So long, and thanks for all the splitters.

Rad sunset image of the South Six Shooter by Elliot Barcicowski.

On Saturday, we were up at the Cat Wall, having another typical day at Indian Creek. The weather was perfect, the crowds weren't bad, and we had a big posse of stoked climbers sending tons of routes. A few friends were down for the weekend and we were all enjoying ourselves.

Towards the end of the day, the shadows were creeping into the canyon, and a few folks were already cracking beers in the parking lot. I was pretty tired, but Elliot was still stoked, so we walked over to check out one final route: Desert Moon. It was one of the most beautiful hand cracks I'd seen on the whole trip - beautiful hands splitter high up on a blank face. Everyone was pretty stoked to get on the thing as the last lap of the day. Everyone except me.

It was kinda weird - since the first time I sunk my hands into a perfect sandstone splitter, I've never been able to get enough. But looking up at that crack, instead of feeling inspired to rack up and send, I just felt a little hungry and tired. I realized I was done with Indian Creek.

After climbing hundreds, if not thousands of feet of the best cracks in the world, I'm ready for something new. In the fall I'll probably be super stoked to get back out in the desert sand and sun, but for now, I'm calling it quits.

But the timing couldn't be better! Yosemite is just about in season, so I'm heading West on Friday. I'll visit some friends and family in the Bay Area, then motor out to the valley to begin the next chapter of this trip.

Tomorrow, I'll hit the two month mark for this trip. So far, it's been incredible.