Although I didn't get a chance to take advantage of the warmer temperatures that we had Friday and Saturday, I was happy to get out yesterday for a bit of sun at Bushwhack, having originally seen a forecast of rain for the day. And with just my mom joining me, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little bit of scouting before we began climbing.
Our first stop was Nathaniel's Place, a small area off Hamburg Road on the way up to Bushwhack. The rock reminded me a bit of Morgan Run, with thin flaky layers and interesting features. Although a couple of the overhangs looked interesting, I don't think I'd ever spend more than a few minutes climbing there, with so much better quality rock just a few minutes up the hill. It was a beautiful place though, filled with the sound of numerous small waterfalls, and I'd love to see how it looks with more green on the trees.
Driving to the parking for Bushwhack, we walked a few minutes up the fire road before making another short detour to an area I had spotted on a map a few days prior. Upon reaching the band of rock that follows the ridge top left from the fire road, we skirted the left edge for perhaps 500 feet until reaching a talus-filled clearing. Looking around, we saw a small boulder with a short but beautifully straight crack, and a couple of larger boulders in the distance.
The first of the larger boulders has potential for several problems, including a couple of fun-looking crack lines.
The second one upon closer approach looked more like a jumbled pile of cracked blocks, nowhere near as big as it appeared from a distance, but could still have a couple of fun lines.
The third was a lichen covered slab that could also have some potential with a little cleaning.
As I was checking out the slab, my mom called down from the top of the rocks and said I needed to see something. Following her voice, I found her standing next to a well built stone circle, with a single stone seat and the remains of what seemed to be a recent fire in the middle.
Suddenly feeling a little less comfortable with the area, we walked back around to the bottom. Going back over to to large cube boulder, my mom saw something shiny tucked into a rock near the base, and pulled out what seemed to be a homemade knife.
Adequately creeped out, we decided it was time to head back toward the fire road, though I couldn't resist the temptation to stop at the small boulder long enough to climb two of the lines that had caught my eye. From a slightly shaky sidepull at bottom right, I Hear Banjos went straight up the face, while Let's Split went left to layback the crack.
Photo: Pennie Close
Photo: Pennie Close
Photo: Pennie Close
Leaving the clearing behind us and arriving at the more familiar solitude of Bushwhack, I started off with several laps on Brian's Fresh Start & Modest Changes, while my mom started a little to the right and traversed up the rail to join the same finish.
Moving over to the small cave where I had recently spent a snowy afternoon with Vincent and Gerrit, I saw that the crystally crack on the left side extended further back than I had realized. Taping up and starting as far back as I could, I jammed it out to the same right finish as Sulfur Mine, calling the new start Firecracker. A bit of an exercise in pain tolerance, but definitely one of my new favorites in the area.
Photo: Pennie Close
Photo: Pennie Close
Photo: Pennie Close
Photo: Pennie Close
Photo: Pennie Close
Looking over at the Cracked Block and wanting to do something easy before returning to the car, I did a quick run up the left arete, which unfortunately wasn't as exciting as I had hoped.
Photo: Pennie Close
Packing up to leave, I realized I still wanted to take a shot at Stank, Stunk! (see Brian's FA here), the sweet compression line that I had tried from the stand-start with Luke. After a couple tries I managed to stick the move to the jug, and was able to link the rest shortly thereafter. Anyone who likes Bitch Slap Arete out at Coopers will love this problem! A nice way to finish the day.
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