After fleeing a rain-lashed Zion, we headed east towards Moab for the second phase of the adventure. A small detour gave us the opportunity to get even more value for money from our annual National Parks pass (only $80 – it’s a snip!) with a quick trip into Bryce Canyon. A contender for the most picturesque of all of the Parks? A brief respite in the rain also offered the chance to get some of the moisture out of the tents while we watched the orientation movie in the visitor centre.

Bewitching colours…

The rest of the 5hrs journey to Moab through the San Rafael desert was a succession of unfolding wild, rocky vistas, and we stopped short of town on an “unimproved” BLM camping area for a free overnight. You get a lot of space for your zero dollars!

On into Moab and we established camp at a slightly more organised campground by the Colorado River – there are half a dozen or so operating on a first-come-first-served basis, and $20 gets you the standard tent pad, table & bench, fire pit, pit-toilet and Gob-smacking views.

The forecast had been for the rain to follow us from Zion, and we’d pretty much written the day off in anticipation, but happily the skies suggested otherwise, so we headed up the valley to explore the Fisher Towers. Great views into Castle Valley on the way – this shot commemorates the second dumbest thing that anyone did on the trip (ask Bill what topped the leader board): I thought I’d stick my phone out of the window to take it, not factoring in the speed Bill was driving – net result phone jettisoned onto the verge at 60mph. Credit to Samsung – it’s almost uninjured!

The Fisher Towers are visually stunning formations, still extraordinary in a landscape full of remarkable rock architecture. They were an early draw for the first desert rock climbers, despite their legendary fragility – they’re basically made of mud and rubble!

We headed up to explore by far most amenable formation: Ancient Art via the Stolen Chimney. This 4-pitch 5.8 C1 uses a few bolts to overcome the steeper bits to make for a really straightforward ascent, and the popularity ensures that the rock quality is pretty acceptable.

Here’s Bill following the first pitch…

… and deploying all the skills learned in a Peak gritstone chimney apprenticeship…

Pitch 3 is a very short bolt ladder, which yields the extraordinary corkscrew summit pinnacle:

You’ve simply got to do it before it fails down!

We were up and down in only two hours – huge fun and such a memorable summit. We were lucky enough that a passing hiker, Tania, was kind enough to take a few pics and email them:

The approach description references a small tower “The Cobra” but there are so many towers and hoodos that it wasn’t entirely obvious to us. Here’s a shot of where the climber’s path veers off left from the main hiking trail.

We only just got down in time, as the weather was clearly taking a turn for the worse. Impressive vista out towards Castle Valley and Castleton Tower:

Sure enough, the first pitter-patter of raindrops started within 5 minutes of us finishing the rap, and had worked itself up into a proper shower by the time we were back at the car.

Safely in the dry, we cracked open a “no more jobs!” beer to celebrate the bonus route – we’d only really expected a recce.

Another 5mins and a short, sharp downpour cast the Towers in a different perspective:

Leaving the Fisher Towers Road, we were intrigued by this sign…

Which obviously tallied with the huge gathering of vehicles and pantechnicons further down the canyon, signed “Crew Parking”. There must have been well over a hundred SUVs and trucks parked up, plus a couple of dozen huge trailers:

With nothing else to do for an hour or so, we nipped in for a nosey. “Hello, I hope I’m not being too cheeky, but we wondered what you are filming here?” I got the quick, witty response I deserved: “it’s a mayonnaise advert”. I couldn’t resist taking this pic to carry on the banter…

Later research at the bar of the Moab Brewery revealed that it’s a huge Kevin Costner extravaganza called Horizon, with a $150m budget for five cowboy films tracing the expansion of the US either side of the Civil War. Turns out they didn’t need two handsome Brits as extras, but there’s no harm asking!

Back at the campground there’s no sign of the rain – it was very localised. We settled in for an evening around the campfire…

and invited over our neighbour Brad, to join us for the evening. He was visiting from Phoenix, on a mission to sample the world-famous MTB trails around Moab. Always good to meet kindred spirits with an interest in wild places and outdoor pursuits.