Weather in Arizona is pretty awesome.

     I finally was able to do some lead climbing outside again, which I hadn't done since last summer when I went to Red River Gorge in Kentucky with Jack and Ryan. Flagstaff has a huge climbing community because there are so many places around the city with excellent climbing walls. At least 25% of my coworkers climb, and many more are starting to climb because so many of us already do! We spent all afternoon out at The Pit and I ended up a little bit sunburned. It is the end of January and I have to wear sunscreen! So strange.

     My climbing was strong, and I feel really good about it. I am finally becoming comfortable climbing outside. 

     We started to head back as the sun disappeared behind the trees. Not only does the limestone become too cold to grip successfully, but hiking on the icy trail in the dark would not be a good thing. While most of us traveled slowly up the trail, a few people off-roaded a little bit and decided to scramble around a field of boulders to reach the entrance. A bad call, for sure. Not only are the boulders huge and awkwardly-shaped, but there is snow around the boulders that can hide pits and other dangerous things. I guess the people that went that way thought it would be easier than a slow hike up the ice. A couple of them made it out without much difficulty, but one girl was so scared halfway through that she totally froze and couldn't continue. At this point, it was also starting to get dark. One guy, Ryan, took off his pack and climbed down into the boulder pit to help her. At one point she burst into tears and he had to stop and tell her to breathe. Ryan used to be an EMT and is a total calming force. Just before it was fully dark, he got her out. There is a lot to be said for common sense.

       Overall, I am falling in love with Flagstaff and the surrounding areas. Arizona truly is an amazing place.

Ryan is toward the bottom right corner, still rescuing scared girl.