Fall 2020 Climbing Road Trip

Alyssa and I decided to do a road trip across the west from Colorado back up to Seattle over about two weeks, hitting some climbing destinations that we'd had our eyes on for quite some time. It was amazing to get to take a decent chunk of time off work and explore some new spots before winter hit (although we were still thwarted by weather on multiple occasions). We were feeling strong after a lot of days outside through the summer and we were both psyched for the trip and to just spend two weeks on the road together! We had also both just started leading trad about a month prior to the trip, so we were excited to start getting more reps in on the classic easies along the way. Climbing aside, the drive itself was spectacular and would have been an incredible road trip even if no climbing at all had happened. Utah is incredible and I would do that drive 20 times over in a heartbeat!

Gunnison/Taylor Canyon, CO

The trip started at Alyssa's family's hunting cabin in rural Gunnison, Colorado. We stayed here for a few days working and relaxing on the property before heading out to start the road trip. We checked out Taylor Canyon, which turned out to be a really nice local crag. We spent most of the afternoon working on the highly coveted Taylor Canyon trad test piece - Kindergarten Crack (5.4 XXX). Conclusion: trad climbing is scary. When does this stop feeling like soloing? There were a few other routes that we'd like to come back to such as Tony's Tango. Sweet local spot!

Bighorn sheep in Taylor Canyon!

Our first leg of the drive was super pretty and we stopped outside of Escalante Canyon in Utah and did a really cool slot canyon hike. I had never been to Utah before and it was siiiick! We spent a night in Bryce Canyon NP as well and did one of the popular hikes out there at sunrise. Did not disappoint. One of the most spectacular sights I've ever seen!

Bryce Canyon NP.

Saint George, UT

On the next leg of the drive, I wanted to stop in Saint George to check out some of the awesome sandstone/hueco climbing. Sadly, it had randomly rained earlier that day and we decided to be good ethical climbers and not climb sandstone after the rain. We found a limestone crag nearby which was honestly pretty bad, but got a few sport routes in to wake us up after a long day of driving.

Red Rock Canyon, NV

Sunset over RR.

We finally arrived at our Airbnb outside of Vegas for our week at Red Rock Canyon. This was an all-around awesome week full of shenanigans and good full days out on that sweet sweet sandstone. Some highlights:

• Big Bad Wolf (5.9, 3P) was a really nice sport multi to get the blood flowing on day 1. The pitch breakdown was perfect for the two of us - steep, near-overhung jug haul for me and spicy slab for Alyssa. The biggest draw of this climb is that it's next to Physical Grafitti though! 
• "This isn't slab, it's just blank" - me, saying "keep me tight!!!", on TR, following P2 on BBW
• Physical Graffiti (5.6, 2P): our first trad multipitch together! Amazing beginner route, lots of face holds in addition to the crack and great stances for placing gear. Second pitch was nearly 200 feet - so good!

Finishing up our day on BBW and Physical Graffitti

• Lowlight: One the second day of the trip I purchased the Red Rock guidebook from the local gear shop for almost $50. The next morning, the book legitimately vanished into thin air somewhere between leaving the airbnb that morning and arriving at the park. To this day it remains a mystery. My theory is that I dropped it out of the car door at a gas station and didn't notice. I looked for it intensely for the next three days before purchasing a second copy. RIP.
• We had a super fun full day at Civilization Crag. The classic scramble (done differently every single time I've gone up here) leads to an area full of moderates. I was psyched to cruise some routes that had given me a lot of trouble about a year prior (did I really start crying leading that last year? - me, 2020). Got in nearly 11 pitches through the moderate grades. Note to self that this an awesome spot to bring new leaders!
  
• I don't like Black Corridor. 
• Medium-light: We wanted to check out an area I had found called First Creek Canyon, which was "just a short approach to some nice single pitch trad climbs". Holy moly we were wrong on this one. 3 miles of hiking later with a full double rack slung around my neck, we traversed across a fairly exposed ledge and finally found some scary, slippery, completely not 5.4, 5.4s. We talked to some other folks who recommended Doobie Dance, which actually turned out to be a super fun, long route with some offwidth spice towards the top. Still unsure if this area is worth the trek - definitely an adventurous spot. Also, we saw a black widow spider on the hike out, in the dark. Scary. Next time listen to the MP comments for an area: 

• We extended our trip through the weekend because the forecast in Bishop looked cold, but karma got us and it snowed Saturday morning in Red Rock. The bright side of this was that we moved into an adorable Airstream trailer for the weekend and just relaxed, celebrating the election results finally coming in!

