Moab, Ut

Tuesday morning we packed up camp and left Crawdad Canyon early. The canyon technically closes after Labor Day to the public, but can rented out for a fee. We kind of had to leave since there was a group who had rented the canyon out for the week. It was obvious that they wanted to set up camp where we were. They were staring at us all morning as we were breaking down camp. We didn't want to rain on their parade so we packed up quickly and left. We exited the canyon and started heading north toward Salt Lake City. We stopped by the gear shop in St. George again right when they opened to check out a guidebook for the northern part of the state. We ended up selecting a guide for the Uinta Mountains which is just east of Salt Lake City. The guy at the gear store recommended a place called Ruth Lake, and said we should check it out. While we were there, we also checked out another rope, since we had to cut the one we had be using for a while. We ended up purchasing one there that was on sale. We opted for a 60 meter rope since we still had some good life in our 70 meter. We left there with some great knowledge and armed to tackle the Uinta climbing scene. We jumped in the car and drove 5 or so hours till we hit Provo Utah, which is about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. Once in Provo we first headed over to the local gear shop and got some local beta. The guys there were really helpful and felt really good about heading up to climb the next day. After the gear shop we headed into town and got another oil change on the rental car. With all the driving we had been doing we had to keep up on all the vehicle maintenance that was required. Once Jiffy Lube finished with the car we headed into downtown Salt Lake City to check out the Black Diamond Headquarters. Once there we entered the store and took a look around. The store was pretty cool, and full of great gear. I ended up buying a new pair of climbing shoes, since two of the three pairs I brought on the trip have been wore down pretty bad. We left there and headed back to Provo, where we set up camp at the KOA just outside of town. I spent most of the evening updating the blog, while Jodi did a load of laundry. We went to bed a little earlier that night to get some good rest for the next day.

Wednesday morning we woke up early as usual and headed an hour and a half to Ruth Lake in the Uinta Mountains. We parked the car hiked in about 15 minutes and found the crag to climb. Ruth Lake is at about 10,500 feet above sea level and the high for the day was around 40, where in Salt Lake the high was around 80. We threw on some warm clothes and started climbing. The rock was freezing and quickly realized we couldn't take these conditions all day long. We got in close to 20 laps before we called it quits. Below are some pictures of the climbing crag at Ruth Lake.

We headed back to the car and decided to head over to mirror lake for a quick stroll. Once there we hiked around the entire lake and had a wonderful time. Below is a picture of Mirror Lake.

After the hike we headed back to Provo, but made one more stop to check out the Provo Falls. Below is a picture of us in front of Provo Falls in the Uinta Mountains.


On our way back to Provo, we headed straight for the climbing gym to get a couple of more burns in. We spent close to 3 hours there and got in another 30 laps. By now it was close to 9pm, so we headed back to the KOA to get a good nights sleep.

Thursday morning we said goodbye to Provo Utah and headed east to Moab. We drove for several hours and pulled into Moab around 2pm. We set up camp in town at a really nice campground. We had most of the afternoon to kill so we decided to head up to the Canyonlands National Park. It took us close to an hour to get there because we stopped quite a bit to take pictures. Once there we entered the park and drove to all the viewpoints and took several pictures. We spent all afternoon and most of the evening exploring the park. Around dark we headed back to Moab, grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Moab Brewery, and headed back to camp for a good nights sleep. Below are some pictures of the Canyonlands National Park.

Friday morning we woke up early and headed down the street to the Arches National Park. We entered the park and headed straight for a tower called Owl Rock. I was talking with a guy at the gear store the day before, and he told us Owl Rock was a great climb and should not be missed. There is only one route on the Owl Rock, it goes at 5.8 all trad, climbs a crack with slopey handholds on the face, and is about 90 to 100 feet tall. We found the rock and scouted it out for about 30 minutes. I tried to examine the rock to see what kind of gear was needed and also to talk myself into it. After about an hour or so, I was ready to tackle the climb. I racked up all the gear I might need and went for it. About halfway up I was realizing the gear placements were not that great, and was getting a little sketched. I manged to keep it all together and push on to the top. Once I clipped the anchors, Jodi took up rope and on my way down I looked at some of my gear placements. Of the 14 or so pieces I put in, I would say 5 of them I would have fallen on. Most of the gear was crap and didn't have the time to fool around with it and try and make it work. I was a little disappointed in the gear, but was super excited that I made it to the top of my first "tower". Below is a picture of me at the top of Owl Rock in Arches National Park.



After we cleaned up the climb on Owl Rock, we spent the rest of afternoon and evening exploring all that Arches had to offer. We went on several hikes to see all of the Arches, and ended the day with a sunset hike up to see the Delicate Arch. What an amazing site to see. We couldn't help but to think how we could climb this natural wonder, but it is off limits. Instead we got several pictures and really enjoyed ourselves. Below is a picture of Jodi and I in front of the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.

Here is another picture of the Arch itself.

We finished touring Arches around dark and headed back to the Moab Brewery for a quick bite and a brew. After dinner we headed back to camp and turned in for the night.

Saturday we woke up, fixed a quick breakfast and hit the road to check out a local climbing area off Potash Road. It wasn't that long before we turned onto Potash Road and found the climbing area. We set up a couple of climbs and it wasn't long before the crowds started rolling in and the weather got hotter and hotter. Most of the climbing was in the sun and offered very little shade. We climbed till 2 pm and couldn't take the heat anymore. It was 104 and it felt like the rubber on our shoes was melting to our feet. We packed it up and headed down the road to an area which had some good bouldering. We pulled into the parking lot and found only one other party there. We found some boulders that were in the shade and climbed for an hour or two before we called it a day. We headed back to camp, cooked a nice dinner and spent most of the evening sitting around the camp fire. Below is a picture of the climbing right off Potash Road.

I know I'm very far behind on all the updates. Internet access has been quite the issue for us. I will try and get everyone caught up as soon as I can. Thanks

Climbing In Southwestern Utah

Saturday morning we woke up early from the campground right outside Zion National Park and headed for the town of St. George, UT. We drove for about an hour and a half and made it to St. George. We looked around for a gear shop, until we found one. We told the employee there that we were heading up to Crawdad Canyon, and that it was recommended to us by another climber in Arizona. She said the place rocks, and that we would have a great time. She also gave us some accurate directions on how to get there, and that it would only take us 20 minutes or so. We left there pretty pumped, and had the whole day ahead of us to climb. We headed down the road for about 20 minutes and found Crawdad Canyon. There is a sign for it right off the road, and the funny part is that it is considered a "climber's resort". We didn't know what that meant until we got down in there and started to climb. We drove down into the canyon, and checked in with the camp hosts. We told them we would be staying a couple of days, and wanted to climb. We payed for our camping upfront and also our climbing. Yes, we had to pay to climb. It was only 8 bucks per day, but all the money went to the Southwestern Utah Climbers Coalition, for anchor replacement, so we didn't mind. They told us where we could put our tent so we pulled down and set up camp. As we were setting up camp we looked around, and found the climbing was right next to us. Literally, you could belay from your tent if you wanted to. Upon further examination of the guidebook, it looked like all of the climbs were within 2-3 minutes from us. We were super excited, and couldn't wait to climb. After setting up camp we grabbed our climbing stuff and went to it. We chose the "Cartoon Crag" as our first stop, since it was right next our tent. Yes, we are getting lazy. Anyways, we started all the way over to the left and worked our way the remainder of the day to the right. As an added bonus, at the start of most climbs was a plaque that stated the climbs name and the grade. How cool is that? We really didn't need the guidebook at all. Now we knew why this was called a "climber's resort". There were 10 climbs at the "Cartoon Crag", and we picked them all off. There are too many climbs to name, but we fired off (1) 5.8, (1) 5.9, (2) 10a's (1) 10b, (1) 10c, (1) 11a, (1) 11c, (1) 11d, and (1) 12a, all clean. We ran laps on many of them, and lost count after 30. Jodi had a banner day, and lead her second 10b, as well as other 5.8's and 5.9's. I was especially excited, because of the 12a (first go) send. This was my hardest send since my finger injury, and it was nice to see some improvement during the healing process. We climbed until dark, then fixed some camp food and hit the sack.

As a side note, most of the climbs in the canyon where on the short side. With 50' being the standard height. Most climbs were between 4 and 7 bolts. We also found that most of the climbing was very bouldery, and that a lot of the climbs packed some serious power into such a short distance. This was a nice, because we needed a change from the long, pumpy, sustained routes that we have been climbing.

