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!
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!
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| 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
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| 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!
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| 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!
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!
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| 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.
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| Aldan greasing my proj |
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| probably some classic Smith 5.12 X line with a pretty view of the river. |
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