Endless Roam: Smth Rocks trip

I just got back from a great trip with my cousin to the sport climbing paradise of Smith Rock in Oregon and was nothing short of amazed by the amount of climbing and quality of climbing.

Driving Day: We left Bainbridge Island at 11:30 or 12:00 and got to Smith Rock State Park about 5 hours later as night fell. We put our tent up in the dark in a spot that we later found out was not a campsite at all but actually a picnic area but for the 2 nights we were there it worked out perfectly.

Day 1: On day one we made out way to Morning Glory wall which is left on the path after crossing the bridge and after the Aggro Gullies. It is here that we got warmed up for the next few days on an a couple of easy 5.8s that almost seemed like gym climbing due to the massive pockets that are found on every piece of the wall. After that I put up a 5.9 which is just about at the top of Colin's current climbing ability. He ended up doing good on but had to pull up on a few quickdraws to get through the tricky sections. After pulling the rope on the 5.9 my friend from Colorado, Basevi met up with us. We decided to hike over Asterisk pass to check out the other side of the wall were I put up a 5.10c and Colin lead a 5.8 that had a tricky section were you needed to transfer between two separate walls. After getting in three or four more routes we called it a day and headed back to camp were we ate a dinner of beef stew, read a few chapters of a book, and called it a night.

Day 2: The weather report said that there was a 10% chance of precipitation but I guess the 10% chance was all that was needed because opening up the vestibule in the morning I saw that it was snowing (hard) and promptly went back to sleep in my warm sleeping bag. A little over an hour later I finally pried myself out of bed and made some oatmeal and tea for breakfast. Colin got up once the oatmeal was ready and an hour later we were on the rock blowing snow off of the holds as we climbed. On the second day I got two routes in and Colin was a self declared belay slave. We packed up and drove out to Bend but just as we were driving out we passed Basevi coming into the park to meet us. He promptly turned around and let us follow him all the way to the dorms that are at the top of an icy hill. Colin's car which was not made for snow had to have the chance put on it going up the hill but did fine after that. Once we got to the dorms Colin and I took a shower (first in 3 days) and got ready for walking around Bend and a Snow Fest that had a rail jam and some fire dancing. After a bit of snacking at the rail jam we went back Basevi's dorm room and slept (very good)

Day 3: We woke up in the morning to sun light through the windows of the dorm room and the remains of someones party the night before on the floor of the bathroom. We drove out to Smith Rock at about 8 and got there at 8:30 just in time for the sun to reveal itself and warm the rock. We quickly ate breakfast and trotted down the trail to Morning Glory wall to put up a rope on a nice 5.9 just to the right of 9 gallon buckets. After I climbed it and Colin got got 3 draws in a massive group arrived and all hell broke loose. People were climbing under our rope and even clipping into the first bolt that already had our draw thorough it. After Colin climbed and cleaned the route we got out of there in a hurry and moved over the the Dihedral section. There I spotted a nice exposed route that looked like it would test my skill level. I had draws already on it from the 3 draw on so I new as long as I got to the third draw I would not have to leave any gear in case I were to fail. After clipping into the first bolt I made it to the second without stopping but had to sit after getting to the second bolt and the third bolt. After those three bolts my fingers were already bleeding through and I felt a pump coming. I gave it three more tries and decided to retreat after that knowing I would not have to leave any gear. After giving it a good effort I looked through the guidebook and found out the climb I was trying was a 5.12a which gave me a smile after the fact. I let Colin choose any climb he wanted to do for his next climb so he lined up a nice 5.9 and ended up redpointing it for his first 5.9 redpoint ever which was pretty cool. After I cleaned the 5.9 we walked to car, made some PB&J and drove out of Smith on our way back home knowing that we will be returning very soon. Awesome trip!!