Mike Rougeux and I had decided a few weeks back to take a trip South to explore the climbing of Northern California. With a bunch of rumors "spraying" around about proud beach bouldering and long endurance test-pieces on fresh Limestone, we decided to check it out. The area is relatively untraveled, which only added to the excitement of the trip. With a hand-drawn map on the back of an envelope from one of my friends and a small ball-point pen guidebook that did little more than get us to the coast, we set out to see what Humboldt County, CA had to offer.Driving south at break-neck speeds, weaving in and out of the largest redwood trees that I've ever seen, we landed in a small stone parking area overlooking the Pacific Ocean. About 400 Feet below, waves crashed against boulders with infinite climbing potential. Some of the place has been developed, some has not. We climbed whatever we could get our land-lover hands on, randomly naming problems that involved eloquent pirate-isms.
Because of the fluctuating tides and sand levels, some problems were possible to climb, others not. The sand can make a V4 into a V8, therefore no accurate guidebook exists for the beach boulders. No other medium in climbing besides ice changes as much as the water, sand and rock of bouldering on the coast.
Mike and I also found (thanks to LarryB, Matt Battarbee, and Greg Garretson) a fantastic free campsite, complete with grass fields, picnic tables and a shitter. Granted "Samuel the lunatic" was also living there at the time. He wasn't a climber... but more of a drugged-out, homeless artist who lived on salmon, ice-house beer and pot. He was somewhat intelligent, rambling on about "regan-omics" and how we have to save all of our pre-1981 pennies. Apparently the copper in them is worth more than the actual piece of money. He told us to get all of our savings in pennies, bury it, and then dig it up and cash it in when we "wants" to retire. This leads me to believe that somewhere out there, on the California coast, there is a treasure chest buried with thousands of Samuels pennies.
The bouldering on the coast was one of the most beautiful settings that I've ever climbed in, aside from the Buttermilks of Bishop far to the South. Waves crashing, and not another climber in sight, we had the place to ourselves.
High-ball problems, sit starts... all of it was clean and new to us.
After we wiped out our fingertips on the boulders, we drove just under two hours inland to a magical place called the Trinity Aretes. Limestone, limestone, everywhere! We only had a few hours to sample the routes here, but immediately we found it to be steep, sharp and exciting. I'm currently trying to pull some people together to go back, as this is a place that will keep you strong and stoked for a while. It's true... Limestone does exist within an easy morning drive of Central Oregon!
Until next time...
