Fly and Float

By: Steph Davis Additional Photos: Ian Mitchard

By KAVU

May 4^th, 2021

Spring in Moab has already been all over the map, and some days it feels like summer is already here!

Ian and I decided it’s never too early, or too close to home for a summer camping trip, so we packed up the van, and drove a solid 20 miles to camp out in Castle Valley for the night and see what kind of fun we could get up to.

In the morning, we jumped on our ebikes, the way we like to “drive” the shuttle up Castle Valley Road to start the hike for Adobe Mesa, one of my favorite wingsuit base jumps in Moab.

Adobe is a long cliff massif at the foot of the LaSal Mountains, right across from Castleton Tower, and it's a big wingsuit jump for around here—about 1900 feet total. Definitely much smaller than the big moutains in Europe, but I really can’t complain when it’s barely a half hour from our front door to start the hike…..

....AND we get to fly over some of the most beautiful terrain around. Lots of talus, lots of up, and we were pretty happy we got the early start to stay in the shade!

By the time we jumped and landed and hiked back to camp, it was feeling like time to get in the river, so we decided April 5 is the new first day of summer and grabbed the paddleboards for the first float of the season on the Colorado — it’s on the way home, so why not!

We put in at a stretch of river I really like, from Sandy to Takeout Beach. We were not the only ones ready for summer, and we met some kayakers, pack rafters and SUPers heading downriver as well. The water was a little chilly, but warm enough for some swimming: even Cajun jumped right in!

Not a bad first day of summer…hopefully we get a little spring too this year! But no matter what season it decides to be, there is plenty of fun to be had!