Cobble, Cobble: Two Weeks in Maple

Cobble, Cobble: Two Weeks in Maple

Maple Canyon, UT—We’ve had a fun, if a bit chilly, experience camping and climbing in Maple Canyon, one of the more unique rock climbing destinations in the US and one we’d never visited before. The rock here is known as “conglomerate” because it actually consists of many different rock types embedded together in a range of sizes from large cobbles to tiny pebbles. It was a little hard to get used to at first—as I pulled rock after rock loose from the wall—but in the end we grew to love the challenge of discovering the line and trusting the holds.

We met some great people at Maple and experienced Fall as it came into full swing in the canyon. The day after leaves first starting hitting the roof of the Egg we decided to roll out in search of warmer temps. We look forward to coming back perhaps next summer when the shade at areas like Box Canyon and Pipe Dream are more than welcome all day long.

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Bounty in Ephraim, Utah

Bounty in Ephraim, Utah

Ephraim, UT—We’ve been camping and climbing for the last two weeks in stunning central Utah, two hours south of Salt Lake City in a place called Maple Canyon. The nearest town for supplies is Ephriam, an old fort city with a population of about 6,000. The town is home to Snow College which has a quaint campus full of wonderful resources for both students and the community (not to mention visitors, like us). We’ve enjoyed showers at the rec center and spent many days and nights working at the school’s library, nestled up near the fireplace with lightening-fast WiFi.

During a work break last Friday evening, we decided to check out The Granery Art Center, an intriguing contemporary art space housed in a converted 1870s wheat storage building on the main street. After browsing the current exhibition—which was quite interesting—we stumbled out a side door and found ourselves in the middle of the town’s 2nd Annual Harvest Festival. What luck! Residents who had worked in an adjacent community garden all summer were reaping the benefits of the harvest and sharing the bounty with their friends and neighbors. Each family had brought a dish made from ingredients grown exclusively in the garden and they were asking just $5 a plate to share in the meal. After loading up a colorful spread we sat down to eat with some ultra-friendly locals who explained that the festival and the garden were new initiatives in the city, along with a seasonal farmers market. What a great addition to this small-town landscape.

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The Egg Goes Solar

The Egg Goes Solar

Salt Lake City, UT—After staying a night in McInnis Canyon National Conservation Area and the lovely (and completely desolate) camping it offers, we packed up the Egg and hit I70 west, then headed north through Price Canyon and the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest as we rolled along smoothly toward GoalZero’s headquarters just outside Salt Lake City.

In case you’re not familiar with GoalZero, they are an industry-leading consumer solar products manufacturer who have (in a very short time) revolutionized the solar landscape for consumers in the US and brought light to villages in Ghana and Indonesia (and others), as well as to victims of Hurricane Sandy. They’ve done the best job of any company I can think of to make solar power—in all it’s complexity—easy to understand as a regular, non-science-y consumer. They have done an excellent job distilling down the components required to get a solar system running for your energy needs by releasing products that are plug-and-play.


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Three Weeks In Rifle

Three Weeks In Rifle

Rifle, CO—The Egg has been in this bustling little ranch community (pop. 9,260) on the western slope of the Rockies since August 23rd. We typically come here over our Fourth of July vacations because it offers hard-to-find, cool-weather climbing during the stifling summer heat.

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A Visit to Anderson Ranch

A Visit to Anderson Ranch

Snowmass Village, CO—Last week DesignEgg had the pleasure of visiting one of the most inspiring artist retreats in the nation. Anderson Ranch Arts Center is situated on 4.5 acres of gorgeous property in Snowmass Village, Colorado, just ten miles from Aspen. Surrounded by mountains, the campus is a cozy collective of restored log cabins, barns, and new structures including eight artist studio buildings, a lecture hall, cafe, offices, two galleries, and housing for students and artistic staff.

Anderson Ranch has been long on our list of places to see. While working as Gallery Director at Lillstreet Art Center, I heard many testimonials from people that had the pleasure to spend time at the Ranch as teachers facilitating workshops or students attending classes. The structure of the Anderson Ranch workshop programs are inclusive (with meals and housing provided) and the offerings are diverse. They provide instruction in: ceramics, digital media and photography, furniture design and woodworking, painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture and critical studies.

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