My brother in-law and I left about 3 am on Saturday morning and arrived about 8:30 at the Pleasant Valley campground. We paid our dues and set off to find an area called "The Sad Boulders." They arent so easy to find (That may be why they are called The Sads). We played around in an area that we thought was The Sads for about 2 hours, then moved on to see what else was around. After talking to another climber in the area we found out that we were about a mile off. He gave us directions and we found what we were looking for. A crevasse in the ground that opened up to some of the most amazing boulders I have seen. So much bouldering is such a small area! After hanging out for about an hour checking it out it was getting late and we went into town for some firewood to get the rest of our camp together for the night. In town we ran into Natasha Barnes (yeah, Im name dropping) who told us that we "missed 80MPH winds last night, but tonight is supposed to be great!" We went back into camp to have dinner and go to bed. We crashed about 6pm, as neither of us had more than about 3 hours sleep the night before.
The next day we ventured to a place called The Happy Boulders. This place was even more awesome than The Sads! We took down a couple of V0's and attempted a couple of V2's before running further up the trail to The Happy Boulder itself (shown below). On the left arete was a slopey, heel-hooky V0, that was pretty fun, but short. On the right arete was a crimpy, overhanging, heel-hooky V2 that was the best route of the weekend. By that time we were both pretty tired, so neither finished it, but came close. The top out was about 18 feet off the deck so with just a small crash pad and one sane spotter, (another guy we met had some serious crazy eye going on. Looney Tunes, I tell ya.) it was kind of sketchy to throw for a small left pinch off a touchy heel-hook only to throw for a slopey right hand and slight mantle to finish the problem. Definately worth going back for though. We took off after going after that one a few times and finished the night back at the camp.
On Monday, we drove down to The Buttermilks on the other side of town. This place was great too. Although it made us realize that three straight days, climbing on volcanic rock and sleeping on the ground makes you pretty tired and your finger tips mighty sore. Besides that, most of the routes at The Buttermilks are highball problems that top out about 22 feet up with bushes and rocks to land on. One spotter and a small crashpad are little comfort. We attempted a few routes, but ended up just scrambling around and watching other climbers do their thing. We ended the night back at the camp to get some sleep and get ready for our departure in the morning.
We went to bed about 8:30 to be awoken about 9 or so by two bears in our camp. It was disconcerting to say the least. We decided at that point that when the bears left, so would we. We packed up in nothing flat and hit the road.
Such an awesome trip and will definately go back. Cant wait to climb outside more often.
Song of the day - Walking Spanish by Tom Waits