  

  Alyssa cooking up some huckleberry pancakes in the Airstream

  
  

TLDR: RRC did not disappoint. Warm temps (before it snowed), great days out in great company, and plenty of adventure. We can't wait to come back and get on some of the bigger easy trad multis in the future!

Owens River Gorge/Bishop, CA

Next up we drove a long stretch up to our next stop in Mammoth Lakes, CA. It was crazy driving from RRC where earlier that week it had been 80 and sunny, to full-on winter in Mammoth with 8 inches of snow and freezing temps. Luckily, 40 min south in Bishop, the weather was much better and gave us 2 awesome days of climbing at the ORG. 

Highlights of ORG: 

• Beautiful, super unique rock down a steep gully into the gorge. Full-value, 100 foot moderates through the grades. 
• Talking to everyone who had just flocked from their "Yosemite season" to Bishop when it snowed in YNP a few days before. Sick yos szn brah, just living on the road now yah feel... 
• Lowlight: Alyssa heading up some sketchy 100 ft 10b as it was getting dark, with no headlamp. Me, completely losing sight of her and out of earshot range, sending good juju up the wall silently and remaining calm below while she "made some of the scariest moves of her life"; "I was feeling around on slippery slab with my hand first to check if I could put my foot there". Passerbys said "Nice! Really squeezing out the last bit of daylight!" Yeah! Wasn't that nice Alyssa!

Top right: a climb that apparently used to have a belaying platform drilled into the wall, but now looks like both the belayer and climber might take a nice dip if this is attempted. 

Left bottom: Halfway down the maybe ~900 foot steep rock gully down into the gorge. Coming back up this thing, at elevation, was brutal at the end of the day. 

Right bottom: Black Panther, one of my favorite sport climbs ever! Steep, sustained, juggy overhang that starts with a slick finger crack. So good!

Didn't get a chance to check out the famous bouldering in Bishop proper, but I have a feeling we will be back :) Major highlight: On the drive from Bishop to Tahoe, we passed through the town of Lee Vining on the east side of YNP. We saw a massive bear chilling outside the general store in the town!

Lee Vining's mascot

Smith Rock State Park, OR

After a short stop overnight in Lake Tahoe to break up the drive, we made it to our last stop: Smith Rock. This was my third trip to Smith and I hadn't been super keen on the style of climbing there on my previous trips, but I started to appreciate the thin edging and nubbin pulling that makes this place special on this trip. Aldan and a few others came down to meet us for a fun weekend to celebrate his birthday. The weather was rough, with rain, hail, snow, and very chilly temps, but we got a good 1.5 days in once the storms had mostly passed. Lots of hot tubbing and moving through the Smith easies. I got on my longterm mini project, Double Trouble once again and confirmed that it's still hard.  

Aldan greasing my proj

probably some classic Smith 5.12 X line with a pretty view of the river.

Overall, I couldn't have been happier with how our trip turned out. It was really lucky to have been able to work on the road while checking out some of the most beautiful spots in the west with great company. I also wanted to shout out Aldan and Niemer for taking care of my geckos while I was gone. Couldn't have done it without ya. We returned to Seattle to a second full quarantine happening, but with our hearts full and bodies beaten. Until next time!

Julia

Glacier, Yellowstone & Grand Tetons National Park

Who: Eric, Yifan and Santiago
When: September 4-5, 11-12, 18-19
Activity: Day hiking

Hey y'all!

Long time reader, first time contributor! The newlyweds graciously let me tag along for the first 2 weeks of their epic 3 month honeymoon. Thanks to you two for accommodating for me logistically, and congrats again on getting married! For the first leg, we rented an airbnb for almost 2 weeks and stayed ~1.5 hours away from Glacier National Park. I re-confirmed that I'm not a fan of long road trips and it was a gruelling 8 hour drive to our airbnb in Idaho. Stopping at a steakhouse was an amazing call as they served up a mean piece of meat. We relaxed the first night, started a two week binge of Attack on Titan and had a late start for our first day at Glacier.

Yifan and I kept it easy and hiked Hidden Lake Trail first. It was fairly busy as it's one of Glacier's most popular hikes, and unfortunately there was only about a 20% mask wearing rate. Thankfully, it was really easy to get some gorgeous photos along the way as there were sweeping views of peaks and valleys by Logan Pass. 

Yifan amongst the rolling hills and majestic peaks on the Hidden Lake Trail

At the Hidden Lake overlook, the fall colours on the trees and the sun rays peaking through the clouds makes for an epic view. The yellow grass contrasting the usual green we are used to seeing adds to the colour palette of the image.

