gentle rock climbing day.
Mar. 28th, 2022 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serafaerymanaged a lil 1 day climbing trip with joshter to one of my favorite spots in oregon.
this is a secret climbing area on blm land, right behind smith rock state park. i love it because of the trail leading in, there is a 2 mile flat trail from the top of the parking/camping area with just spectacular views of the cascade range, you get to see the entire lineup of Mt Bachelor, Broken Top, South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt Washington (yes we have one too), Black Butte, and Three fingered Jack. (If you hike just a quarter mile up a bit further into the hills you can add Mt Jefferson to this view.) The trail is soft gravel and the landscape is beautiful high desert, sage brush and juniper, lots of species of brush and wildflowers, and just a cacophony of birdsong.
before april when the gate is closed at the bottom of this camping area, there is another 2 miles of hiking to get into the climbing, with about 800' i'm guessing of elevation gain, doubling the hiking mileage and making it very unappealing for most climbers (you have to haul in all the gear/rope also, although these routes are bolted so at least no trad gear is required). we had a very peaceful sunday all to ourselves, in absolutely perfect weather, there was one other climbing party down the way but we never overlapped, they were doing the really highly aggressive overhanging routes in the cave, while josh and i stayed on the gentler vertical lumps.
i haven't climbed outside since wyoming nearly a year ago, and i haven't been in the gym in months. my *right* shoulder can barely lift my tea kettle, this morning, lol. (I basically avoided using my injured left shoulder at all, so my right took the brunt of the work.)
i took it really easy and only did 2 routes, got shut down on my last try and so only cleaned one anchor, and just belayed josh the rest of the time, but i'm still crazy sore.
fotoooos:
(you can't tell from the photos but the mountains are soooooo spectacular here)
none of these photos do anything justice but I'm keeping this last one just for me. in person these little yellow bells looked like little fairy lamp posts lining a little fairy path or something.
Tyler fed Lunar for me while we were gone overnight. very kind of him.
this is a secret climbing area on blm land, right behind smith rock state park. i love it because of the trail leading in, there is a 2 mile flat trail from the top of the parking/camping area with just spectacular views of the cascade range, you get to see the entire lineup of Mt Bachelor, Broken Top, South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt Washington (yes we have one too), Black Butte, and Three fingered Jack. (If you hike just a quarter mile up a bit further into the hills you can add Mt Jefferson to this view.) The trail is soft gravel and the landscape is beautiful high desert, sage brush and juniper, lots of species of brush and wildflowers, and just a cacophony of birdsong.
before april when the gate is closed at the bottom of this camping area, there is another 2 miles of hiking to get into the climbing, with about 800' i'm guessing of elevation gain, doubling the hiking mileage and making it very unappealing for most climbers (you have to haul in all the gear/rope also, although these routes are bolted so at least no trad gear is required). we had a very peaceful sunday all to ourselves, in absolutely perfect weather, there was one other climbing party down the way but we never overlapped, they were doing the really highly aggressive overhanging routes in the cave, while josh and i stayed on the gentler vertical lumps.
i haven't climbed outside since wyoming nearly a year ago, and i haven't been in the gym in months. my *right* shoulder can barely lift my tea kettle, this morning, lol. (I basically avoided using my injured left shoulder at all, so my right took the brunt of the work.)
i took it really easy and only did 2 routes, got shut down on my last try and so only cleaned one anchor, and just belayed josh the rest of the time, but i'm still crazy sore.
fotoooos:
(you can't tell from the photos but the mountains are soooooo spectacular here)
none of these photos do anything justice but I'm keeping this last one just for me. in person these little yellow bells looked like little fairy lamp posts lining a little fairy path or something.
Tyler fed Lunar for me while we were gone overnight. very kind of him.