Sunday morning we woke up, fixed some breakfast and hit the cliffs again. We walked across the stream to the other side of the canyon, and checked out an area known as "The Pipelines". We climbed 4 of the 6 climbs over there and each ran several laps on each. The climbs were (2) 5.8's, (1) 5.9+, and (1) 10a. They weren't the best of climbs, but we both had a load of fun. Those climbs took us to about noon, so we headed back to grab some lunch and plan out the rest of the afternoon. We fixed lunch and then decided to head over to an area known as "Sunshine Buttress". These climbs, were on the other side of the parking lot, where more camping was. Again you could have belayed from your tent. Actually, on one climb we belayed next to someone elses tent. That is how close you are to the cliff. We spent the whole afternoon over there and climbed the whole buttress out. There were 6 climbs in total and we did them all. (1) 5.8, (1) 10a, (1) 10b, (1) 10d, (2) 11b's, all clean. Again, we lapped several of them to get a really good workout. It was close to 7pm, so we decided to call it a day, and go back to camp and fix some dinner. As we arrived at our camp spot we noticed a "fiesta" going on. It turns out several locals had decided to set up a picnic right in front of our camp. There were about 25 in total and were grilling out and playing music. Jodi and I thought it was kind of cool so we started talking with them for a while. I guess we were so nice (or maybe they felt bad for taking over the place) but they brought us over a plate full of food for us to split. We talked with them a little more, and really had a cool time. They all left around dark, and to be honest, we kind of missed the "fiesta". Anyways, we watched a couple episodes of "The Office" on DVD before turning in for the night.

Monday we woke up early again, fixed some breakfast, and then off to climb. We hiked over to an area known as "The Rubicon". This was the cream de la cream of the canyon. Every line looked amazing, and most in the 11a-12d range. We warmed up on the only 5.8 there, then pushed on to the harder stuff. We climbed (2) 11b's (1) 11c and (1)12a all clean, before we started to show signs of fatigue. I was happy with the way my finger was holding up, as it allowed me to send another 12a. (again first go). By now it was getting close to mid afternoon and we really didn't have much energy left. On our way back we stopped and put up a climb called "A Little Help From My Friends" (11a). We were looking at the line since we got into the canyon, but never managed to get over there to do it. This was our chance. I put it up first go, but had a rather interesting/scary time doing it. To make a long story short. I was going from the last bolt to the anchors when I stepped up on a hold and it broke. I didn't fall, because my other leg (left) was still on something pretty solid, and the hands were pretty good. I though I kicked off a small piece, but as I looked down it was huge. I yelled "rock" and Jodi moved at the last second. The rock slid down the rope and hit the ground, right next to Jodi. I'm taking inches away. I looked down at Jodi and made sure she wasn't hit and that she was ok. She told me she was fine, but also told me the rock hit the rope. I told her to check it out the best she could, while looking for any damage. She told me she couldn't see any, so I pressed on to the chains and clipped them. She lowered me back to the ground and pointed to the rock I just kicked off. No joke this thing was 2 feet long by about a foot wide. A boulder if you ask me. Definitely wouldn't have been pretty if it hit someone. We sat off to the side for a couple of minutes because we both were a little shook up. We toyed around with climbing something else but quickly lost the desire. We headed back to camp to inspect our rope with a fine tooth comb. As we were inspecting, we did find a section of the rope that had a "bubble" in it. We both have never seen anything like that before in a rope, and weren't going to take any chances. We cut it to check it out, and it ended up being a core strand that lapped over itself. It is very hard to describe but we both knew it wasn't right. The rope was in dire need of retirement anyways, this just confirmed it. The rest of the afternoon/evening we hung out around camp. We cooked some dinner, watched some "Office" and headed to bed. We both were feeling pretty lucky after today. Below is a picture of our camp site next to the "Cartoon Crag". Pretty sweet!!!!

Zion NP, UT

Friday morning we left the Flagstaff KOA and started heading for southwestern Utah. Before we headed north, Jodi and I wanted to check out the town of Sedona, which is just south of Flagstaff. Jodi has been there before and she told me I would really like it. We took a small detour south through Oak Creek Canyon until we hit the town of Sedona. We drove through for a while and checked out the town. What an amazing place, with amazing views. After we spent an hour or two there we headed up north, and back on track to southern Utah. Below is a picture of Sedona, AZ area.

After a couple hours of driving, we crossed over the Colorado River via the Navajo Bridge. We pulled over in the parking lot, got out, walked across the bridge and took a couple of pictures. Below is a picture of the Colorado River passing under the Navajo Bridge.

Once back in the car, we pressed on through the desert until we hit Zion National Park. We entered Zion National Park around 2pm and headed straight for the visitor center. The visitor center is on the other side of the park, so we drove through and took lots of pictures. Again, most of the roads in the park were under heavy construction. This gave us lots of time to snap photos as we waited in line for the one way traffic. Once at the visitor center we talked with a park ranger and asked what there was to do. She recommend we take the shuttle bus up (can't drive through the canyon anymore, because of heavy congestion) through the canyon and check out some hikes. That sounded like a great idea to us, so we caught the next shuttle heading up into the canyon. As we were riding through the canyon, we were reading the trail guide to see which hike we wanted to do. We decided to take the shuttle to the very end, and do the "narrows" hike. This hike was the most popular and gave you the greatest sense of the canyon. There were plenty of others ones we could have chosen, but given the time of day we opted for this one instead. Sure enough we took the shuttle to the end, got out and walked the mile or so to the start of the narrows hike. The cool thing about this hike is you can go as far as you want upstream, then turn around and head back. We didn't have much time until dark so we hiked upstream for about a half mile of so. We then turned around and headed back to the shuttle. Once at the bus stop we grabbed the next shuttle back down to the visitor center. We got out one more time to check out the popular "Moonlight Buttress", and snapped some pictures. Caught the next bus, then headed back down the visitor center. Once we got back to the visitor center it was dark. It was close to 8pm and still we needed a place to stay. We drove out of the park and to the next town, which is like 2 miles down the road. Found a great campground and set up camp. We were a little hungry from the jam packed day so we headed into town for a pizza and a beer at a local restaurant called "Pizza & Noodles". The food was great and so was the beer. We left there after dinner and headed back to camp for some sleep. Below is a picture we took on our "narrows" hike.

Here are some more pictures of Zion National Park.

Grand Canyon NP, AZ

Saturday was a rest day from climbing so we spent most of the day hanging out in the Looney Bean Coffee Shop where we caught up on the blog and other things. Around 2 or so we decided to head up to North Lake, which is very popular with the fishing crowd, and check it out. We heard it was beautiful from some of the people in our campground. We left the town of Bishop and took the 20 minute drive or so up till we hit the North Lake parking lot. Since we were at a much higher elevation than Bishop it was quite cold, as we both needed to put on sweaters and such to stay warm. We hiked around North Lake for a while and took tons of pictures. There were lots of fisherman up there as well. Almost every spot around the lake was filled. We were actually kind of bumbed that we didn't have a fishing pole, because it looked like so much fun. After our hike around North Lake we headed back to the car and back down toward Bishop. Below is a picture of North lake.

On our way back down we noticed lots and lots of boulder fields all around us. We pulled off on many dirt roads just exploring and checking out these boulder fields. We explored for over an hour then decided to head back to camp. We were not too excited about heading back to camp and just sitting there. At the last minute we decided to continue past camp and head for the ski town of Mammoth Lakes. We wanted to head up there to check the mountain out and look around. We drove up there and it was cold, around 40 degrees. We drove around the ski town for a while and then decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the Whiskey Creek restaurant off the main drag. We each had a beer and shared some appetizers then headed back down highway 395 to camp for some sleep.

