Indian Creek

Located in the deserts of eastern utah, an hour from Moab, Indian creek is a series of monolithic towers of red wingate sandstone, each sliced with perfect splitter cracks of a variety of sizes, from thin fingers to grueling offwidths. Due to the butter smooth texture of the rock, it is very easy and satisfying to jam and place gear on these routes, only needing basic crack climbing technique. If you crack climb anywhere else, Indian Creek will feel like pure magic. The firm, organic rock hugs your hand jams like a second belay. The area is pretty remote, and populated with your usual suspects of vanlife desert dirtbags. I would love to spend a spring or fall here in the future, getting dusty and meeting whoever the creek sends my way. An important thing to note is the fragility of the geology, so climbing after rain is highly frowned upon. When I first visited the creek for Gerry's bipoc meetup, it was projected to rain for all three days I would be there. Luckily, the rain held off until the afternoon of the third day, and I got a great taste of what the creek has to offer.

notable routes

3AM crack 5.10

A long, sustained #1 and #2 handjam elevator into the sky! Smooth swimming all the way to the anchors. If you like this route, check out all the other five stars at Supercrack buttress because they're all kinda the same. Unfortunately, this is the route where I got a #3 stuck, and stayed on the wall until dark trying to wrestle it out. It broke one of my nut tools, and ended up all janky looking. Still a good route nonetheless.

Go Sparky Go 5.11

A good shortie! This crack starts out wide, then arches and zig zags until it's a nearly horizontal offset finger crack. The final move is money, a dynamic grab for the corner.

King Cat 5.11+

One of the most exciting and gorgeous routes I've seen, this towering crack curls like a claw, with a thrilling off-hands overhanging roof and an awkward mantle that spits you out. Thomas led this one, and I had the pleasure of cleaning it in the dark.

notes

• On your way out, check out Newspaper Wall, an ancient petroglyph with hundreds of little guys. Bugs, monsters, people, and a lot of feet. I noticed when I visited that a lot of the feet have six toes, and I wondered if this was some sort of artistic choice. As it turns out, the local indigenous people had a very high rate of polydacty, and remains found with six toes on the left foot were linked to wealth and royal lineage.
• Because of how long and monotonous these cracks are, you need a lot of cams of the same size to climb these routes. It's advised to go with a group of friends, or get yourself a 'creek rack'. That's not happening for me anytime soon!
• Moab is the closest town, and it's a pretty cool place with climbing, hiking, and rafting of it's own. Friends have reccommended the Lazy Lizard hostel for stays and showers, and apparently the bathroom mirror is perfect for nudes.

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