Smith Rock Outing - Halloween Weekend

It was still dark out when my alarm woke me up. My hands reached over to the empty pillow beside me and picked up my phone. The numbers were bright, reading 6:00AM, with the repetitive beeping of the alarm. Gravity forced my hand with the phone enclosed in it to drop back onto the pillow. I closed my eyes for a few more seconds, and forced myself to get up. I struggled to sit upright, my feet hanging over the edge of the bed. I stood up, my feet slowly coming to life as my fingers fumbled in the darkness to find the light switch on the far wall. I thought to myself, it's 6A.M - just a bit too early to be up. I slowly walked over to the bathroom and drowsily took off my clothes, then stepped into the shower to wake myself up; the water was so soothing that it felt like I was back in bed... the warmth surrounding me.

I hurried and got dressed, then made sure that I had everything I needed. All the bags were packed the night before: sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clothes, food, water, etc. I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep since my friends and I celebrated Halloween early the night before. I was tired, I couldn't lie.

I grabbed my keys, hoisted the bags onto my shoulders, fumbled to put my shoes on, wobbled to the door, shut it behind me, and locked it. I was the third floor. Three flights of stairs hidden in the darkness awaited. As I made my climb down, I couldn't help but think that I had forgotten something. Oh well, I thought to myself, it's only a weekend trip.

As I reached the bottom of the steps, I realized that it was raining. I took a deep breath, and stepped onto the sidewalk which was covered in decaying leaves. My footsteps were squishy, I could see my breath, and my hair continued to stay wet as the sky poured down on me. I took quick steps and hurried along the seemingly desserted streets. There weren't any cars in sight, not a single person either. Only a few more blocks and I would reach my destination. The rain continued to fall.

The building was straight ahead and I could see that there were other students waiting as well. As I got closer, I could see that they were also only half awake. I set my bags down and proceeded to sit on my sleeping bag. My elbows were on my knees, and I rested my head in my hands and closed my eyes. It was still too early. The leaders of the group started to show up and we were directed to place our bags in the gear van when it showed up. We sat and waited.

When the gear van pulled up, we helped each other load the van and then continued to wait. Two girls showed up in their costumes, dressed as cats. Another girl came dressed as a Ninja Turtle. It was Halloween day and the Halloween spirit was alive. In the distance, the sun started to rise and the skies lightened up. My eyes slowly started to see colors more clearly.

One of our instructors showed up and went over to the gear room. We were gong to check out helmets for the trip. I got in line and waited my turn. I grabbed a helmet, signed my name on the clipboard, and then wrote my name on a piece of tape and stuck it to the front of my helmet. Check out process complete.

Just as I was stepping away from the line, two other passenger vans pulled up. We walked over to it. I let the girls get in first, since I didn't want to get stuck sitting in the back. Dustin was sitting in the first row and I asked him if the seat was taken. He said it was mine now. I quickly set my bag down and sat down. Others were still loading the van and Dustin whispered that we had to maintain our seats and not let anyone sit with us -- it would be comfortable that way. We held up and got the front row to ourselves. And then we hit the road.

I fell asleep almost immediately. Two hours later, we arrived at Sister's Bakery. Everyone filed out of the car, stretched, and then walked over to the tiny bakery. I hurried to the bathroom, and then joined the line for the cash register. The baked goods on the other side of the glass looked so good! I wanted one of everything, but was more set on buying some jalapeno bread. I was next to order, but they ran out of the loafs I wanted! I took a quick look through the glass again and decided to get a donut for the ride, and bacon cheesy bread sticks for the weekend. $4.50. It was a steal!

I paid, grabbed my bags, and went outside. I sat on the steps with the other students. I took out some bread and shoved in my face. Delicious! We waited for the rest of the group to finish paying and then loaded the van again. We were back on the road. I took out my donut and attempted to eat it. Powdered sugar got everywhere! But it was worth the mess, the donut was so good! I finished it and licked the powdered sugar off my fingers. Mmm...

We were almost at our destination: Skull Hollow campgrounds. A beeping noise started from the dash of the van as we entered onto gravel roads. The sensors were too sensitive and wouldn't stop beeping. At first we weren't sure what the problem was, but quickly figured it out and continued driving. We arrived at our camp site, and got out with our belongings. It was about noon, time to make camp!

I was sharing a tent with another classmate who was in another van. We got together and quickly started to pitch our tent. We placed stakes in the ground to hold the tent in place, and then inserted metal rods into their designated loops. Then we put together the rain fly and secured everything down by tightening the straps. I crawled inside the tent and laid out my sleeping pad, taking up the right side of the tent. It was more roomier inside than I expected.