Sunday morning we woke up early and were really looking forward to getting a full day of climbing in. The weather had cooled down significantly over the last several days. We were now looking at a daytime high of 80 degrees. We packed up the car and headed back to the central gorge where the highest concentration of lines were. We hiked down the gorge floor and headed back over to a climb called "Nirvana" (10a) that we did a couple days before. Jodi wanted to head over there because she was interested in leading it. I led it first and ran a couple of laps on it. Now it was Jodi's turn. She pulled the rope and fired it. She looked very smooth and solid all the way up. Once at the chains, I lowered her back to the ground and she was so stoked. Inspired by her lead, I decide to head just to the right and get back on "Darshan aka Ripoff" (12b) to see if I could fire it. I tied in and was off. I passed the first 11d crux with no problem. I clipped a couple more bolts until I reached a pretty good rest before the final push through the cruxy 12b section. I shook out and fired past the section I was having trouble with a couple days prior, but found myself in a situation where I had to really bare down on a right hand crimp. It really felt uncomfortable so instead of trying to push through, I took the fall and sat for sec. After the throbbing in the finger resided, I pushed through that section and finished the route. It wasn't a clean send, but it was major progress for me. My finger felt a little stronger than it did a couple of days prior, but still didn't need to take any unnecessary risks. I cleaned the route and we headed over to the "Pub Wall" again for some afternoon shade. This was quickly becoming one of our favorite crags at the gorge. It was stacked with tons of long sustained 11's. Once at the "Pub Wall" we jumped on an 8 bolt, 90' very steep jug fest called "Hammered" (11b). I ran it first go and liked it so much, I ran 4 more laps afterword. We pulled rope off of that and decided to put up a short face climb around the corner called, "Wonderbar" (10d). It was pretty short, 4 bolts, but proved to be very stout. It was also pretty technical the entire way, and really didn't let up. It wasn't our favorite climb over there, so we each ran 2 laps and moved on. To the right of the previous route was a climb called "Gary Gray" (10b) which looked really fun. It was more or less a face climb with a juggy roof finish. I led it first and then Jodi climbed it after me. This was a great route to do some laps on since it was kind of long, 7 bolts, and was super fun. Jodi ran 2 laps and was super stoked. I ran 1o laps up and down, and had a blast. After a pretty good workout we headed back to the right side of the crag for one final climb of the day. We opted for a 5 star classic 10c called "Light Within". This was a 70' sustained vertical face with some pretty small edges. I led it first and then Jodi climbed it. Jodi especially liked the climb, since it fit her style perfectly. Smallish kind of holds with some pretty delicate movement. I liked it as well and thought the climb was worthy of the 5 star rating. We each ran a couple of laps on that then called it a day. We packed up our bags and headed out of the gorge and back to the car. Back at camp we fixed the world famous pasta, salmon, and brown gravy we had earlier in the week. After dinner it was a relaxing evening sitting around the picnic table watching another episode of "The Office".

Monday morning we woke up, and since this was going to be our last day in town, we decided to treat ourselves to a good breakfast. We headed down the street to a little breakfast place we spotted a couple of days prior. We ordered our food, and when it came out, it was huge. I'm talking plate overfilling huge. We did our best to polish off the plates, but both fell short. After our breakfast we felt like we couldn't even move, let alone go climbing. We took our time getting to the gorge, allowing our food to digest along the way. We reached the parking lot and slowly started downhill. Once at the bottom, we both started feeling a little better and decided to climb. Since this was our last day, we wanted to check some other areas out, to get a good sampling of what the gorge had to offer. We headed over to an area known as "The High Tension Towers". Once over there, we noticed we had a couple of hours before the sun came over the cliff and started baking us. We first jumped on a pretty popular climb called "Brothers in Arms" (10d) for our warm-up. It was a pretty cool climb, but we were wishing we had something a little easier after such a enormous breakfast. We each ran a couple of laps on that and then decided to move on. To the left of the climb we just got off of was a climb called "Sparky Does Power Tower" (10b) which looked really fun. After reading the guide book we noticed it was a 2 pitch climb, but could be done with a full 70 meter rope. I really wanted to try and see if we could do it with a full 70. The first pitch was 4 bolts, 5.7 to sport anchors. Then it was another 10 bolts of 10b to a second set of sport anchors. 14 bolts in total for one really long, 115'-120' pitch. I led it with no troubles, and just about used every draw I had. It felt like I was climbing forever. Once at the final bolt, I looked down and asked Jodi, "How much rope do I have left until the middle marker". She replied, "You have about 6 feet". I looked up, and that was about how far I had to go until I reached the final set of anchors. I punched it to the chains, and clipped in. I looked down and asked Jodi again, "How much till the middle marker". She replied, "About a foot, give or take". I sat back into my harness and asked to lower me, and to keep a close eye on the end of the rope. I made it all the way back down to the ground with about two feet to spare. We have never used a full 70 before on a single pitch, it was kind of cool to do. After we finished those 2 climbs the sun was inches away from getting us so we packed it up, crossed the stream and headed back over to the "Pub Wall". Once at the "Pub Wall" we checked out a climb we haven't done yet which was called "Homebrew" (11d). It was 9 bolts of a gently overhanging face with a cruxy section near the top. We threw the rope down, I tied in and fired it first go. I was so happy not only with the way the finger was holding up, but with my endurance. I decided to push it a bit, and ran it 4 more times after that. I was really feeling the burn after the last lap. We pulled rope from that and moved next door to a fun climb called "Not Too Stout" (5.7) We both needed something a little chill, so we both ran some laps on that for a while. After that climb we hung out for a bit and chatted with some of the locals down there. After our break we headed slightly uphill and to the right to a climb called "Set Free" (10c). This was one of those climbs you see from the ground and you say to yourself, "I have to do that". It starts off with a little seam to an arete, back to a seam/crack, then fire through a pumpy bulge with big holds. It was about 80' in length and was ultra classic. The guide book only gave it 3 stars which we found surprising, we both thought it deserved a little more. Jodi ran a couple of laps till she was done. I ran 8 laps up and down until I was done. We were getting ready to leave, and at the last minute we decided to do one more climb. The climb was called "Hardly Wallbanger" (10c). It was the 5 star, stand out climb for the crag. It was a 90', 9 bolt, bolted crack, the guidebook called "the steepest 10c in the gorge". Every time we went over there to climb it, someone else was on it. Since it was later in the day, and nobody was on it, this was our chance. We set the rope down, I tied in and led it. The crack was full of hand jams and jugs. I was so tired that I thought a couple of times I was going to rip, but didn't. I cleaned the climb up, we packed up our bags, and headed back up to the car. We got in our car and headed into town to the grocery store for a quick sandwich, since we both were too tired to even cook. We ate back at camp around a camp fire we had started. We both sat around the fire for an hour then hit the hay, we were exhausted.

Tuesday morning we fixed a quick breakfast, packed up our things, said goodbye to Bishop, and headed toward Arizona. Our goal for the day was to drive to Flagstaff, where we would set up camp and then check out some climbing areas. We drove a couple of hours and stopped for some lunch right outside of the town of Needles. After lunch we continued on and arrived in Flagstaff around 5 pm. Our first objective was to find a gear shop and get some local beta. We found a gear shop/gym right in downtown. Parked the car and walked over there to check it out. The guy working there was super cool and gave us a ton of beta. We told him that we were looking for mostly sport climbing, but were up for whatever. He told us that there wasn't much sport around, but that there was a newer (1-2 years old) sport crag that was still being developed. Since there was no guidebook for this area, he drew us a hand sketched map of how to get there on the back of a hand sketched route guide. The locals called the area "The Peaks". We figured why not give it a shot, that was really our only option. We left the gear shop/gym and started heading back to the car. On our way back we spotted a local restaurant called "The Lumberyard" which was there local brewpub. We went in each ordered a beer and an appetizer and had a enjoyable dinner. After we ate, we got in the car and drove a couple of miles up the road until we spotted the KOA. We pulled in grabbed a camping spot, set up tent, and hit the hay.

Wednesday morning we got up, both grabbed a quick bite and headed for "The Peaks" to climb. We followed the map the guy drew for us, and after about 30 minutes, we found ourselves in the pullout for "The Peaks". We packed up our climbing equipment and headed into the woods with nothing more than a sketch leading the way. About a mile into our hike we still didn't see anything that resembled a crag, there were some nice boulders along the way, but that was about it. We continued for a couple more minutes then as we came out of a shallow gully, we noticed a cliff off to the left. We headed in that direction and sure enough it was the crag we were searching for. We did the best we could identifying the routes but quickly gave up since there was several more bolted routes then what was on the paper. We pretty much started from the left side and worked our way to the right until we were back to the trial. I would say there were about 50 routes there, and lots more potential. We climbed a couple 9's and 10's before some locals showed up and told us what each route was. That help us out a lot. After talking with them for a while we fired off a couple more 10' and 11's before calling it a day around 6pm. The climbs weren't the best quality, and were not much fun, but we still had a blast. We got kind of spoiled at Owens River Gorge I guess. We hiked back down to our car and headed back into town for some dinner. We liked the "Lumberyard" some much we decided to go back there and have another beer and split an appetizer. After an hour or so of hanging out and eating, we drove back to the KOA, and hit the sack.