Not satisfied with just the one hike, we decide to do a short 4km hike to St. Mary Falls. Knowing the hike was short, we elected to bring our tripods in effort to get a nice shot of the falls. The destination was better than the journey since the hike was fairly flat, narrow and the view was nothing to write home about. Arriving at the falls, we were able to carve out a small location for us to take some long exposure shots, which gives the water smoothness effect. Pretty happy with the image as the rock face shows some cool texture and the aqua colour of the water adds to the serenity. I do need to buy an ND filter so the sky isn't as overexposed when taking these kinds of shots.

I didn't end up hiking again until the following weekend, where I did a pair: Florence Falls with Yifan and Highline Trail as a solo hike. Florence falls a fairly relaxing hike, 15km round trip, but it offered up amazing sights on the way. Terrain changes from rocky rivers to savannah-like landscapes made for an immensely enjoyable hike.

The blue skies were seemingly endless on the way to Florence Falls. Taken with Quick Continuous Shooting on the A7II.

Made it to Florence Falls, a small parting in the trees created a neat frame for a shot. We enjoyed our lunch at the foot of the falls and headed back.

That was the last of the good weather at Glacier as the smoke rolled through Glacier National Park. I elected to do the Highline Trail to the Granite Chalet, but the smoke made it difficult to get any nice pictures. Having looked up what I was supposed to see, I 100% have to return to Glacier to do the hike again, since I was missing out on some amazing views. Instead of seeing anything cool, I saw...

Absolutely brutal. At least I got a 27km hike in.. Hmu if you're going to Glacier National Park next year 😅 At least I bought my Glacier National Park pin. That was it for Glacier from me; all in all, sweet hikes, sweet views and an overall great time, smoke notwithstanding.

The following weekend, we stayed close to both Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park. A chance to snag a pair of pins for the collection :) First visit was a hike at Grand Tetons. Forecast called for thunderstorms, but it was the only day I could visit, so I went for it anyways! Elected to do Lake Solitude via Canyon Trail in another solo hike since the other two couldn't make it. Solo hiking made me think.. a lot. About life, about work, and about the photo I'm going to take away from the hike. Below is the fruit of my labour:

Attack on Tetons

In all seriousness, the hike was gorgeous and rumours of thunderstorms were greatly exaggerated. Another hike through a valley with high peaks and changing fall colours. Totally worth the 30.5 km hike!

My final stop was to Yellowstone National Park. A quick stop at the Grand Prismatic Spring made for a cool first sight at the third largest natural hot spring in the US: 

We headed to Old Faithful as one does when visiting Yellowstone National Park. When we got there, the crowd wasn't too big so we figured we had plenty to wait before it would set off. I took this opportunity to buy my final of 3 pins on the trip. The three of us also have goals to learn languages, so we pulled out our language learning apps and killed a solid hour with that. (Eric: Japanese, Yifan: French, Santiago: Mandarin). As the geyser started to rumble, a bison who had been eating grass begins to move across our field of view. The timing could not have been more perfect - as soon as Old Faithful erupts, the Bison is standing right in front of it! The crowd, and the crowd's cameras go wild.

Finally, we make a pit stop at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park. After a quick jaunt for a better angle of the waterfall, we wrap up our visit to the park.

Santiago drove me to the airport the following day after work and thus ended my 2 week stint in Idaho and Montana. I am happy to report that Delta was really good in that both of my flights, I had no one sitting adjacent to me. Everyone on the plane was also good about leaving their masks on and I made it back to Seattle COVID-free.

The Pokemon Trainer Gym Badges National Park Pin collection continues!

Olympic NP: Seven Lakes Basin, Blue Glacier, Hoh River Valley

Who: Matt, George, Scott

When: Sept. 20-23

Activity: Backpacking in Olympic National Park

George was home in Portland so we planned a trip in the Olympics with his brother Scott. Campsites were limited so we planned to spend our second night at Olympic Guard Station which is in the Hoh River Valley. Initially we had planned to bring a single car and hike back the way we had came but Scott noticed this and thankfully warned against this itinerary:

 

Bogachiel @ 5474 feet... OGS @ 948. Might be good to reconsider ;)

With the added perspective on elevation we decided to bring two cars and drop the second car at the Hoh Rainforest VC parking lot to save our legs from the ascent back up to Seven Lakes Basin.

