Friday, April 28, 2017

Moab –The Fruit Bowl Highline

Last year we read an article about slacklining in Moab.  I’d never heard of such a thing. There is an area called the Fruit Bowl where the BLM allows slacklining, BASE jumping and human catapults. We decided that if we returned to Moab that we’d drive out and look at it.  The Fruit Bowl is a narrow canyon near Dead Horse Point State Park.  One drives out 131, turns on BLM129 (dirt), and then on to Fruitbowl access road (sand and slickrock.)

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Eventually one reaches the parking lot, and walks towards the rim of the canyon.  There are cairns so the area can be found.  It’s really beautiful.

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This is from one side of the Fruit Bowl.

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And this is from the other side.  I could not force myself to walk to the very edge and point the camera straight down.  It was really windy and I didn’t do it.

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So this is what they do out there.  They’ve made nets out of parachute cord and ropes.  These are suspended below the top of the canyon.  Some people will BASE jump through the hole in the middle to the canyon floor.  That must be a really long drive back to the top.

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Or you can walk the slack line out to the net.

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Or you can cross the canyon on the slack line.

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If you’re mad at your bicycle, you can do this.

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I love this photo.  It gives you an idea of the depth and how high up they are.

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The article, linked in the first paragraph, is interesting.  If you have a few minutes it’s worth reading.  In the past they’ve had a festival out there Thanksgiving weekend.  I don’t know if they’re still doing it.  The bolts for all of this are still in the rocks, so hopefully they will.


Here is a gratuitous scenery shot, taken driving down the hill from Dead Horse Point.

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6 comments:

  1. Really interesting article. How in the world does anyone ever get the nerve to do things like that?

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  2. Wow. Just can't imagine! I wonder if anyone has died doing this? I am getting to be a real old fart, but I wouldn't have done this at any age. Stunning scenery, though!

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    1. There have been injuries, I read one article somewhere referencing the fact that a couple of professional riggers would be good to have on hand.

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  3. Oh holy crap! This is a scarier version of the rope walking I witnessed at Smith Rock State Park! Too bad you didn't see any of this in person!

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  4. Though crazy and intriguing...like a car wreck...I'm afraid I fall on the side of Mr Abbey. Moab has become a circus of noise and dust, spectators and participants. If you met the "before" Moab, you'd feel that way too. It's been "whored out" to commercialism and it's soul now burns in Hell. Too many people are spoiling the purpose of our best natural wonders with "motorized machines." Parklands and backcountry are not adequately nor evenly protected . I would like to see some dividing lines... like highway 191, for instance, the swollen "artery" that feeds dollars and adventure tourists to Moab and beyond to Canyonlands...where one side (east or west) is designated strictly non-motorized travel, and the other side is for "have-at-it" pillage, plunder, noise, dust, etc.. Let the motor heads do their thing, but give the rest of us a place to do our thing in peace and quiet. Just my humble opinion...
    mark

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  5. The ATVs and their noise and destruction bother me a lot. On the way out on BLM129 we saw many roads cut into the desert for them to ride on. Since our first time here in 2009, we've seen the changes, and they're not for the better. Moab is being loved to death. The slack liners don't bother me. They come, they slack line, they pack their stuff out and leave.
    I can not fathom what on earth would make people want to do that in the first place. BASE jumping is bad enough!

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