Thursday morning we woke up and decided today was going to be a rest day. Over breakfast we decided that the best option for the day was to go a see the Grand Canyon, which the locals call "The Ditch". We finished breakfast and plotted our course for the Grand Canyon, which looked to be about 1-1/2 hours to the south rim. We gassed up and headed straight there. Once at the park entrance we picked up a map and continued on to the visitor center. Once at the visitor center we got out checked out some hikes and proceeded to the rim for some photos. Below is a picture of Jodi and I on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

After shooting some photos we walked back to the car and started looking for some trail heads. We really wanted to do a quick hour or two hike down into the canyon, then back up. We searched around for the trail heads, but quickly realized most of them were only accessible by bus. You had to wait for a bus to take you to the specific trail head. We both thought that was kind of lame, so we starting looking for trail heads that you didn't need to take a bus to. We found one that looked promising, so we headed down the road to the canyon village. Once there we tried to find a parking spot, and couldn't find one. What was really frustrating was the fact they were doing some major construction up there and most of the roads were closed or were one way only. It took us close to 30 minutes just to circle the village and still couldn't find a parking spot. Instead of going through that mess again, we decided to abandon the hike and just drive around and stop at overlooks and take pictures. Once out of all the chaos, we headed east till we found a lookout point. We got out and hiked the rim trail for a little while and took tons of pictures. We got back in the car and continued east until we hit another lookout point. Again we jumped out walked around and took some more photos. By now it was close to 3pm and to be honest we were getting a little tired of looking at "a hole in the ground". There really wasn't much more to see from where we were. The best way to see the canyon was to get down in there and explore, but that we would have to save for another trip. We decided to leave the Grand Canyon and head back to Flagstaff and figure out something to do. Below is a picture of the Grand Canyon from one of the many lookouts.

On our way back to Flagstaff, we were tossing around the idea of getting some climbing in, but where? It was hard for us to swallow, but we decided to head to the gym in Flagstaff and get a good evening workout in. We rolled into the gym around 5pm and started lapping it up. Their gym is much smaller then ours at home, but still had 40' walls to train on. After 3-1/2 hours of continuous climbing I turned out 50 laps, half of which were 10 or harder. Jodi stepped it up as well and cranked out 30 plus laps. After our session we talked with one of the employees there for a while and he recommended a couple places to climb in Utah, which was our next destination. We picked up a guide for the Southwestern part of Utah from him and headed out. By now it was close to 9pm and we were feeling pretty tired. We headed back to the "Lumberyard" for a brew and a quick bite, then back to camp for a good nights sleep.

Sorry not so many pictures, we have been slacking.

Bishop, CA

Monday morning we woke up early from the hotel in Vegas, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then hit the road for a 7-1/2 hour drive up to Yosemite. We drove north out of Las Vegas and continued on until we hit Mono Lake which is more or less at the base of Yosemite National Park. We stopped took a couple of pictures and continued on. Below is a picture of Mono Lake.

Once we got a little closer to the parks entrance on the east side, we stopped at the Mono Lake visitor center and picked up a map of the park, talked with one of the rangers for a little while, then continued on. We climbed to over 9000 feet, where we entered the park using our national parks pass. We can't tell you how useful that pass really is. What a great investment. Our goal was to reach Camp 4, where we were going to meet up with some climbing friends. Camp 4 is in the Yosemite Valley and would take us close to 2 hours to get there from entering the park on the east side. We drove through the park and pulled off several times along the way to take some pictures. We really enjoyed the drive and the weather was nice and cool. Below is a picture of Half Dome at one of many pullouts along the way.

We pushed on till we hit Yosemite Valley, which is just amazing. We drove through the valley and the shear granite faces will blow you away. This place is larger than life. You feel so tiny when you are there. We drove through very slowly and took tons of pictures. Below is a picture of the world famous El Capitan.

We circled around and found Camp 4 where we wanted to set up camp for the night. We approached the ranger and she told us she gave away the last tent sight 15 minutes ago and that the campground was full. Jodi and I had to look for another place to stay quickly, since most of the areas in the valley fill up very quickly. We checked over at the Yosemite lodge and they were also full. The guy at the lodge recommended checking with a place right down the road that had cabin rentals. We drove down there and found them to be booked as well. Everything in the valley was booked solid, might I remind you it was a Monday. We had no other choice but to exit the park and search for a place to stay on the outskirts of Yosemite. We drove out the west gate to a town called El Portal were we stopped off at the first hotel we found. This place was crazy packed, but decided to give it a try. I waited in line for 20 minutes, then asked the guy behind the desk if they had any rooms available. It ended up that he gave me the last room they had. We were very lucky. We checked-in and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the pizza shop next to the hotel. After pizza we called it an early night and hit the sack.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and decided to hit the park again for some more pictures and decide what we wanted to do. Our climbing friends had contacted us the day before and asked if we would be interested in doing some multi pitch trad climbing with them. We decided to pass on the multi pitch trad and were more interested in looking for some single pitch sport or even some bouldering. We sought out to find some stuff and quickly realized it was harder to find since we had no guide book and we really didn't know the area. After we abandoned the climbing idea we headed over to Bridalveil Falls and took some pictures and hung out there for a while. Below is a picture of the Bridalveil Falls

After the Bridalveil Falls we decided to say goodbye to Yosemite and head to Bishop, CA where we wanted to climb at Owens River Gorge. We drove through Yosemite Valley once more for some more pictures and headed for the east entrance to exit. The drive to the east side was nice and took about 2 hours. Once out of the park we continued on 395 south pass Mammoth Lakes and toward the town of Bishop. We rolled into Bishop around 2pm or so and hung out most of the afternoon at the Looney Bean Coffee Shop were we checked out the guidebook and caught up on the blog. After a couple hours of that, we headed across the street to a gear shop to see if we could get some local beta and driving directions to the gorge. We talked with one of the guys there for a while and he told us everything we needed to know. We chatted with him about the length of the routes in the gorge, and that we read that some climbs in the gorge require a 70 meter rope, especially the extensions. He agreed, and told us he only climbs in the gorge with a 70 and in the past some people have been lower off the end of their 60 meter ropes. We really didn't want to limit ourselves, and decided to purchase a 9.8mm 70 meter cord from them. Plus the rope we started out with on the trip has been taking non stop abuse since we left. It was really starting to show some wear. We left there armed with some great knowledge and a new rope. Later that afternoon we headed up to the gorge to check it out for the next day. We drove back to Bishop, stayed in town that night, and were looking forward to a good couple of days of climbing.

Wednesday morning we got of to an early start and headed to Owens River Gorge, which is about 15 minutes north of Bishop. We entered the Central Parking lot and took the 400' descent trail straight down into the gorge. We first checked out an area known as "Social Platform"
which was in the shade for most of the morning. Again we had to play the shade while we were there because the high for the day was 104. Once in the shade it was quite enjoyable. We started off on a 10a called "Nirvana" and it was a really nice climb. We each ran a couple of laps on that and moved on. Next we set up "Expressway" (11b) which is an 80' 5 star classic down there. Led it first go, with very little pain in the finger. The climb was dead vertical with small face moves. Totally our style of climbing and found it to be very enjoyable. Both ran a couple of laps on that then moved on. Right next to "Expressway" was a 5 star climb called "Darshan aka Ripoff" which was rated 12b. It looked really cool and had to try it. I also wanted to see how my finger was going to react on something a little harder. This climb was about 90' long and quite intense. I manged to finish it with only 2 hangs, which was a major victory for me. (took the first rip on the new 70 meter cord, NICE) The finger was hurting a little after that one, but now I knew my limits. After we finished that, the sun was quickly approaching the crag so we moved across the stream and climbed at the "Warm Up Wall". There was a nice selection of moderate climbs there that we wanted to spend the afternoon exploring. After some light lunch (trail mix)we jumped on "High Seas" (5.7) and ran several laps on that. We pulled rope from that climb and set up "Humbly, Mumbly, Jumbly" (10b) and again, ran several laps on that. After we finished that we ran "Babushka"(5.8) to the right, for the final climb of the day. After several laps on that, it was close to 5pm and we decide to call it a day. We didn't want to burn ourselves out on the first day, since we were planning on spending close to week in the gorge. We exited the gorge and found a really cool camp spot at the Millpond Campground, right outside of Bishop. We set up camp, fixed some hamburgers for dinner, watched an episode of "The Office" on DVD, and hit the sack.