 

The trip itself went off without a hitch. We started on Sunday driving from Seattle to Port Angeles where we picked up another bear canister and our permits. We continued on to the Hoh Rainforest VC to drop George's car, then returned to the Sol Duc trailhead to get started. This was admittedly a lot of driving but given the circumstances I think worth the extra effort. We got on the trail and hiked a short 5 miles to our first campsite at appropriately named Rocky Creek.

The next day we ascended up to the proper Seven Lakes Basin area and High Divide. We had a decent amount of cloud coverage but we still had a number of sweet views of this area. We spotted several bears munching throughout the day, most of them from a safe distance.

 

Seven lakes basin

Classic PNW view

 

By the time we reached Bogachiel Peak the clouds had coalesced and we had no view of the Pacific ocean, so we started our descent down into the Hoh river valley. This descent was very very long and pretty brutal on our bodies, plus some intermittent rain did not help our spirits. We were happy to reach Olympic Guard Station and set up camp for the night.

The next morning we day hiked further up the Hoh river valley to see Blue Glacier. This was a solid 9 miles and 3000 feet and elevation to the glacier so we brought our dinners and stove just in case we needed to some extra nutrition in the evening on the way back. The day hike was wonderful and the glacier was impressive - a true 'oh shit' moment for both George and I when we crested over the ridge to finally see the ice. The descent from the glacier went smoothly and we reached our campsite just after dark.

Blue glacier

Tuesday night it started raining around 2am and did not stop. Wednesday morning we packed up our campsite in the rain and got moving early so we could reach our car with enough time to complete the drive back to Seattle comfortably. Our hike out through the valley was flat and not too strenuous but the amount of water in the trail was impressive. It's been awhile since I've gotten that wet while camping and we were all extremely relieved that our destination for the day was our car. 

 

Once we reached the cars we got changed and hit the road back to Seattle. Till next time Olympic peninsula!

One last note, George drinks so much fucking water it's insane. Apparently he drinks 5 liters of water on a normal day, I think during the trip he was doing more like 7-8 liters per day. He continuously had to pee and stopped once every 30-60 minutes while hiking and driving. George if you're reading this, you gotta slow down dude.

Mt. Forgotten

Who: Matt, Roy

When: August 29

Activity: Day hike

 WTA link: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-forgotten

Roy and I day hiked Mt. Forgotten. It's not too long of a drive to the Perry creek trailhead on mountain loop highway which made for a nice relaxed morning.

The beginning of the hike is very subtle and not too crazy but really gets good once you reach the alpine meadow near the peak.

 

After that, it takes some path finding and walking through a rough social trail to reach the other side of the mountain for the summit. It turns out they call this Mt. Forgotten because they Forgot to put the last mile of the trail in. Bush whacking aside, the top was still well worth the effort.

Mt. Adams

Who: Matt, Joe

When: 8/21 - 8/22

Activity: Summit Mt. Adams / Pahto (overnight)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEkAtu2B-iKIPLr8a1whZU9r3CbzAWAuyo0NHY0/

Joe and I left from Seattle around 4pm in Seattle. After driving about 4 hours I realized that I had left my boots sitting by my front door of my apartment. We immediately pulled over to discuss our options. 

Joe has good intuition about this kind of stuff and suggested we continue forward to check if the ranger station at Trout Lake had boots that I could borrow or perhaps advice on the nearest location where I could pick up a pair. In the worst case scenario, I could disrespect the mountain and attempt the summit in my sambas. I was very skeptical about our chances in Trout Lake but Joe totally was right - a wonderful ranger Camden happily assisted and let me peruse through a surprisingly large selection of size 9 and 10 boots.

After our short detour to Trout Lake around the  around 9:30. We quickly made it up to lunch counter shortly after noon where we set up camp and spent the rest of our day lounging on the shelf.

On Sunday morning we rose at 4am to attempt to reach the summit for sunrise. We made good time and reached the false summit around sunrise. After a quick photo shoot we continued on and topped the true summit shortly after around 7am.

 

During our descent we glissaded where it was safe and spent some time with another group who was doing the same. From there we packed up our camp and headed back to the car.

Some other quick thoughts:

• This was the first time I've ever had the pleasure of picking up a fresh zip loc of my own shit. After ~10 years of outdoor activities it's good to know that new exciting experiences still await.
  
• I'd recommend doing the climb earlier in the season when it's mostly snow covered. Constantly putting on and pulling off crampons was a pain, plus walking up snow was much preferable to the loose skree.
• Ice axes are incredible tools!
  

