Spur of the moment to Smith Rock

 I had a week off and some extra airline miles to use so I decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Portland to see some friends.  I was on a plane to Portland within 12 hours of that decision and on the road to Smith Rock State Park a few hours after the plane touched down.  Sometimes big spur of the moment decisions are exactly what a person needs for a reminder that life doesn’t always need to be planned out.  Just like Malcolm Gladwell says in his book, “Blink”, your best decisions are made instantly based solely on your gut feeling.

Cool Clouds at Smith Rock, OR

Finding the shade in the summer heat

There were five of us packed in the car on the way down there.  And for some reason every day that we climbed all of our packs were filled to the brim and super heavy.  Everyone else around us seems to have a tenth of the gear we did.  Not sure what we were doing wrong except for that each of us is or has been a guide or climbing instructor and we were all being stubborn and had to bring EVERYTHING. 

Dinner cooked in the campfire complete with a chunk of firewood for a plate

Lanie on a fun 5.10 lead

Baby Rattlesnake.  We had to have one person keep an eye on the snake while others were climbing and belaying.

I haven’t been rock climbing very much in the last few years due to some elbow injuries and lately I have really been missing it.  This was just the trip that I needed to propel me back into it.  Too bad I’m heading up in a Denali expedition where there won’t be any rock climbing at all.