Thursday morning we woke up around 8am, fixed a quick breakfast and headed back to the central gorge. We hiked back down the 400' decent and parked ourselves in front of the "Social Platform" again. This time we sent "Orange Peel" (10c) which was another 5 star area classic. Each ran 2 laps on that and proceed to the left to put up "Chillin' at the Grill", a 80' 11c. Led that first go, and got a little pump coming out the steeper section near the end. Ran another lap to get a good burn, then cleaned it up. By now the sun was very close to blasting the crag so we again crossed the stream and went to the other side in the shade. This time we headed over to the "Pub Wall" where there was a nice selection of 10's and 11's. Once we got there, we jumped on a 90' slightly overhanging 5 star classic called "Hungover" (11b). Sent that first go, and really enjoyed the bucket pulling enduro fest it offered. Cleaned it up and moved on next door to a super fun 10a called "Abitarot". Really cool movement over some pretty nice stone. We each ran a couple of laps on that and then took a snack break. After our little break we pulled rope and led "Abitafun" (5.9). This was a 13 bolt, 105' climb that seemed like it went on forever. (Glad we bought a 70 meter rope) Ran a couple of laps on that and then both decided to call it a day, because of the dark clouds that were approaching from the west. We got back to the parking lot around 5pm and headed back to the camp sight for a relaxing evening. Once back at camp we soaked our feet in the river for 20 minutes (our feet were really bothering us) and ate left over hamburgers from the night before. We hung out around camp, watched another episode of "The Office" on DVD and hit the hay. Below are some pictures of the Owens River Gorge.

Here is a picture of the gorge from above before our 400' decent down.

Friday, like the past two days, we woke up early and headed back into the gorge at the central location. We hiked down to the bottom of the gorge and decided to head a little further north to a popular area known as "The Great Wall Of China". We crossed the stream and proceeded up hill to the crag. Side Note: As we were heading across the stream, my left foot lost traction and totally ate it in a gravel/sand pit. No serious injury, just some minor scraps. Funny thing is right after that Jodi was on a rock right before the stream crossing, she slipped and a Nalgene bottle popped out of her bag and went into the stream. It floated away before we could retrieve it. Kind of funny how those events happened so close together. Anyways, made it to the "Great Wall Of China" and first put up a 4 star 5.8 called "China Doll" for a warm up. After the warm up we put up another 4 star climb called "Tsing Tao" (10b) to the right. Each ran a lap on that and saw that the sun was getting close again and we only had time for one more climb before we had to move to the other side. We opted for the 4 star 11b called "Mandarin Orange" in the center section of the cliff. The climb was a slightly overhanging 90' face with 11 bolts. It proved to be somewhat of a marathon. Fired it first go and liked it so much that I ran 4 more laps on it. Really felt the forearm burn on the last go. By now the sun was inches away from baking us so we packed our stuff and head across the stream to the other side in the shade. We started hiking south as if we were heading back out. We passed a section of cliff known as "Faulty Tower" which looked really fun, and in the shade. Once over there we set up a real technical 11a called "Crash Landing". Proved to be a little tweaky on my right finger and had to take at the first bolt. After figuring out a sequence that didn't hurt my finger, I pulled rope and fired it. After finishing it, we decided to clean it, as this wasn't the climb to do laps on. (kind of a heinous one move wonder, plus if you blew the crux move, you would more than likely hit the deck. Wonder how the route got its name...) It was very painful on the fingers, and we didn't need that. We continued on down the cliff to the "Warm Up Wall" where we were a couple of days before. Once there we set up a 10b called "What Up" and ran 4 laps on that. Jodi ran it a couple of times and really enjoyed it. Since I knew we were ending the day at this crag, I decided to punch it and get a really good enduro burn. I tied back in and ran the 10b up and down 8 times. My arms felt pretty good once I was back down, but the skin on the finger tips were gone. Our hands felt incredibly raw. Since we still had some daylight left we decide to run one more climb for a cool down. We set up a 70' pumpy 5.9 called "Crowd Pleaser". We really should have called it quits before we put this climb up. Every single move was super painful on the skin. I made it to the chains, down climbed the route and then threw in the towel. Jodi followed it and cleaned the route. It was close to 6pm and we both were smoked from 3 pretty hard days of climbing. We packed it up headed up to the parking lot and back to camp. Once there we cooked a delicious dinner that Jodi thought of. Elbow pasta, canned salmon, and brown mushroom gravy. I know it sounds horrible, but it was super good. Maybe it was that we were starving, and could have eaten just about anything, but we really enjoyed it. Again we watched another episode of "The Office" on DVD and passed out.

Before we went to bed that night we decided that we liked where we were at so much we wanted to stay till Tuesday, then head out. We also decided that after 3 days of climbing, our bodies were in desperate need of a rest day. Saturday is going to be a rest day, where we are planning on going up to North Lake to do some sight seeing. Sunday and Monday will both be climbing days, and on Tuesday we will head out for Arizona. At least that is the plan as of now....

Las Vegas, NV

Friday morning we left the Eureka KOA early and started heading to Yosemite. About 30 miles down the road we saw a sign for another drive thru tree. We stopped, payed 5 bucks and headed through the tree. We liked this one a little more, because of how they cut it out from the tree. We hung out there for a couple of minutes then continued on toward Sacramento. Below is a picture of Jodi driving through the tree.

We were just outside Sacramento when we decided at the last minute to head all the way down to Vegas to surprise my sister for her 30th birthday. We figured it really wasn't that far out of the way, plus we could get a pretty good workout in at Red Rock Canyon. As a side note we did stop at the Best Buy in Sacramento and exchanged the camera that broke in northern California. We were very hesitate to get the same one again, so we upgraded to a different make and model. Cross your fingers that this one doesn't crap out. After the quick stop in Sacramento, we pushed on through most of California before we called it a night around 11pm at a desert hotel in Mohave, CA. What a long driving day.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed out around 7am. We only had about a 3 1/2 hour drive till we hit Vegas. This was good, since we had most of the day to climb before surprising my sister at 8pm for the family dinner. The reason we knew all of the details for her party, is because the day before I told my folks I wanted to get my sister flowers and have them delivered to her dinner table, since Jodi and I couldn't be there. After a little conversation with my dad, he told me everything we needed to know. Place: New York, New York Hotel and Casino. The Italian Restaurant on the main level. Time: 8pm. We arrived in Vegas that morning around 10:30am and headed straight for the canyon. The forecast for the day was a high of 107. We knew from the start we had to play the shade. The area we both though of first was the "Black Corridor" at the second pullout. We parked the car there and hiked in. We found this area had the most shade and was a wise choice. We played the shade all afternoon, bouncing from climb to climb. We pulled in over 30 laps that day which was really nice, since we started kind of late. We headed out of there around 6pm to allow ourselves enough time to find the New York, New York, park, and change. We headed into Vegas and found the hotel, parked the car, changed real quick and entered the casino. We found the restaurant and asked them to change the reservations from 6 to 8. Jodi and I had about 30 minutes to kill before we went over to surprise them, so we hung out at an Irish Pub and had a beer, and watched Pre-season football. About 10 minutes till 8, we decided to see if we could spot them walking around. We circled the casino once, and on our second pass, Jodi spotted them. We hid behind a slot machine for a second, discussing how to surprise them. After about 30 seconds, we jumped out from behind the slot machine and said "surprise"!!! They were floored to say the least. They gave us great big hugs and were totally surprised. We talked for a little while about our trip, then headed over for dinner at the Italian restaurant. So the 6 people were my Mom and Dad, my sister and her boyfriend (Brian) and Brian's folks, who we were meeting for the first time. Plus Jodi and I, which made the 8. Over dinner we talked more about our adventure so far and all of our upcoming plans. My sister, Brian, and Brian's Mom all went skydiving earlier that day, and were also sharing all of their stories. It was a great night, and we all had a ton of fun. My parents were so happy that we came, they booked us a hotel room for 2 nights at their hotel. Thanks again Mom and Dad, you all rock!!! We left the casino around 11pm and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep, as we had another long day of climbing in the canyon ahead of us. Below is a picture of all of us at dinner for my sister's birthday.

Here is another one of all of us after dinner.

Sunday morning we woke up around 7:30am, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and headed for the canyon. We entered the canyon, and decide to head for the "Black Corridor" again since the weather was going to be more of the same, if not a little hotter. We hiked in and set up shop like we did the day before. We climbed and climbed all day long. Again, we did over 30+ laps and felt pretty good. Of 2 days climbing in the canyon we pulled in over 60+ laps. All of which were 10a or harder. I felt so good on one 10a, which was 8 bolts long, that I lapped it 12 times, up and down. I got 2 blisters on my feet to prove it. Jodi was right there with me and put in a solid day of enduro as well. Below is a picture of Jodi and I in the "Black Corridor" after a good enduro weekend.

We left the canyon a little earlier than the day before because we had to meet back up with my folks again to do another dinner celebration. We left the canyon around 5pm and headed back to the New York, New York, were we meet up with everyone again at 6pm. Once there, we grabbed some pizza and beers and headed up to my sister's room to eat, and open presents. We hung out up there for a couple of hours, just chatting and enjoying each others company. We left there around 11pm again and headed for our hotel. Once we arrived, we turned in and got a good nights sleep. Monday our plan was to leave Vegas and shoot up to Yosemite. Below is a picture of the Red Rock Canyon, Second Pullout where we climbed for the weekend.

