City of Rocks

For our "weekend" this week, we went to City of Rocks National Reserve in Idaho.  The drive is only 4 hours from Jackson.  The place was amazing.  Huge boulders and sheer faces on all granite rock. We had a perfect campsite beside Elephant Rock, a massive boulder that we almost lost a rope to, but thats later. City of Rocks is unlike anything either of us had ever seen. Its basically just a playground for rock climbers.

After some unfortunate mishaps involving MK's lemon of a car, we finally made it to City of Rocks around 4:30 pm on Wednesday.  We immediately set up camp and then went searching for a climb to do before it got dark.  We found Bath Rock.  An enormous boulder that took us two pitches to get to the top and then a 4th class down climb with via ferratas which was helpful. 

After a great night sleep, thanks to the bouldering pad we were sleeping on, we headed out to Jackson's Thumb and the 4 pitch climb known as Theater of Shadows.  It was an easy 5.7 sport climb, but probably one of the most fun.  There was a 100 rappel down the side into the gully after reaching the top.  

After eating lunch at an amazing little roadside one stop shop call Rock City, we played around on the boulders by our campsite and then eventually made our way over to Elephant Rock to climb the Columbian Crack.

The Columbian Crack seemed easy enough, although it called for two ropes since ours is only a 60 meter.  To begin the climb, you have to go up a super wide chimney between a boulder and the actual wall.  David said it was probably the sketchiest start to a 5.7 climb that he's done yet.  After the climb, when we were pulling the rope down, it was caught between another boulder and the wall.  David had to do some rope rescue and climb up the boulder to loosen the rope.  We finally managed to get all of our gear, but David lost his favorite Arcteryx soft shell in the scuffle. 

Overall, it was a great trip and we are hoping to get back to City of Rocks in the near future.  Next time we need more than two days.