Owens River Gorge
We had a wonderful anniversary vacation this year! We didn’t plan our trip except that we were going climbing in California and we might want to make our way to Owens River Gorge in Bishop. The spontaneity of our vacation proved interesting – we had several false starts, but we also had some great unexpected experiences. We wouldn’t have changed a thing!
Thursday: Luckily, I had depositions scheduled in Grants Pass, Oregon the Friday before we went on vacation. Mike and I loaded up the car and drove to Grants Pass. Mike took his new laptop and attempted to log onto wireless internet while we drove down I-5. He kept finding connections but we would drive out of its range before he could connect. It almost became a joke to see if Mike could locate and connect to the internet.
Due to a miscommunication in my office, we ended up in a crummy hotel. It was a real dive. We also had a terrible dinner that night at Applebee’s. Some of the sting of the terrible meal was lessened by the fact that we were only paying for half of it – my client paid for my meal.
Friday: I was in depositions until 2:30pm. After checking out of the hotel at noon, Mike drove downtown. He sat outside a business just down the street from the courthouse, where I was, and worked on his laptop. At one point, I left the depositions for a quick meal and literally walked on the other side of the street from him. We didn’t see each other.
When I finished the depositions, we celebrated the start of our vacation by having lunch at a pizza place. The meal was great and the locally-brewed beer was good too. Then, we hit the road and didn’t know where we would stop.
Mike had brought his Rock and Road book, which discusses rock climbing across the country. On the road south, we decided to climb at Castle Crags, which was near Shasta City, CA. When we pulled into Shasta City, it was around dinner time and we decided to spend the night in a hotel. The Best Western was quite charming – it had a tree house theme. Mike had to finish a work project, so I sat in the bar with a beer. When he joined me, we shared a bowl of french onion soup and another beer.
Saturday: Shasta City is quite a cute town. It reminded us of Sisters, Oregon. We found a sporting store and bought a climbing guide to Castle Crags. We also bought groceries for a week of camping. Then, we went to Castle Rock State Park. The park was wooded and very nice. There were a lot of bear warnings and I hoped we would see one, from a distance.
We arrived at the trail head around 10:00am that morning. The trail to the Castle Crag climbing area was a little over 3 miles, but it was very steep. It was a tough hike. The climbing rock swere located on the top of a mountain. The view was breathtaking. Unfortunately, the rock wasn’t what we were hoping for. Mike and I are sport climbers and prefer bolted routes. Castle Crag had very little sport climbs and a lot of traditional climbing requiring protection. The sport climbs also happened to be facing the sun and it was getting very hot. We decided to move on. Our first false start – though the view and hike were definitely worth experiencing.
We continued south on I5. We didn’t have a map of California but relied on the outline road map of the state in the Rock and Road book. That lead to some interesting adventures. We took Highway 44 east from Redding, CA. Our plan was to head east until Lassen Nat’l Park and then cut south on Highway 89 , which lead into north Tahoe. Of course, the map we had did not include elevations or mountain passes. When we finally found Highway 89, it lead directly through the national park. The ranger at the park entrance told us that Hwy 89 was closed because it crossed a mountain pass that had not yet opened. She provided us an even less-detailed map. Her directions were rather vague and she drew a squiggle on the map, which we later guessed was a lake. We ended up on a three hour detour around the park. It’s a good thing we were both in a good humor, because the detour took us on backroads and we got lost a couple of times. It was funny trying to find a road named “A21”. We also took a road as a shortcut based solely on the fact that it was heading south. Lucky for us, it lead to city we needed.
When we finally reached Truckee, CA (north of Tahoe), we were exhausted and very hungry. We decided to stay in a hotel again to get our bearings. Truckee is a cute town, surrounded by mountains and lakes. We had great dinner at a restaurant downtown and again had some good locally-brewed beer.
Sunday: Armed only with our trusty guide, the Rock and Road book, we set off Sunday morning to find the Big Chief climbing area. We learned a valuable lesson that morning – the road names in our 1995 published guide were no longer accurate. After driving for miles and doing several loops, we eventually discovered that Ponderosa Paradise Rd was now just Paradise Rd. Also, the book neglected to warn us that some of the climbing areas were closed during the winter. Since we had such a nice spring, it didn’t occur to us that climbing areas would be snowbound. The road to Big Chief was still closed. For about 30 seconds, we considered hiking the 6 miles to the climbing area, but then reason overtook us. It was already nearing 10:00am and the temperature was starting to rise. Another false start.
According to our guide, there was climbing at Donner Pass, which was nearby. Donner Pass is where the infamous Donner party got stuck for a winter. The Pass and the views were beautiful. Unfortunately, much of the climbing was still under snow. Another false start. After much debate and just a little frustration, we decided to head south again.
