The Friends of Indian Creek

Indian Creek is unique amongst American climbing Destinations. Most of the famous ones lie in National or State Parks and are subject to camping restrictions, park fees, and are managed by Rangers. Climbers are generally a good crowd and whilst they form a more anarchic group than participants in other sports are likely to do, every climber feels a stewardship towards the land on which they climb. In Indian Creek the camping is as wild as wild gets. There are no amenities and no drinking water. This makes the Creek not only a fantastic climbing venue but also a beautiful camping spot, where you can co-exist with unspoilt nature. This situation can’t be taken for granted, and in a country where land access is a privilege or exception rather than a right. The climbing community has formed a unique agreement with the land agency whereby they manage themselves. This is to everyone’s benefit; it means that climbers get the unspoilt environment that they so crave and the land agency gets the issues which they consider pertinent addressed. The main concern is human waste, and has been solved by the distribution of “wagbags”. These are basically bags into which you can defecate. The whole process, whilst sounding unsavoury, isn’t actually too unpleasant. This is helped by the presence of toilet paper, an antibacterial handwipe and a lavender scented water absorbent silica in the bottom of the wagbag. Although I could conceive wagbag mishaps, for example falling backwards into it, or urinating in one’s shoes, I found the whole process relatively straight forward and I’ve avoided any accidents.

The pristine camping

The wagbag. Restop 1 is for number ones.

The hightech insides.