Luke Mehall

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Superette Crack and the Dove Creek Wall

Superette Crack and the Dove Creek Wall

  An excerpt from Luke Mehall’s upcoming book, The Desert     We had some unfinished business before we embarked on developing this new wall, way, way back in a forgotten corner of this land we call Indian Creek. There was another wall, The Dove Creek Wall that we’d been developing in the main canyon. […]

War- What is it Good For?

War- What is it Good For?

(Excerpted from The Desert, due out later this year, or next year)   I scribbled that on the back of my car, shortly after 9-11, and George W and our government started sounding the war drums in Iraq. There was little chance I’d go to war, a much bigger chance that I’d go to the […]

Powders of Persuasion

Powders of Persuasion

Story and Photos By Luke Mehall   Note: this piece is an excerpt from the author’s upcoming book, The Desert, due out later this year.   My college years in The Desert were adventurous and crazy, a complete immersion in the unknown. After I graduated I began to roam from climbing area to climbing area, […]

Diffusing an Explosive Situation in Bears Ears National Monument

Diffusing an Explosive Situation in Bears Ears National Monument

We were about thirty minutes into our adventure and five minutes away from finding the explosives. I looked back to my companion for this adventure—a BLM law enforcement officer, packing a gun and everything—and asked if he was doing alright. He was just fine, and minutes later we were checking out the explosives. “You moved […]

Desert Dog

Desert Dog

Chapter 1 This is the most beautiful place on earth, but of course like Cactus Ed Abbey said, every person carries in their heart an image of the ideal place, the right place. This is just the right place for me. But, right now, something is not right, and its pitch black anyways, no beauty […]

Protecting Abbey Country

Protecting Abbey Country

I am sitting in front of my computer, doing what I do to make my pennies, but in a few hours, when my writing is done, and the car is packed I will head out to my favorite place in the world, the most beautiful place in the world, my second home, Indian Creek.   […]

Just One More

Just One More

The Acquired Taste of New Routes in Indian Creek      “Once in a while you get shown the light In the strangest of places if you look at it right” –Scarlet Begonias The Grateful Dead     “I just want one first ascent,” I told my best friend Two Tent Timmy, while we stood […]

Castles Made of Sand

Castles Made of Sand

  As outdoor enthusiasts we all have that place, that favorite place where we’ve pushed ourselves to the limit and back, the place we could imagine our ashes scattered once our precious, short time is done here. For me, Castle Valley, is that place. It is also a rabbit hole to gauge my climbing potential; […]