The BLM office in Monticello has asked the Friends of Indian Creek to remind climbers that there is a 14-day limit on camping on BLM Land. The F.O.I.C. understands that there is a bit of a history of staying in the Creek for far longer, but heavy climber-traffic in the area has made the BLM take notice of this tradition. Be aware that overstaying the 14-day limit makes climbers look as if we feel the rules don't apply to us and thus has an effect on long-term access. Moving your campsite throughout the season, or perhaps finding a site outside the main Indian Creek area, will not only help smooth relations with the BLM, but will also keep you from possibly getting hit with a fine.
A reasonably good cliff you can be alone at, with a goodly number of good routes! 5 routes on this cliff face North, and about 10 more face Southeast. The latter getting sunlight from sunrise to nearly sunset in the fall and winter. The Bloom book mentions that some of these routes are dusty for lack of travel, as this cliff is relatively unvisited. In reality, while this may be a contributor, the main cause is that the rock is softer here than in some other areas and yields more dust to rain and wind. Still, some routes are quite good, and as Bloom implies, you are likely to have them all to yourself. Of the routes I tried, I found "Go Sparky Go" to be the best for its unique quality of going almost horizontal on a flat vertical wall, "Low Spark" the best for its length (P1: 155', P2:80'), "Sparkling Schnitzel" good all around despite being an OffWidth, and "Sparkling Gefilte Fish" a good warm up. The 12's at Sparks Wall are rumored to be quite good, but I did not get on any of them.
Getting There
To get to Sparks Wall, turn off of the main road left, as for Bridger Jack, Pistol Whipped, Way Rambo, 4X4 Wall, Technicolor, etc... Not your odometer when turning, this will become useful. Cross the creek after less than a mile & continue back towards The Cottonwoods area, staying left at all possible right turns and passing Technicolor Wall. After you have gone 3.8 to 3.9 miles, the cliff-band on your right will come very close to the road. A hogback of land falls from this cliff to a rib of raised land near the road, but just before you reach this, there is a pulloff with a jeep road cutting off right, back sharply north in reverse to your direction of travel. Exit the road here and park. The trail is very faint and easy to loose, but not too strenuous or long, regardless. It should take 20-40 minutes to arrive depending on your rack size and fitness. To hike up to the cliff, look for a sweeping roof at the center of the SE face, spanning perhaps 50 feet with 3 end-to-end sections at slightly different elevations from the ground. This will be your point of arrival at the cliff. Note downward from there a break in the rotten red cliff-band, just left of a very large boulder perched at its edge. This is also important. Now look down from there to the chossy, dirty "cone" of soil just right of there. Start hiking by going in your former direction of travel, South. Get on to the first hogback or "rib" of earth and start making your war up to the right side of the cone of earth previously mentioned. By now you should have picked up a trail. Go right up it's side on some flat terrain that is foot-packed past 1 rock cairn. A the top, walk up and left behind a big boulder and a small tree just past the cairn to follow the trail. You will arrive at more flat-ish switch backs, which will wind up and left towards the perched boulder. Go left of the boulder and up to the base of the cliff, arriving at the base-trail just left of the route "Low Spark." The trail at the base of the cliff is surprisingly easy to travel and flat.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Sparks Wall:
If you liked Way Rambo, here is another climb for you, or if you wanted a good primer for that, here it is. This is the obvious climb on the outside wall of a large left-facing corner. The crack starts mellow down low on good hands and gets harder for a spot that is wide and has a loose flake back in it which is tempting to grab. (#4 camalot optional here.) From a good jam above the wide spot (#3 friend) the climb starts into a 15 foo...[more]Browse More Classics in UT
We had the area to ourselves on a perfect Oct. weekend. The route Scenic Line (in Bloom's guide) was worth doing (it's a right-to-left dihedral substantially to the right of the listed climbs that takes mostly #1 Camalots opening to #2s)--I would add it but don't have pics.
Alternate approach beta: Go 2.5 miles past the 4x4 cattlegaurd and park at the turnout with the big boulders. Find the cairned trail at the boulders and follow it to the crag.
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