Watermelon after the 6th Ascent of Castleton Tower in 1971

After Jimmie Dunn and I did the sixth ascent of Castleton Tower near Moab on Labor Day weekend in 1971, we trundled down the gravel slopes to my white '63 VW bug and drove down to Onion Creek near the Colorado River. The road across the valley at that time was a one-and-a-half-lane dirt track and Onion Creek meandered through a dip in the road.

The car splashed through the water and I parked on the sandy remains of the last flash flood. We hiked a hundred yards up the creek bed and picked up a couple watermelons we had bought from a farmer near Grand Junction that had been cooling in a deep pool of arsenic water. It had been a hot day on the tower, with the temperature climbing to 100 degrees, so Jim and I were dehydrated. We sipped a couple Coke bottles filled with water, then sliced up the watermelons and devoured them on the roadside.

Here's a photo that Dan Porter, Jimmie's high school buddy and a non-climber, shot of us munching melon...best tasting watermelons ever!