Crafting at the crag

It took a little while, but after the seemingly constant traveling and emotional stress of the past couple of weeks, I'm happily settling in to the new landscape and finding comfort a bit more regularity (at least in terms of my sleep schedule). Unfortunately, the time and energy devoted to this transition period meant that my posts, crafting projects, and even adventuring were seriously neglected. But thankfully, I think I've started getting back into the swing of things, and a lot of that came from a bit of inspiration from a fellow Backcountry Crafter.

One of the main reasons that we came out to Moab was to climb, but it took us almost a week to actually get up on some walls. Before I started working in the North Cascades this summer, I was working at Pinnacles NP where there is at least a decent amount of climbing to keep me acquainted with the rock. But for a variety of reasons, I didn't climb at all once I moved up north. Even though I'm still relatively new to outdoor climbing, I've been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to have some vertical adventures.

Having a four month "break" from climbing didn't make it very easy to get up on the wall though. And one thing that has always amazed me about climbing is that, more than any other activity in which I engage, it is much more easily influenced (and even dictated) by my emotional and mental state.

Our first day we climbed several routes at Wall Street in Moab and they went well. My physical stamina has definitely dropped, but I was still excited and motivated so it worked out alright.

The second day, we went out to Indian Creek and I felt defeated before I even started a route. I felt a little pathetic for my lack of physical strength and was shocked at how much technique I had lost in the past few months. On top of that, a lot of my personal contentment comes from my ability to be fairly autonomous and lately, I've been dependent upon the schedules, needs, desires, knowledge, and experience of others. I was starting to feel powerless, and it showed as soon as I got on the wall.

I got through several moves before I got completely frustrated and quit, and of course, that didn't exactly make me feel better. But just around the corner from where we were climbing, there was another woman waiting for her friend to finish a route, and she was crocheting! 

We had a very brief interaction the first time I passed by her, but I found her later to ask about her project and just chat for a bit. She's been working on a beautiful scarf, and the turquoise of her yarn looked incredible against the reds and oranges of the rock walls that surrounded us. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but something about meeting another climber who brought her crafting project to the crag completely re-inspired me and gave me some much needed motivation.

Right after talking to her I left the crag to go for a run so I could get my energy flowing and just do my own thing for a while. I checked out a beautiful canyon, met a few curious (or confused) cows, watched the sunset, and came back feeling rejuvenated and satisfied. That night next to the campfire, I finally busted out my crafting bag and started working on a few projects that I had abandoned.

The next day, even though I struggled, I pushed myself to the top of a couple of routes at Indian Creek and enjoyed the view from up high. Once my arms, hands, and feet were pumped, I enjoyed sitting back to watch my friends climb... and worked on my knitting.

Thank you, Joan (and all other backcountry crafters), for doing your thing and reminding me to do my own. Good luck and have fun on the rest of your wonderful adventures and creative projects!
Yeehaw!