We drove along the west side of Lake Tahoe. Beautiful! A phone call to a local climbing store lead us to the 90 Foot Wall by Emerald Bay, along the southern shores of Tahoe. There was a lovely waterfall that we photographed. Mike made friends with a stellar bluejay. The bird sat in a tree looking at us while Mike extensively photographed it. Then, we hiked along the trail and…Voila – accessible climbing! I completed a 5.7 and Mike followed it with a 5.8. I started working on a 5.8 crack climb. It was really hot because the climbing was directly in the sun. We took a little break and went to the stream below the rock. I again tried the crack route but didn’t get it. Mike was wasn’t interested in climbing again because he was fried from the sun.
We returned to our car and noticed the first of several water leaks that would plague us throughout our travels. We cleaned it up and then had a nice picnic in the parking lot. We started driving south again. We got turned around in South Tahoe and didn’t know how to get to Bishop. Another false start. Eventually, we had to break down and buy a map because we were just lost. After getting back on course, we started driving to Bishop.
About the time we were ready to stop for the day, we started looking for campgrounds. We thought we’d stay at a place called Dead Man’s Summit, but the campground was on a mountain summit and was snowed-in. We kept driving and noticed a lack of campgrounds. The next thing we knew, we were only a short ways from Bishop. We decided to continue into Bishop and see what we could find. It was late when we pulled into Bishop and we were hungry. We decided, yet again, to stay in a hotel. The Best Western Creekside Inn was really nice. We got a creek side room and saw a duck family in the creek. There was a mom and dad, four black babies, one yellow baby and two multi-colored babies. They were so cute!
We liked Bishop. There is a great sporting store that has more climbing gear in one store than I’ve ever seen. We bought a guide book for Owens River Gorge and guides for the Buttermilk area. The clerk also provided a lot of useful information about camping in the area. We had another terrible dinner at a Mexican restaurant that night. Though, we took our guides with us and really enjoyed planning our climbing strategy for the next day. We were really excited to climb.
Monday: We woke early and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge. Our plan was to climb in the gorge until it got too hot, then to head to the Buttermilks for some afternoon bouldering. We found the central parking area for the gorge without any problems. The trail into the gorge was another story. It was very steep and the first part of the trail was exposed. We literally hiked down the wall of the gorge with a steep drop off to one side of us. After a while, the trail forced us to scramble down large rocks. It was a Class 3 and I was a little freaked out. There were places where I sat on my butt and lowered myself to the next stone. Eek! Mike, of course, had no problem.
The gorge was beautiful! There is a river that runs along the bottom. There is a trail on the west side of the river that travels north and south. Climbing is on both sides and bridges/ladders cross the river providing access to the climbing on the east side. The climbing area is huge!! When we got down there, it was mid-morning and the east side was completely shaded. The west side climbing was already in the sun. There were only a few other climbers.
We went to the Dilithium Crystal in the Inner Gorge area. There, we climbed Lava Java, a 5.8, which was a great route! Mike climbed a 5.10b, Extreme Caffeine. Then, we moved to Rob’s Rock and climbed Clip Jockeys, a 5.9. That was another fun route. The routes were really well-planned and secure. There were three anchors at the top, instead of the typical two. Also, at Clip Jockeys, there was only a small area to stand and belay. A step backwards would send the belayer down a steep, scree hill. Someone had placed bolts on the rock allowing the belayer to clip to the wall. Knowing my gracefulness, Mike made sure I was clipped in.
It started to get hot, so we decided to climb out of the gorge and go bouldering. On our way back to the trail, we stopped at an abandoned building and Mike took a lot of photographs. The hike out was horrendous. The good news was that I was not too frightened by the exposure because all of my focus was on getting out of the gorge. Mike was like a mountain goat and could have completed the hike without stopping. I, on the other hand, definitely needed to take several breaks. There were places where I had to put down the water jug I carried and use both hands to haul myself up onto the next rock ledge.
We found the Buttermilks fairly easily, but it took us a while to coordinate where we were with the guide. The road was dirt and rocky. The Subaru wasn’t made to travel such roads. We scraped the bottom of the car quite a bit. We eventually found a really nice campsite off the main path. We faced a rock canyon on one side, snow-capped mountains on another side, and the high desert on yet another side. It was really beautiful. After we set up camp, we had had too much sun and were tired. We decided to save climbing the boulders until the next day. We used the camping shower that we bought last year. The shower felt so nice! We also made a good chicken fajita dinner. Then, Mike took photos while I watched the lizards. It was a lazy afternoon. We were exhausted and ready for bed around 5:00pm, but we forced ourselves to stay awake until 7:30pm. Even then, we didn’t sleep very well that night.