Redwood National Park, CA

I know it has been a long time since we last posted, but we have been having trouble finding good Internet connections. Anyways, I hope the next couple of posts get everyone caught up....

Friday afternoon, (Aug 13th) around 5pm, we left for Squamish, BC again, with our friend Scott. We pulled into Squamish that night around 10:30pm, set up camp across the street from Shannon Falls, then hit the sack.

Saturday morning we woke up early and ran into Squamish to grab a quick bite to eat at a local coffee/breakfast place. After breakfast we drove across the street to the "Smoke Bluffs" where we had our eye on some easy, classic Trad lines. We parked the car and headed up to the "Burgers and Fries" area where we toproped the classic 5 star route called "Burgers and Fries". I decided not to lead it because it looked a little to runout for me at the top. Even the guidebook suggested that you better have your head right before going to the chains, and it took NO gear at the end. It also wasn't the style of climbing I was used to. It was very slabby with only smears for feet, did I mention it was only 5.7.... After we each got a toprope burn on the that, the sun started coming over the wall and we started to bake. We looked around for some cliffs that were in the shade, but really couldn't find any. We decided to pack it up from there and find a place with some more shade. We hiked back down to the car and flipped through the guidebook. We decided to head over to Murrin Park, which was by the lake and offered some climbs in the shade. We hopped in the car and drove down a couple of miles to Murrin Park. The parking lot was packed. We soon found out that most people there were there for the swimming, not the climbing. We found a crag called the "Bog Wall" which was right at the end of the parking lot, and in the shade. It was so close we could have belayed out of the back set of our car, but didn't. There were a couple of trad climbs there that were in our ability range so we decided to fire them off. First we jumped on a finger crack called "Up From The Bog" (5.8). This was my first true 5.8 trad crack pitch. I was super excited after I finished it. As a little side note, about 20 feet off the deck, I went to take a #2 cam off my harness and place it in the crack. As I removed it from my harness, i fumbled it with my right hand, and dropped it. My buddy Scott, who was belaying me, caught it. (Thanks Scott) Now I'm left in a situation were I needed to place a piece of gear that I didn't have. I decided to run it out to the next place I could get a piece in. What an embarrassing moment for me. I guess we all go though things like that....right? Anyways, we all got our turn climbing that route, then moved on to the left were there was a 10a trad line called "Holy Grail". I scouted it from the ground for a while and was nervous about the gear placement. Our rope for the 5.8 we just did was overhanging the 10a route. I decided to play it safe and run it on TR first to "suss" out the gear before I lead it. I "mock" lead the pitch placing all the gear as I went and then topped out. I was convinced I could lead this pitch on gear. I cleaned the route on the way back down then pulled the rope. I tied back in and fired it, placing 4 pieces in 50'. For me, that was the highlight for the day. My first 5.10a trad lead. Again, we all ran a couple of laps on that which took us to mid afternoon. At this point, my confidence level was above anything I have ever experienced with trad before. All I wanted to do was keep leading trad, we did exactly that. We moved slightly to the right and put up a 5.9 called "Black Butterfly" which was a little different then the 5.8 previously done. You had to rely solely on the crack at the upper section to make it through. There were no face holds to use to bail you out if you got stuck. This was pure crack at its finest. After we all got some climb time on that we moved on to the next route to the left. It was also a 5.9, and it was called "Veils Of Illusion" It was very similar to the one we just came off of, were you had a section near the top where it was just crack. After leading that, we all very getting pretty beat. The final order for the day was to toprope a 5.11a called "Fathers and Sons" (sandbagged) which shared the same anchors as the 5.9. We all got our fill on that and was nice to end the day with a little burn. We packed it in from there, hiked the 30 seconds to our car and headed into Sqamish for some groceries. After picking up some need groceries we headed back to camp to cook some tacos. Once at camp we hung out eating our tacos and chatted about the place we wanted to climb on Sunday. After getting or trad on for the day, we were looking forward to clipping bolts on Sunday. Before we headed off to bed we decided to head back up the Cheackamus area where we were the week before and check some more crags out. Most of Cheackamus is sport, so we knew we could get our fix on up there. We all hit the hay to get some needed rest.

Sunday morning we slept in till 8:30ish, fixed some breakfast at the campsite and broke down camp. We then headed 15 miles or so up the road to an area just outside of Cheackamus known as "Rogues' Gallery". We parked the car in a gravel pullout right off the highway and hiked into a cliff known as "Hoods In The Woods" We were actually looking for another crag, but kind of ran into this one. The climbs looked really cool and long which was appealing to us. We first decided to put up a 10a called "Bout Du Monde" which was about 8 bolts. Fun climb, with the crux at the very end. We pulled rope from that and put up another 10a just to the right called "Chasin' The Train". Again, another long fun 10a, this time the crux was a little lower, about mid height. After getting a pretty good warm up we moved along the cliff base and put up "Gravity Can"t Dance" (5.10b). This was another long route with really good flow. All the holds were there when you needed them, with the hardest bit coming right near the end. As I lowered back down, Jodi asked me if it looked like something she could lead. Without a doubt, I knew she could lead this climb. After I untied, she stepped up, pulled the rope, and was going for the send. It takes a lot of guts to walk up to a climb, put on your head, and go for it. She tied in and took off. With each bolt she clipped, she was looking more and more solid. Once she clipped the last bolt she shook out, and punched it to the chains. She had the chains in her sight and then ripped. She had a good clean fall and was jazzed to get the "butterflies" out of her head. She finished the climb with no problem, and lowered off. She was so excited that she made it that far. I think that was a great milestone for her. Pushing herself to absolute failure, then falling. We were all so proud of her. Scott ran it after Jodi and cleaned the route. We still had time for one more climb before we had to leave to head back to Seattle. I had my eye on the face climb to the right called "Pockets Full Of Kryptonight" (5.11b) The face proved to be harder that I thought but managed to pull it all together. The crux involved tough 2 finger lock offs, on a slightly overhanging bulge, which you then fire for a flat jug. I was nervous about the finger, but it held up well. I cleaned the route, pulled rope and packed up. We got in the car and drove 5 hours back to Seattle, where we got in and crashed. Below is a picture of all of us after climbing in Squamish.

Below is a picture of "The Chief" in Squamish, very cool.


Monday morning we woke up when Scott left for work, packed up our things and headed for Smith Rock, Oregon. We knew the stop at Smith Rock was going to be brief, since we have visited there before. It was merely a stop off on our way to Northern California. We drove down I-5 till we hit Portland, then started heading inland toward Smith. On our way there we passed by Mt. Hood. We drove up to the Timberline Lodge, which is at the base of the mountain. We took some pictures and walked around the lodge. As we looked up at the mountain we noticed people skiing and snowboarding. Most of them were in T-shirts and snow pants. Pretty cool that even in August you can still enjoy the snow. Below is a picture of Mt. Hood from Timberline Lodge.

After our brief trip to Mt. Hood, we continued on until we ended up at Smith Rock around 5:30pm. We pulled into the Bivouac area and set up our tent. We still had some day light left so we decided to get a couple of climbs in. We headed right down the road to the parking lot, parked, and took a quick hike to the "Northern Point". We have never climbed that part of Smith before and thought it would be a cool area to try. After a 3rd class scramble down, we were at the base of several quality 11's and 12's. We only had time for a climb or 2 so we jumped on the classic 11a called "A Women In The Meadow". We ran close to 10 laps on that then decided to call it a day, since we were running out of daylight. We hiked back to the car, and headed into the town of Terrebonne for quick bite at "Terrebonne Depot". After dinner we happened to run into one of the local ladies, who also owns "Terrebonne Depot", and she gave us tons of beta. She suggested places to climb that were in the shade, and even some of her favorite routes. It turns out while talking with her, she had blown one of her fingers recently too. We traded war stories, then headed back to camp to get some sleep.

