Climbing Weekend at Leavenworth, WA

Memorial Day weekend, and what better excuse to go climbing in Leavenworth, WA. It was Greg, Jodie, Wendi, and I that had the weekend off and ready to get our climb on. A couple days before the trip, things changed and Jeremy was able to join us in our adventure.

Leaving PDX around 1:30pm we arrived in Leavenworth around 8pm. Camp sites had filled up quickly with it being an awesome holiday weekend. Luckily Dev got there earlier, and secured a campsite for the group.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed some breakfast burritos. Then made our way to the Pearly Gates area to get our climb on. It was a steep hike/scramble up from the Snow Creek trail head, but worth it. Lots of fun climbs.

The mangy goat guarding the crag.

_
Wendi getting the feel for climbing granite

_
Jeremy jamming his way up one of the days climbs.

_
Jodie's turn to show us how it's done

Hay Wendi, no laying down on the job :-P

_

Wendi on her way up and topped out on her first two pitch climb, with Ian on lead.

Nice job Wendi!!

Day two, we returned to the Pearly Gates to finish off the remaining climbs that had not been concurred the day before. Personally I would have liked to explore another area, but we still a good day of climbing.

_

Jodie and Logan dealing with some crazy shenanigans.

The climb was about 3m longer than the rope. Oops!!

_

Wendi's turn to give it a go.

__

The goats were pretty chill with us around, as long as you didn't take a pee in front of them.

If you pee within eye or ear shot of the goats, they will charge you to lap up your pee.

(first hand knowlage!!)

On the way home Monday we took a detour, stopping at Tieton to check out the climbing there. Greg gave a trad lesson, showing how to place gear, setup anchors, and what not to those who where. This was a fun trip with great friends. Looking forward to the next Adventure. Until then, have fun and be safe...

Paddling Sauvie Island

It didn't take much(if any) convincing, when Wendi asked if I would be interested in going paddling with her on Monday. I needed to take a day off form work, and this was a perfect excuse.

We were a little worried about the weather being miserable and rainy, but we lucked out. Other than a little wind, the weather turned out really nice. Partly sunny, in the low 60's, and best of all no rain!

Wendi had her boat(Necky Manitou) and she was able to commandeer another boat(Delta Fourteen5) from REI. This way I didn't have paddle my little WaveSport EZ play boat on the flat water. Making for a much more enjoyable/easier paddle trip on the flat for me :-) Now I really want to sell my WaveSport EZ, and get myself more of a touring type boat.

We had the whole place to ourselves, at least the small little area that we explored. We covered about 5-5.5 miles and barely scratched the surface of exploring Sauvie Island by Kayak.

I am kicking myself for forgetting my camera at home. During our paddle we seen a half dozen bald eagles. Some likely repeat sightings of the same eagles, but non the less. It was an awesome sight to see them so close(15-20ft) and in the wild. Very Cool!!! I'm ready to go back for more!

Below, I put together a quick little interactive map depicting our paddle trip. Enjoy!!


View Sauvie Island Paddling 5/11/09 in a larger map

Good Times!!!