I'll do a few blog posts to cover the big spots that we hit.
S and I spent a whole day laying out all of our gear, packing, figuring out logistics, running errands and getting the kittens' stuff together before heading up north to drop the kittens off with Scott's Mom, their official kitten-sitter for the next month.
Neither of them were excited for the car ride, despite their new luxury accommodations in the form of a large dog kennel. :)
We spent the next few days jumping in the Temperance River, hiking into Carlton Peak to climb, and helping the kittens get adjusted to their home for the next month.
After the down time, it was time to head off!
We stopped to say hi to my Mom in the Twin Cities, then spent a very long time driving across South Dakota, watching corn fields rush by. We made a stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, mostly to see what all the fuss was about and for a chance to stretch our legs.
We really had to stop when we hit Spearfish Canyon near Mt. Rushmore, because there was a big concentration of sport climbing that couldn't be ignored.
It was a great chance to start climbing at altitude. Duluth is at around 700 ft. above sea level, so Spearfish Canyon at 5,000 feet was a good start for the bigger peaks we were going to hit up later.
We did three straight days of climbing in Spearfish- really awesome rock and routes with beautiful views. The weather never got too insanely hot, which was a big plus for us. Sport climbing also means no heavy trad gear- just a rope and some draws, a couple liters of water and snacks. Great way to ease into the trip.
After a great morning of climbing, we packed up our gear and headed out again, aiming for the Wind River Range. After Casper, we took a small detour to a canyon we had heard had great climbing, and were in absolute awe when we got there.
100-500 foot cliffs with beautiful crack systems running from the river straight up to the edge of the cliff.
We had to stop.
We really didn't have a choice, being crack climbers and all. :)
The rock was incredible, with great crack systems heading up and down all around us. We got up with the sun, climbed until the temperature was past 90 degrees and we were sweating out of the cracks, then had a siesta nap, lunch, (a movie one day at Casper's little movie theater), then back to the cliffs when it started to cool off again.
Words can't even describe how incredible the rock was. We did both top-rope top-belay and trad from the bottom, though we have no pics of trad climbing since there were only two of us climbing and we both needed to pay attention during that part.
On our sixth straight day of climbing, we were dirty, sweaty, covered in bruises and cuts, and completely sore all over. We climbed a few more routes before finally calling it, succumbing to the incessant whining of our bodies that enough was enough. We grabbed some huge burritos from Pacho's Tacos on the way out and have spent the day driving to Pinedale, WY for a full rest day today, including laundry, cleaning out my car ABE, showers (we badly need them!), and planning for the next part of our trip.
Monday morning we'll wake up, pack up, and hike into the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range for another 5-6 days of climbing peaks. Most of them top out higher than 12,000 feet, with incredible views and hopefully not too many mtn. storms.
Hopefully my next post will be next weekend from Jackson, WY, after our Cirque trip and before our trek into the Grand Tetons. Until then, I'm off to find a shower and get a nap in. Rest days really are important, as much as I don't want to take them when I'm surrounded with such incredible climbing all around!
2 comments:
We never found detours like that on our vacations. Perhaps this is a detour off an unmarked road after crossing the bridge to nowhere (oops, that's in Alaska). What a "find!"
Nice to see what gear is needed. With all that in ABE's trunk, is there room for a cooler of beer?
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