Tuesday morning we woke up early, packed our tent up and hit the cliffs early to try and beat the heat. The forecast for the day was sunny and a high of 100 degrees. We hit the "Morning Glory Wall" first and jumped on the ultra classic "Nine Gallon Buckets" (5.9) for a warm up. It probably wasn't the best warm-up since the first bolt was 15 feet of the ground and was in direct sun. We ran that twice, and had enough of the sun and started looking for anything in the sun. We then headed over to the "Cocaine Gully" where most of the routes were in the shade. We scrambled up to the base of the climbs to check it out. We decided to fire off "Vomit Launch" (11b) which is arguably the best 11 at Smith. Fired that on my first go, which was super cool. It was totally my style with it being full of technical and crimpy climbing. I liked the climb so much, I ran it again and cleaned it. After we pulled rope from that climb, we set up "Powder Up The Nose" (10d) to the left. Fired that first go as well and really liked it. This was a pitch that held true to the Smith style. It was full of knobs and tiny pinches. With the cliff losing shade quickly, we only had time for one more climb before we were blasted by the sun. We set up another area classic called "Chicken McNuggets" (10b) and ran that until we got full sun. Once we couldn't take the sun anymore we decided to pack it up and call it a day around 3:30pm. We headed back to the car and started driving to Northern California. Our plan was to try and drive until we reached Klamath Falls Oregon, where we would spend the night. Below is a picture of Jodi and I in front of Smith Rocks after a day of climbing.

On our way to Klamath Falls we decide to take a quick detour and head up to Crater Lake to check it out. It was only about an hour out of the way for us and proved to be epic. We headed through the parks entrance gates and started climbing the mountain to reach the lake. Our plan was to take the ridge side road, with circles the entire lake. As we reached the summit to start the circular drive, the dark clouds showed up and before we knew it we were right in the middle of a serious hail storm. We pulled off to the side of the road and waited until it passed, which turned out to be close to 30 minutes. I did manage to shoot a couple of pictures before the heavens opened up. I also shot a pretty cool video of us sitting in the car and our rental car getting pounded by hail. Below is a picture of Crater Lake before the storm.

After the hail storm passed, the rain really set in and we lost all views of Crater Lake. We bagged the drive around the lake and headed back down to the main highway, where we continued on to Klameth Falls. We pulled into Klameth Falls around 9pm and checked into a hotel on the out-skirts of town for the night.

Wednesday morning we woke up early to hit the road. We pulled out of Klamath Falls around 8am and headed for the northern California Coast. On our way out of town we drove along Klamath Lake which was really cool. Below is a picture of Klamath Lake

We continued driving west for a couple of hours until we reached the California coast. We got out of the car to stretch our legs in Crescent City, where we shot some pictures of the coast line. See picture below.

We drove down highway 101 until we reached the Redwoods National Park visitor center. We stopped, picked up some literature and continued on through the park. We wanted to camp that night in the park but quickly found out that all of the campgrounds were full. Our closet and best option was to drive through the park and into Eureka, California to set up camp at the KOA. On our way to Eureka we stopped off at a gear shop north of town where we picked up a local guide and some local beta. The guy at the shop told us that most of the climbers on the coast just boulder. There were a couple of sport areas, but most were put up in the 70'-80's and with the sea salt, most bolted lines were in sad shape. With that said, he did point them out to us and told us to check them out. He also showed us a couple of nice bouldering spots on the beach, which we thought was really cool. After hanging out in the gear shop, it was getting pretty late in the day, so we decided to head for the KOA and set up camp. We arrived a the KOA around 7pm and set up camp. We cooked some soup that night for dinner, and hit the sack.

Thursday morning we woke up from the KOA, grabbed a shower and some breakfast and headed north back to Crescent City to check out a sport crag called the "Promontory". It took us about an hour to get up there but was a very enjoyable drive. Once in the parking lot we could see the cliff right off the ocean. What a cool sight. We packed up our bags, and headed toward the cliff. Once there we checked out some of the climbs. The guy at the shop was right, most, if not all of the sport routes there were in some serious trouble. Most of the bolts were completely rusted and looked very "sketchy". As an added bonus, most of the holds had sand in them, because it was so close to the beach. We decided to bag the area all together. It definatly has potential once it is re-bolted and cleaned up. We headed back to the car and back down toward Eureka, were most of the good bouldering was. On our way back down to Eureka, we took a side scenic route through the redwood forest. What a fantastic drive. The drive took us about an hour to complete, then dumped us back onto the 101 were we continued onto Moonstone Beach for an afternoon boulder session. We pulled into the parking lot for Moonstone and the boulders presented themselves right in front of us. We grabbed our chalk bags and shoes and started cranking on the beach. Below is a picture of the boulders on Moonstone Beach.

We cranked out for close to 3 hours then decided to call it quits and head down to see some more redwoods at the "Avenue Of The Giants". Side Note: Jodi and I got lots of pictures and videos of beach bouldering, which was really cool. Not so cool, was about an hour into our boulder session, our camera crapped out on us AGAIN. Yes, the one we exchanged in Seattle. This was the second time this happened. Again, we were stuck without a camera until we could find a Best Buy to return it. We also found out the closet Best Buy was in Sacramento, CA. There was nothing closer. We were close to panic mode, but lucky for us we brought our old camera for back up. We had to use that until we got it replaced. What kind of luck is that? Anyways, we headed down to the "Avenue Of The Giants" where we stopped and took lots of pictures of huge redwood trees. As we were driving, we saw a sign for a drive thru tree. We stopped, payed our $6 and drove our rental car through a tree. Pretty cool. Below is a picture of me driving through the redwood tree.

After driving through the tree we finished driving the rest of the scenic road then headed back to the KOA, where we cooked dinner and hung out by the camp fire until turning in for the night. Friday we were off to surprise my sister in "Sin City" for her 30th birthday.

Olympic National Park, WA

Friday afternoon we waited for our friend Scott to get off of work, (about 1pm) we packed the car and headed out to Squamish, British Columbia for a weekend full of climbing. It took us about 5 hours to get to Squamish. On our way up there we passed through the city of Vancouver, which is like a mini New York city. It was really cool to see a city so big, so close to the water and the mountains. Truly one of the coolest cities we have seen. After passing through Vancouver, we headed up the "Sea to Sky" highway which took us all the way into Squamish. Right outside of Squamish, as we crested the hill, we saw "The Chief" which has to be one of the most impressive rock formations we have ever seen. We pulled into Squamish around 6pm and still had some day light left, so we decided to hit the "Smoke Bluff's" north of the town to get a couple of climbs in. We took to the "Smoke Bluff's", got two climbs in, (5.9 & a 5.10d) then called it a day. We found a place to stay in Squamish for the night, and were really excited about the next day of climbing.

Saturday morning we woke up around 7am for a full day of climbing, and found that the weather outside wasn't the greatest. It had rained the night before, and still was coming down lightly outside. We headed into town for some breakfast to talk over options we had. We studied the guidebook over breakfast looking for places that would be dry enough to climb. We found a couple of crags up in the Cheakamus region that looked promising. We finished breakfast and headed up there. We parked the car and hiked up to the "Main Event" and "Circus" walls. It took us about 15 minutes to get up there, and once there we found most of the routes to be dry. We were excited that we were able to climb on such a crummy day. After we warmed up on a 5.8 and a 5.10, the word had gotten out. The crowds were coming in. I guess most people looking to climb had the same idea, since this place was one of a couple of areas that stayed dry in a light rain. Never the less, we made the most of the day and jumped on some more 10's and 11's before we decided to call it a day around 6pm. We hiked back down to the car and headed back to the camp site to fix some dinner. On our way back to the camp site, our friend Scott had suggested to go by Whistler Village, to see where the Winter Olympics were held. That sounded like a great idea. We passed through Whistler Village which was really cool. There was a mountain bike event there that day, so there were tons of bikers around. We stopped in at the grocery store to pick up a couple of things, then headed back to camp to cook. We got to our camp site around 8:30ish and cooked a great meal. We chatted after dinner about were we wanted to go the next day, then hit the sack.

Sunday morning we slept in till 8:30am, packed our camp stuff up, and headed a couple of miles down the road to an area known as "Cal-Check". It looked like a pretty cool area, and the guide book suggested that it would dry out pretty quickly from the rains the day before. Side Note: As we are packing our stuff up from camp, Jodi decided to take some pictures of the camp site and surrounding areas. She took a couple of pictures, then all of sudden our camera froze up. We couldn't turn it off, nor did the display work. I took the battery out, and fooled around with it for several minutes, and couldn't get it to work. We were super bummed, because now we couldn't take any pictures. We would have to take it back to Best Buy, and get it replaced. Long story short, we didn't have many pictures of the weekend, because Saturday the weather was horrible, and Sunday our camera broke. Anyways, we hiked up to the cliffs and climbed a 5.7, 5.8, and (2) 5.10.b's. We ran a couple of laps on each, and then moved on to another area about 5 minutes away. Once there we ran another 5.8 and a 5.10b/c. by now it was close to 4pm, and still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. We didn't want to get Scott back too late because he had to work the next day. We left the crag and headed into Squamish to grab a quick bite to eat before hitting the road. We left Squamish around 5 and got back to Seattle around 10pm. We threw all of our stuff in Scott's garage and went to bed. Below are some pictures of us and the Squamish area after we finished climbing. Took these with Scott's camera.

