Over the Memorial Day weekend we headed to Rifle Canyon which we’d heard much about, but hadn’t visited. The Stecks and some other friends were headed there. Heading east through Vernal is a nice drive and a little nicer than just I-15 and I-80 which are pretty much the only routes we typically take.
The climbing in Rifle is really difficult. Slippery rock, polished holds, and just odd features make it challenging. I enjoyed a few of the routes I got on, but I wasn’t as enamored with it as Carly. Perhaps another trip is needed in order to appreciate it more. One thing I can’t fault Rifle with is the hang. A beautiful stream, zero approaches, generally easy parking and toilets make it a nice zone.
Jeremy still is injured so I decided to do a trail run with him on one of the days instead of climbing. The trail we did was about 11.5 miles and close to 2000 ft of gain. I felt OK on it, but needed to slow down near the end as my knee was sore, but overall I was happy with not doing any runs nearly that long this season.
