Escaping The Rains

While the Interior of BC, and, in fact, much of BC, soaked in record June rainfalls, Doug and I headed south for a rock-climbing trip and, instead of going moldy from too much rain, got baked by too much sun.

First stop was Q'emlin Park, a kind of mini Skaha climbing area in a sizeable city park in Post Falls, Idaho where we climbed for a day. The rains, however, chased us south, so we drove a full day south to Boise, and spent two days climbing on the steep basalt columns of the Black Cliffs. Continuing south we drove through the tiny town of Almo to City of Rocks and Castle Rocks, two of the best granite sport climbing areas in the USA.

We stayed almost two weeks, climbing just about everyday. The heat, however, was intense and climbing days started with an early morning wake-up at 6 am so we could climb before it got too hot. Walking back in the scorching heat of the day was energy sapping.

Worn out by the heat, and maybe too many back to back climbing days, we headed north, stopping to climb at Spring Mountain in northeastern Oregon for three days. The climbing at Spring is steep and sustained, and, after three days, the fatigue and the northward migrating heat chased us back to Canada. Driving home past Taghum Beach Park, just down the hill from our house, a black bear strolled across the road - welcome to Canada. 

Doug on the uber classic Wheat Thin