Tuesday: We got lost trying to find the Peabody Boulders that morning. When we finally found the Peabody area, we started bouldering. The rocks were great, but their texture was not friendly to our skin. It seemed like the granite was crystalized and every hold hurt our wimpy, indoor-climbing hands. Also, the routes kicked our butts. The ratings were steep. Mike climbed a V2, then struggled on a V1. I had a hard time completing a VB. Our soft hands stopped us from bouldering further. We went to another bouldering area and hiked around some. We checked out a V12 that Chris Sharma completed. It was incredible.
We went back to camp and packed. We had lunch at a deli in Bishop and were uncertain what to do with the rest of our day. The sun had started to take its toll, as well as the lack of sleep, and we were getting really tired. We drove out to Owens River Gorge and looked at the camping sites on the north side. The sites were fine but neither of us had the energy to make camp that night. We went back to the Best Western. It was very relaxing. We went into the hot tub for a short bit, mainly to soak our sore muscles. My thigh muscles were incredibly sore from the hike out of the gorge. They were sore to the touch. We sat on our porch overlooking the creek, drinking a couple of beers and watching the ducklings play in the current. We had a much better dinner that night at another Mexican restaurant.
Wednesday: Back to the gorge. The hike down wasn’t much easier. We went to the Great Wall of China. Mike climbed a 5.8 (China Doll) and a 5.10b (Tsing Tao). I bailed on China Doll. Quite a few other climbers came so we moved to Warning Signs Wall, further south along the gorge. On our way there, the trail turned into a road and lead through a power plant. It was bizarre walking through a power plant parking lot and watching the men work.
At Warning Signs Wall, we climbed Oompa Loompa, a 5.8. I was done climbing afterwards – too tired. Mike climbed Wonka, a 10a nearby and then ended the day with a really great 10b (Results May Vary). To get to the 10b we had to scramble up to a ledge. There, I sat down to belay him and braced myself with some rocks. It was an old route and a tough 10b. It was also very exposed at the top. Mike really enjoyed the climb.
We had been watching the sun slowly work its way to where we were climbing. By the time we were done, the sun had caught us and there was no more shade. It was around 1:30pm when we made it out of the gorge. Mike, ever the gentleman, carried my pack partway out of the gorge for me. We were both exhausted again. We weren’t going to be able to climb anymore and decided to work our way north.
Mike hadn’t been to Reno before, so we planned to stay there. However, Reno was more confusing than we anticipated. When we found the downtown area, it was after 6:00pm and we were hungry and tired. We weren’t ready to deal with the downtown gambling scene, so we decided to start driving west on Hwy 80 back towards Truckee. We found a hotel/casino called Boomtown which seemed a little silly with its cowboy theme. We stayed there. Dinner at the buffet was worse than terrible. We left without eating much and ate some snacks from our car. We dealt with another water leak, which ruined our Owens River Gorge guide book. Sad. The hotel room was rather cheap, but it sufficed. We gambled a little that night but lost our $20 fast, so we returned to our room for an early night’s sleep.
Thursday: As we left the casino, we decided to gamble our last few dollar bills on quarter slots. Mike won $6, so he cashed it out. We had literally two quarters left. We each put them in a machine. We won a couple small amounts and continued to gamble. Mike won another $5. Then, I won $90. Whooweee! I cashed out and after Mike had grabbed a handful of quarters to gamble, we left the casino with $88 between us.
We decided to climb one last time at Smith Rock, so we headed up Hwy 395. The highway was not much traveled and went through fields. We were able to make up a lot of time through those fields. We had to stop four times for road construction and follow a pilot car. That sucked. Also, I didn’t take Mike’s advice and buy gas when we had a half tank. We learned there aren’t many gas stations, or restaurants, along Hwy 395. We finally ate for the first time that day around lunchtime when we came across a Subway. Along the drive we watched a lightening storm and torrential rain. It was pretty. We made it to Sisters, Oregon late that afternoon and spent the rest of the evening with Mom and Dad.
Friday: Thunder woke us at 5:00am. We got out to Smith Rock early that morning. We were among the first climbers there. We climbed Five Gallon Buckets and then moved to the Dihedral area. A bunch of children were at the area we wanted to climb. While waiting for them to move, I decided to try leading a 5.7 (Lichen It). And I made it! My first true onsight. Mike followed me on the route and cleaned it. Then, he tried Heinous Cling (5.12a). He didn’t finish it but he did great! He fell a couple times, which pulled me off the ground. It was rather fun. His last fall wasn’t so great. He was quite a ways above the bolt. It was a huge whipper – maybe as much as 30′. The rope caught his leg and spun him upside down. As he straightened himself, he noticed a woman on the trail taking a photograph of him. He has a huge bruise on the back of his leg and a scrape along his wrist. We decided to call it quits after that because of Mike’s scrapes and we were both tired. We spent the rest of the day relaxing with Mom and Dad.
We both loved the vacation and really enjoyed spending the time together!