Once everyone had pitched their tents, we loaded the van again and drove to Smith Rock State Park. It was going to be an awesome day. The sun was up and it looked like it was going to stay dry. We stopped by the water pump and everyone stocked up on water. I filled my two nalgenes and went back to the van. We drove to the trail and then unloaded again. It was time to hike down the paths to where we could drop some ropes and do some climbing! The hike down wasn't too bad, but I wasn't used to carrying a load on my back, so balancing my weight took a little getting used to. When we reached the first climbing area, I dropped my bags and had to take off a few layers. It was really warming up, and the hike was a good warm for my body.

It was 1 o'clock. I took out my harness and put it on, first arranging it on the ground, and then stepping into the thigh straps. I pulled the harness up to my waist, then buckled everything, clipped my cords to the harness, and put on my climbing shoes. I was ready to go! The whole day consisted of climbing, belaying, eating, and more climbing. I snacked on trail mix and energy bars between climbs. We climbed until about 6PM. (I climbed more this day than I did during my entire trip in Squamish, Canada)

We got everyone together, and started out hike back up to the vans. The trail we were hiking up was called Misery Ridge Trail. It's definitely a long, tiring hike, especially after a long day of climbing. My body was exhausted, but I was very energized from such a great day of climbing. I was out of breath by the time we arrived at the top of the trail. Panting and drinking lots of water, I rested on the curb waiting for everyone else to arrive. We loaded the van once again, and then stopped by the store to buy some necessities for dinner -- water, more food, drinks. I filled up my nalgenes, bought a bottle Gatorade and a gallon of water. Once everyone was back in the van, we collected a few dollars from everyone and pitched in to buy some firewood.

Back at the campsite, we took out our headlamps and flashlights to make dinner. My group made burritos, with s'mores for dessert. It was delicious and hit the spot. After dinner, everyone sat around the campfire and we played games -- 2 Truths, 1 Lie, I'm thinking of a person... It was nice getting to know the other group members, as their personalities, childhoods, and characters were slowly revealed. I sat and listened intently, watching the fire dance, and warming my hands. Some people sang songs, some others told jokes, and others just smiled and laughed, having a great time. It really felt like a bonding moment between everyone, and I felt happy to be a part of it. We sat around the fire for a few hours, and then people slowly went to their tents to rest up for the next day.

I went to the tent around 10PM and crawled into my over sized down sleeping bag. It was cold at first, but quickly warmed up. I buried my head between my arms and tried sleeping on my stomach. It wasn't too comfortable, so I tried sleeping on my side. I guess I eventually fell asleep...

We were woken up at 7AM the next morning. I had tucked myself into the bottom of my sleeping bag; it was warm. I peeped my head out, and quickly retracted my head back into the sleeping bag as the air was chilly. I forced myself out of my sleeping bag and unzipped the entrance to the tent, pulled on my shoes, and hoisted myself out. Brr, what a cold morning! I brushed, made a quick breakfast of bagel & creme cheese and an energy bar. Everyone slowly started to get up and prepare for the day...

We loaded the vans around 8AM and went over to North Point. Today wasn't quite as beautiful as the day before; it was drizzly and the skies were grey. It was also colder than the day before. We put on our packs and headed for the ridge where we were to place gear and create anchors. We received some instructions, and then split into groups to create our anchor systems. I grabbed some nuts and cams from the gear pile and clipped them to my harness. This added a couple of extra pounds to my hips, and I felt a little weighted down. For safety purposes, we wrapped a rope around a tree trunk and attached prusik loops to the rope. We were at a cliff's edge, and needed the protection. My fingers were numb from being so cold, so it was a little difficult to place the gear, but I eventually found some good cracks and was able to make a good placement. We tied some webbing off with some water knots and created a very stable anchor to repel off of.

We then went around looking at others' anchors and evaluated each groups work. Then we prepared to repel off the cliff. I clipped into the rope and repelled to the bottom ledge, then proceeded to ascend another rope with the prusik loop and foot lops. It was different from when we practiced it in the gym because there were boulders and protruding edges surrounding me. I had to use my feet to keep my balance and to not hit the face of the rocks. I reached the top and topped out, then proceeded to down climb and practice the belay escape. This wasn't difficult since I've done it multiple times, so it was another practice round. Once we were done with that, we dropped some top ropes and climbed for the rest of the day. I tried a few new routes and was successful. It's been a few moths since I've started climbing, and I can see so much improvement in both my strength and my technique. The moves are much more graceful and I am more technical with balancing, foot placement, as well as conserving my energy. I'm excited for the months to come when I can improve even more. It's always a great feeling knowing that I'm improving and able to do more difficult moves and continually challenging myself.

