I only made one trip (after seeing pictures of Perfect Child), but really enjoyed the variety of options there. We also didn't know what to make of the rock at first - it really is like nothing I've seen anywhere else.
We didn't have any vehicle problems, but I could see how it would be very easy to epic out there.
Wish it was closer...if it was I would have certainly gone back.
I could do w/o the bravado, it's slightly humorous to someone I suppose. the pics and the passion for a cool place, can't get enough, thanks for the stoke, besides it's a climbing thread.
BVB... Im' reading it and I am waiting for the "big mad poster to appear" and curse you for spilling the beans.
Meh, I think those days are over. All of these areas have been massively exposed on the 'web in the last ten years. It's not 1997 anymore. I pulled every single photo posted here off the internet. Do a google search using "images" and you'll see what I mean. There is a new Wayne County climbing guide out. Sponsored climbers have blogged the living daylights out of the Hankries, and getting directions to the place is as simple as conducting a 30 second google search. Hell, I found 'em on my first try following a random comment from a non-climbing co-worker by getting a bunch of 7.5 minute quads, looking at the contour lines, and just driving up there on a day trip with my wife and infant son in tow. Oldest trick in the book. If you have even the slightest degree of exploratory itch, south-central utah has a lifetime's worth of new undiscovered rock.
Since the fire, I've been up there a few times, but it just sort of makes me sad. I get that "it was a time and a place" feeling that you really can't go home again. And since the fire, even the old "regulars", such as they were, have throttled way back. All of these areas can and do and will go months between visitors, and it will always be that way. There's no really comprehesive guide to Wayne county -- the new one is deliberately spartan -- and these places are just too damn hard to get to unless you can see 'em from your kitchen window like I could. And that insanely nice camping scene has turned into something like a night in Beirut.
Bravado? ME?!? That is SO unfair, out-of-line, below the belt, and totally unsupported my my posting history here on the Taco. Low-key, self-depriciating humor and humility are my middle names. Actually, my middle name is Donald, but you get the point.
I love the fact that the photo above was presented in a court of law in an attempt to deride your character and as evidence of your possible infidelity with the lass in the "background". <snicker>
Really, I should frame it with the Exhibit tag on it and all. It took five years, but at least the ass and I can communicate in a civil fashion these days. Especially when she calls me looking for money. She wants to get back on my Fereral BC/BS healthcare plan.
meanwhile, up in the high country, life goes on...
Great thread. Looks like an awesome place. I'm going to be in southern Utah this summer with my three kids on our annual summer trip. I'm going to detour through this area for sure.
bvb... I was hopeing for a real sh$t slinging to go down.
Well, we can still hope, right? It would make for some great intardwebz theater! We could even bring LEB back for it!
On the other hand, if you google "the horn+henry mountains+climbing" the very first two image hits are these:
Not a secret spot, never was, just obscure, hard to get to, and lacking a roadmap-for-the-masses guidebook. This is as it should be. I dispatched a posse of Flagstaff's finest up there a few years ago, and they came back raving about the place. Just raving. "Godstone", "Unreal", Best EVAR", etc.
And...they've never gone back, ever, not once. And really, that's the whole story of Wayne County climbing right there. Proximity is crucial to regular visitation.
With the exception of some of the lower elevation Capitol Reef Bouldering areas (5500 feet) everything in this thread is at or above 7,500 fet, so yeah, it's good in the summer. Capitol Reef dome-a-neering summits are all 7,000 feet and up and there's always a cool breeze so they are great anytime of the year. In what passes for the dead-of-summer months (July and August) you'll want to stick to mornings and afternoons. Afternoons are always good, when between the bone-dry air and the altitude it cools off fast.
All of it is public land, so camping is free and plentiful and nice, although up in the Hankries you need to camp well away from the burn zone. Even now, 10 years later, the old camping area is one big ashtray. Everthing you own will turn black. The soil is gone and has been replaced with several inches of black soot.
Let us know!