Maple pass loop and Hidden lake

Who: Eric and Matt
When: July 25-26
Activity: Day hiking
Google photos link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wFUT7nuvfTjHjTh29
WTA links:

• https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/maple-pass
• https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/hidden-lake-lookout

Eric and I drove up to North Cascades national park on Saturday midday with hopes of snagging a car campsite inside the park so we could double up on some day hikes in the area. We were disappointed to find the campground marked as full around noon. I know I tend to be pretty anxious about securing first-come first-serve campsites to the point of paranoia, but given that this is twice now this summer where we've arrived too late to get a spot at the campground we wanted, my anxiety feels justified.

Since the largest campground Colonial Creek was full we figured the other ones would be as well. At this point we decided to play it by ear with the assumption that we'd be able to pull off the side of the road and pitch a tent in the forest somewhere. We drove around a bit more, and took our lunch while checking out the Lake Diablo lookout. At this point it was about 2pm so we rolled on to the Maple pass loop trailhead which actually lies outside of the park.

Lake Diablooooo

The hike was sweet and quite pleasant. After a brief discussion about the merits of clockwise vs counterclockwise loops we decided on a counterclockwise direction which seemed to be recommended. The way was a pretty stable grade, gradually bringing us up to the pass which nestles right up against the national park boundary.

Can you hunt here? No you can't!

The views of the park and the surrounding Cascades were pretty sweet from here and we spent a good amount of time just hanging out and eating some more Ritz and tuna.

After lingering we headed back down to the car. The descent was pretty easy and we got back to the car around 5:30 or so.

In order to find a spot we drove for a bit back west towards the park on highway 20. Since we were still outside the national park boundary, dispersed camping from the road seemed like fair game here. We pulled over on a promising turnout that gave us plenty of distance from the road and headed into the forest to see if we could find a flat spot. Luckily enough the first spot we checked out was suitable so we plopped our stuff down and set up Eric's tent. After some dinner and Hive we went to bed following sunset. Eric I think initially got up in the middle of the night to pee and ended up stargazing from the road. He woke me up to join him and I'm glad he did. The milky way was really clear from here, something I hadn't seen in awhile!

The next day we drove back west to the Hidden Lake trailhead. The service road leading up to this hike is in really bad shape. It's steep and filled with unavoidable potholes in some parts. Probably the worst service road I've been on to date except save some completely washed out roads following a storm at Philmont.

Hidden lake proved to be a much more strenuous hike than the Maple pass loop. Pretty much the entire hike is exposed to direct sunlight with few opportunities for shade. Still, we reached the lake in good time and had a nice lunch at the top of the lookout around 1pm. The lake is indeed hidden - you can't see it until you crest over a final ridge at the end of the hike. Great job to those responsible at the lake naming team.

Hidden lake

Descending again proved not to be too much of a challenge. We glissaded down through the snow covered parts and made it back to the car before 4 and picked up some McDonalds that really hit the spot on the way home. Great weekend, two great hikes. Funnily enough both hikes were outside of the proper national park boundary so we still have only just scratched the surface of NOCA.

Kaleetan Peak

Who: Roy, Megan, Julia

WTA: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/kaleetan-peak

12 mi. out and back, 4500 ft. of elevation gain

This gem lies about an hour outside of Seattle, and boy was it a hidden gem! Hike around 4 easy miles with a gradual grade past Denny Creek and some nice waterfalls up to Lake Melakwa, both popular endpoints for short family-friendly hikes near Seattle. After taking in some nice views at the lake and a quick breather, take the trail left to begin the challenging climb to the peak. 

The final 1.5 miles gains nearly 2000 feet, alternating between steep foresty terrain, talus fields, and some scrambling. Hike up and over the false summit, down a pretty steep stretch to a long, slow-going boulder field, and then up a final scree-filled section until you reach the base of the final scramble. The last portion to the summit block is definitely 3rd class, but doesn't feel particularly exposed or technical and was super fun! 

The views from the summit were spectacular, with panoramic views of peaks including Rainier, Glacier, Stuart, and Chair Peak, in addition to 6-7 beautiful lakes. There was a little plaque on the ground laying out each peak. Super worth the grueling climb!

The descent was tough and slow-going. The section going back up from the false summit was super steep, definitely the most challenging of the entire hike (felt like nearly 60 degree grade at points). We took a dip in the lake, filled up some waters (BRING MORE WATER THAN US), and began the relatively uneventful descent down. It felt super long, since mentally it felt like the hike was over after getting back to the lake.

Overall, would highly recommend this challenging hike. Definitely one of the best hikes I've done close to Seattle, and a mega hidden gem. Check this out, but bring lots of water and be ready for a tough climb. Would also be a pretty crazy trail run (but running up to Melakwa alone would be chill!).