Cold Nights, Warm Sunny Days at Smith Rock

Yet another great weekend spent out at Smith Rock State Park. The day time temperatures were a sunny warm 65-70F. Although the temps at night were not nearly as pleasant. The temperature at night dropped well below freezing, a bone chilling 14-18F. Apparently the temperature Friday night broke the record low for the area by 3 degrees, set back in 1955 (17F).

We arrived at the grasslands around 9:30p, and it was already below freezing. We didn't waste any time getting our camp setup and went right to bed. It was still below freezing when we got up Saturday morning, but the sun was shining bright and things quickly warmed up.

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Greg putting up 'JT's Route (5.10b)' wile Dakota enjoys laying in the sun

As the morning sun slipped away on the Phoenix Buttress, we moved back around to the fount side.

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Wendi Climbing 'Revelations (5.9)'

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Greg worked his way up 'Heresy (5.11b/c)' then gave Jodie a belay as she got worked.

It was time I gave lead climbing another go. So with a little prompting from everyone I was put on lead. Lead climbing is such a head game for me. I can climb at the Circuit Bouldering Gym all day with no rope, but put me out side on lead and I have a hard time keeping my mind in check.

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We made our way out of the canyon. Not really looking forward to going back and being miserable at the grasslands, the consensus was to go out and enjoy some warm, tasty mexican food.

The next morning was still cold and we all took our time rolling out of bed. Eventually the bright light in the sky was too much to ignore. We made some breakfast, packed up camp, and returned to the rock for more climbing.

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Wendi Climbing on the 'Peanut'

We put in a few more climbs before Jodie, Wendi, and I got lazy. Greg on the other hand had a little more ambition than the rest of us and climbed a couple more harder routes. After a good weekend of climbing we stopped and treated ourselves to ice cream at DQ on our way home.

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Another pooped puppy (Dakota)

Like I said, it was another great Smith Rock trip. Until next time... have fun, and be safe.

Note: Photos in this post are not all mine. I used some of the pictures from Jodie's camera and I don't know who all to give photo credit to sense I think everyone shot something with Jodie's camera. So the whole team (Jodie, Wendi, Greg, and myself) will share the photo credit.