Around 6PM we packed up and prepared to load the van. On the drive back, we stopped by the store and bought some more items for dinner. I picked up some spaghetti sauce to prepare pasta for dinner. On the drive back to the campsite, we saw deer crossing the road - it looked like a family. We continued on, arrived at the campsite, and then prepared dinner with flashlights in our hands, and headlamps on our heads. I boiled water with our gas stove, using tin foil for a lid. It took much longer than expected since I kept sharing the water with other groups. But we eventually got the pasta into the pot.

About 30 minutes later, our pasta was ready to be eaten. We poured the spaghetti sauce into the pot, brought out the cheesy bread, and dinner was ready! I made a bowl out of the tin foil we used for a lid (reuse and recycle), and then helped myself to a decent sized serving of spaghetti. I was surprised at how quickly the pasta had cooled down, it was cold when I took my first bite. We sat around the fire and ate our dinners, small conversations on the side. Then I went back for seconds!

I didn't stay up much longer after I finished eating. I crawled inside my tent around 10 and fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the sleeping bag. It was an exhausting day, even more so than the day before, but that could have been because the weather wasn't as nice...

The next morning, Sunday, I woke up around 6. But since it was Daylight Savings, we got an extra hour of sleep, which was much needed. I was up before everyone else, and got an early start to breakfast. Today we were packing up camp, and we had to leave the site around 7:30. I was gathering my things and repacking, reorganizing. It had rained the night before, so everything was wet. My hands felt like they were frozen, and they were colored pink. Taking the rain fly off of the tent was the most painful, since I couldn't feel my fingers, they were stiff and numb. We quickly packed up the tent and loaded the gear van with our belongings.

At 7:30, we headed out to Smith Rock State Park again for another day of climbing. It wasn't as nice as the first day we were there, but it was definitely warmer than the day before. I was going on my first multi-pitch today and I was very excited. We arrived at the park and it was time for the hike down to the crag. I made sure to pack everything I needed, more than enough because I didn't want to be cold like the previous day.

I waited for the multi-pitch group and then we set up at the bottom of "Ginger Snaps." This was also going to be the first time I lead belayed. I wasn't very nervous, but it was a new experience. Everything was successful and the lead climber made it to the top of the first pitch. I would be last to climb in our group of three.

I watched as the other person started their climb, scoping out the different hand moves and feet placement on the face of the rock. He reached the top of the first pitch, and it was my turn. I carefully started to ascend the route. I made it to the first pitch and clipped m daisy chain into the bolts. It was time to rest, check out the view, and wait for the climb to the second pitch.

I was second to climb after the lead climber. I was to clean the bolts when I went up; this pitch was called Cry Baby. I climbed carefully and unclipped all the quickdraws, being cautious of where I placed my feet and kept my balance. I reached the top and was excited to see the view since I didn't look down while I climbed the second pitch. I got off belay and clipped myself in with my daisy chain, making sure I had plenty of length so that I could walk about the top of the climb. I looked around and the view was amazing. This was the highest I had ever climbed - approximately 350 ft. I sat there, taking in the view, smiling and enjoying life. Not everyone can enjoy this type of view, and I was grateful for the opportunity. I took out my camera and recorded the view, it was amazing.

The last climber made it to the top, and we all took a short hike to the other side of the cliff. From there, we could see Monkey Face, another multi-pitch route that's renown at Smith Rock. It is definitely a route I'd like to climb when I get the opportunity to return to Smith Rock.

We hiked back to the repel station and clipped in. One by one, we lowered ourselves to the first pitch, and from there, lowered ourselves again. It was an awesome first multi-pitch.

I collected my things, and went on a search for the other groups. The rest of the day consisted of more climbing, eating, belaying, and more climbing.

Today we were leaving earlier than usual to return to Eugene. We left around 3:30PM.

On the ride back, I worked on a worksheet for the class and sketched. I reviewed the weekend, and was very much satisfied at all the accomplishments I had made, and also thought about the many opportunities to come. We arrived in Eugene around 6PM. Unloaded the vans, checked in our helmets, and then I walked home. I was very much ready for a nice warm shower, and clean clothes. It was an awesome weekend.