Monday morning Jodi got up early and went for a run, and I sleep in to 10am or so. Our first priority for the day was to go to Best Buy in Seattle, and exchange our camera. We found the closest Best Buy, and headed over there. We approached the customer service desk and told them our issue with the camera. They printed out our receipt and found that we purchased the "Black Tie" protection plan which covers accidental breakage, lemon products, etc..... This was good on my part, since I knew we were taking this across country, and if something happened to the camera, we wanted to be covered, so I thought..... It turns out, you can't return a opened product back to Best Buy after 15 days, which we were well beyond. The "Black Tie" coverage I bought with my original camera purchase only covers replacement if they claim it can't be fixed. The employee there told me the camera could be fixed and they would have to send it away, and it would be about 14 days. Jodi and I were both floored. We pleaded our case with the manager there and told him that we were on a road trip and that we didn't have 14 days to hang around Seattle, waiting for our camera to be fixed. After 20 minutes of arguing with the guy, we had had it. We were finding our self without a camera and still over half of our trip left. We left the store in disgust and decided to find another location, were we could try again. We searched around and found another Best Buy north of Seattle. We headed up there, and told the guy there our situation. To our amazement, the employee there understood and gave us an even exchange no questions asked. We were in and out of there within 10 minutes. It was amazing to us the difference in service between the two places. By the end of it, we got a brand new camera and both were very happy. We were expecting this exchange would only take an hour or 2 at most, and found that it really ate up most of the afternoon. We wrote off taking a drive out to see Mt. Rainier because it was getting late. Instead, we decided to get an oil change on the rental car, because we noticed the service light came on the other day. We drove over to the Firestone, waited about an hour for them to change the oil, then headed back to Scott's for a relaxing evening.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed to Seattle to catch the 8:10am ferry over to Bainbridge Island on our way to Olympic National Park. Our plan was to head over there for the day, spend the night at a campground, explore more the next day, then come back to Seattle. The ferry ride across was about 30 minutes, and quite chilly. Below is a picture of us on the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. WINDY!!!

Once we arrived at Bainbridge Island we headed to the city of Port Angeles, which is were the Visitor Center for Olympic National Park is. It took us about 3 hours to get there, and it was an enjoyable drive. Once at the visitor center we headed inside, picked up a map, and talked with one of the rangers about places to go, and things to see. She suggested we first head up to Hurricane Ridge to get a 360 degree view of Olympic. She also gave us recommended campgrounds and other activities. We left the visitor center and took her suggestion and headed up to Hurricane Ridge. It took us about 45 minutes or so to get up there, but well worth the drive. The views from the top are outstanding. We snapped some pictures, then went on a mini hike to another peak to check out the view. We hiked for about 2 hours then headed back to the car and back down to the main highway, 101. Below is a picture of Jodi and I at the top of Hurricane Ridge with all of Olympic behind us.

Below is a picture of the hike we did going up from Hurricane Ridge.



Below is a picture of Hurricane Ridge road and scenery that goes with it.

Once we got back on the 101, we headed through the town of Port Angeles and onto the Sol Duc area, were we wanted to set up camp for the night. On our way there we passed Lake Crescent, which is on the out skirts of Olympic. We stopped shot some photos and moved on. Below is a picture of Lake Crescent.

After our photos of Lake Crescent, we continued on to Sol Duc. As we were right outside of Sol Duc we noticed a nature trail that was right off the road and it looked really fun. We parked the car, got out and hiked the trail for about a mile or so. It was a loop trail and gave us a lot to look at. The forest was dense and the trees were massive.

After the hike we headed into Sol Duc were we found a camping spot at the campground. Below is a picture of our campsite and the massive trees surrounding us.

We set up camp and decided to take a 30 minute "power nap", then continue on with the rest of the afternoon. After our nap, Jodi was lucky and got a picture of a sleeping Sasquatch!!!

After the rare sighting, we left the campground and headed right up the road for the Sol Duc Falls. We hiked into the falls, which was about a mile, and took a ton of pictures. We hung out down there for a little while, then headed back to the parking lot, and eventually back to camp. Once at camp we started a fire (first one of the trip) and cooked dinner. After dinner we relaxed by the fire until all of our wood was gone. Turned in around 9:30 and were looking forward to the next day. Below are some pictures of the Sol Duc Falls

Here is a picture of Jodi next to our first camp fire of the trip.

Wednesday morning we slept in till 9 or so. We packed our tent up, cooked some breakfast and headed out for another full day. Or first stop was the Hoh Rain Forest. From Sol Duc to the Hoh Rain Forest was about an 1-1/2 drive. On our way out from Sol Duc, we noticed another nature trail called "Ancient Groves". We decided to stop and do the quick loop before pressing on to the Hoh Rain Forest. Below is a picture of the Ancient Groves nature trail.

After the nature walk we continued on and passed through the town of Forks, Washington, which we didn't know until we were there, is the home to the popular "Twilight" series books and movies. We know very little about the "Twilight" series, but that town is everything "Twilight". We arrived at the Hoh Rain Forest and headed to the visitor center. On our way to the visitor center we noticed a sign which read "big spruce tree". We had to stop, and we were glad we did. It was literally right off the road, and they weren't kidding, it was big. The tree is a Sitka spruce, and is estimated to be about 500-550 years old. The tree diameter is 12-1/2 feet, and over 270 feet tall. Below is a picture of us at the "Big Spruce Tree"

After the quick stop at the tree, we continued on to the visitor center, and picked up a trail map. There were two trails there that were worth hiking. We first did the "Hall of Mosses Trail" which was about an hour round trip. We took a lot of pictures and had a lot of fun. Then we hiked the "Spruce Nature Trail". That hike was a little longer, and just as nice as the "Hall Of Mosses Trail". After the two hikes, it was time to head back to Seattle and catch one of the evening ferries across. We left the Hoh Rain Forest and drove through the town of Forks again, where we grabbed a quick bite and then continued on. After about an hour or so, we stopped again. This time by Lake Crescent to check out the "Marymere Falls", which was only about an hour round trip hike. He hiked up to the falls, snapped some pictures and headed back to the car. Below is a picture of the "Marymere Falls".

We continued on to Bainbridge Island and got there around 7:45pm. We waited to catch the 8:10pm ferry across back to Seattle. Once on the ferry we had perfect sunset views of both the Olympic mountains we just came out of (to the west), and the Seattle skyline and Mt. Rainier. (to the east) Below are some pictures we took on the ferry, heading back to Seattle.

Olympic National Park

Mt. Rainier

Seattle, WA

Once we docked in Seattle, we headed back to Scott's house were we got some sleep.

Thursday we woke up early, and were itching to climb. We hadn't climbed since Sunday in Squamish and needed to get some climb time in. We headed out to a local crag called "Exit 38". A clever name for a crag, because it is off of Interstate 90 at exit 38. Anyways, Jodi and I headed up to the climbs and started climbing around 9:30am. There wasn't anyone there which was kind of nice. The views were outstanding and the climbing was pretty good too. Around 3pm, more people started showing up and things started to get a little crowded. We were talking with some locals there, and they said most people in the Seattle area treat this crag as their gym. So it made sense that around the time most people got off of work, it started to get crowded. Even with the crowds, we climbed and climbed. We were treating this day as an endurance day from the start. We had to put in some serious miles. Around 6pm or so, our buddy Scott showed up after work and climbed with us until it got dark around 9pm. After the day was done with, Jodi and I turned out 42 laps in 11-1/2 hours. We were smoked. Half of those laps were on 5.10a or harder. We hiked back down to the car, via headlamp, and headed to the local watering hole to grab a beer and a sandwich. We knocked out of there around 10:30pm, went home and staight to bed. Below is the view of the mountains while climbing at "Exit 38"

Friday we slept in till 9am, grabbed a shower and some breakfast at Scott's house and relaxed most of the morning. Jodi did a load of laundry and went for a long walk. I spent the morning writing this blog up. The plan for today is identical to last Friday. We are waiting for Scott to get off work, then we are heading back up to Squamish to do some climbing for the weekend. After having so much fun last weekend, Jodi and I really wanted to head back up there one more time before we left the area. Hopefully we can take some more pictures this time. Our plan is to come back Sunday night from Squamish, then monday hit the road again with the intention of reaching Smith Rocks in Oregon.