Overview

For most, the mere mention of splitter crack climbing arouses mental images of the beautiful sandstone cracks of Indian Creek. There are few if any better places to hone your splitter crack skills than at the Creek. Load up on food from City Market and water from Gearheads, and make the 1.5 hour drive to Indian Creek. You won’t want to make this drive every few days so make sure you have enough water and food to last. Creek life is easy, there’s not much to say, you’ll figure it all out.

one thing to figure out is to start wearing your tape gloves before you start bleeding

Details

For your rack, just bring everything you have and then put on your friendliest smile. You’re gonna have to make or bring some friends in order to climb here. As you probably already know, routes routinely require six or seven of the same size pro… and that’s assuming you’re walking each one up with you a little ways!

Classics

King Cat 5.11+
Fine Jade 5.11a
Curiosity 5.11
North Face of Castleton 5.11-
Stolen Chimney 5.10

Stolen Chimney-get here early, this one is popular

Colorado Northeast Ridge 5.8 C2

Seasons

Spring and Fall. Being that this is the Utah desert, there is generally little rain year-round, with the most pleasant climbing temperatures in the spring and fall. It’s possible to climb in the sun in the winter months, but the temperature drop at night makes for some chilly camping!

Camping

Indian Creek: Most climbers camp at either Superbowl or Creek Pastures. $5/site.

Castle Valley: There is a climbers campground at the start of the approach for Castleton Tower. Free.

Fisher Towers: There is a campground at the start of the approach for the Fisher Towers. $15/site.

Water

In Moab, the gear shop called Gearheads provides free water inside their store.

Once at the Creek, you can refill water at the Canyonlands Visitor Center. Apparently there is a spigot to the side of the building. This could be a better alternative to pressing the water fountain button for literally 15 minutes to fill your 5 gallon jug.

Food

Milt’s is a burger joint that has excellent burgers, fries, and especially shakes.

City Market is the go to place to stock up on food. It’s a long drive from town to the Creek, so make sure you bring enough food to last 5-6 days. You won’t need more than that, by then you’ll be begging for a rest day in town anyways to heal up gobies, shower, and catch up on some wifi.

Shower

The Lazy Lizard Hostel has showers for $3. Cheapest shower I came across in 9 months of road tripping (if you don’t count Bishop’s free hot springs).

Rest Days

The Moab Library is excellent. A great place to catch up on some work or do research for your next objective. It’s also across the street from a soccer field, great for doing some sprints, pushups, and pullups on the goal net thing.