Smith Rock Weekend

Last weekend we went to the Smith Rock area with our friends Sean, Megan, Sarah, Becky & Josh. We camped at Skull Hollow Campground which is a free area only about 10 miles away from the Smith Rock State Park. We all got in late on Friday night, set up camp and sat around the campfire for a couple hours drinking beer and chatting. On Saturday we got up and went on a mountain bike ride from camp to ride part of the Gray Butte Trail. Somewhere North of Gray Butte itself we turned and headed East back down into our campground -- overall about a 9 mile loop -- perfect for a half day ride!

A view from camp - we headed up a dirt road that ran straight up between the two humps in the photo.

Thor & I in a self portrait at the high point of our ride (hence why we're both so red in the face. Phew!)

All the members of our group with their bikes. Shortly after this I hit a deep, sandy section of the trail going too fast and crunched my face and shoulder into the bank. grumble. I am still icing my shoulder after that little spill. Hmph.


After we got back from our bike ride we had a leisurely lunch of tacos (made by Megan) and then we packed up our gear to head over to the climbing area for the afternoon. We spent the afternoon on the Phoenix Wall -- Josh & Thor put up routes for the rest of us to climb - it was great.

Thor leading a 5.10a - this was a great route with a real crux-y section about 2/3 of the way up - challenging without being too frustrating or scary.

Josh leading a 5.10a on the Phoenix Wall. I sat on the same slab for about 15 minutes when I climbed that route earlier this spring.









Here's Becky scaling the 5.10a that Thor put up.

Sarah & Megan whipped up some delicious sausage sandwiches on Saturday night -- with a side of corn, potato & jalapeno hash. YUM!










Becky & I really aren't as crazy as we look in this picture - we're just excited to be wearing identical outfits in camp. We're like the ladies that show up to the Oscars in the same dress. Just like that.


On Sunday we got up and packed up the car and headed back towards Mt. Hood to do some more riding. We decided as a group that we didn't want to be out riding all day so we went and gave the 8-mile Trail (I think....or it was 15-mile....or maybe Knebel Ridge...) - anyways it was a LOT of fun, and I even found my first uphill mtn. bike trail that I wasn't totally wheezing on the whole time. After biking we headed back towards Portland with a brief stop in Parkdale to eat at the Elliot Glacier Public House. The views of Hood were fantastic - I'm bummed I didn't grab my camera for a picture.


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