Written by Sheyne
on 

The Adventure Begins (or Oh! What a Week)

The plan for this summer is to road trip around and do adventures in cool places. When I flew back to the mainland, no sooner had I landed in Seattle then I was on the road heading for Bend, OR. I took a conference call from the car–Zoom virtual backgrounds somehow made it look like I was in an office with just a little hint of a seatbelt on my shoulder.

Photo of me in the car on Zoom

We landed in Terrebonne (north of Bend and adjacent to our target: Smith Rock) and stayed with a friend of Mattie’s, Em. I finished out my friday working from her house then met up Mattie and her friends in Bend. Saturday was a big day of climbing.

Our first climb in Bend!

Topping out at Wherever I may Roam

We did two multipitches (climbs that take place over several pieces) and were starting on a third when it started to rain and we had to bail–after helping out a group that had forgotten to untie the stopper knot in their rope before pulling down their top-rope. Sunday was a good exercise in bringing ropes and other climbing gear to the wall as we attempted the same climb that we had the day before and got rained out again. We had a nice evening in Bend and on Monday after work tried a new climb.

Crossing the river on the way up to Birds in a Rut Me hiking out the ridge in Birds in a Rut

This one had a hell of a long approach hike in the hot sun but amazing climbing and stellar views of Smith from the top. While it was twilight by the time we were crossing the stream to get back to the car, it was hot enough I jumped in the river anyway. Tuesday after work we took another crack at Dirty Pinkos (the climb we’d been rained out of twice), the third time proved the charm and we completed the climb.

Summer scoreboard so far:

Route Grade Pitches Date Area
Voyage of the Cowdog 5.8+ 3 June 4th, 2022 Smith Rock, OR
Wherever I may Roam 5.9 5 June 4th, 2022 Smith Rock, OR
Dirty Pinkos 5.9+ 1 / ~4~ June 4th, 2022 Smith Rock, OR
Dirty Pinkos 5.9+ 1 / ~4~ June 5th, 2022 Smith Rock, OR
Birds in a Rut 5.7 6 June 6th, 2022 Smith Rock, OR
Dirty Pinkos 5.9+ 4 June 7th, 2022 Smith Rock, OR

Dinner with the gang in Boise

We then headed to Boise where we visited my godparents Drew and Sheri. We had a couple nice days in Boise and a lovely dinner. It was great to see Drew and Sheri and we’ll have to visit again because we missed their kids Heidi and Fred. Boise has not 1, not 2, but 3 [citation needed] man made surf waves in the river. We went and watched people surfing and it looked pretty cool. We also checked out several of Boise’s cool parks and the Anne Frank memorial.

Me and Mattie posing in front of a wall in Boise's Freak Alley

After that we headed to City of Rocks for the weekend. We managed to cram a bunch of climbing in.

Mattie sitting in a chair captioned "Band new place to climb that I've never been this is so exciting"

Mattie and me at the top of Fruit Pie

Mattie at the top of Elephant Rock

Rye Crisp was particularly interesting because we didn’t have the right gear to protect it–a good crack running up the whole way, but so wide that it took all of the big cams and we ran out. Mattie had to do a fair amount of back cleaning and got so exhausted running up and down it cleaning it that I ended up having to finish the route.

Me at the top of Elephant Rock

Camping near City of Rocks

Obligatory picture of me in some wildflowers on the way to Sinocranium

Route Grade Pitches Date Area
Big Time 5.7 4 June 11th, 2022 Castle Rocks, ID
Fruit Pie 5.8 3 June 11th, 2022 Castle Rocks, ID
Rye Crisp 5.8 1 June 11th, 2022 City of Rocks, ID
Sinocranium 5.8 6 June 12th, 2022 City of Rocks, ID
Felspfeiler 5.8 1 June 12th, 2022 City of Rocks, ID

Me with Alissa and Bernie as I arrive in Ogden

Here’s to a big summer!

Sheyne