On Canadian Thanksgiving of 2018 my family was doing something quite different than most. On the Thursday night before the weekend we drive across the US border in our truck and camper. The first day we didn’t drive very far and stayed at a truck stop overnight. Waking up to rain, we were hoping it would clear up as soon as we reached our destination for that day, Frenchman Coulee in Washington. The rain didn’t clear and we took our time driving down the state arriving to the amazing looking canyon. Making dinner we were all looking forward to a full day of climbing in the heat. The past week it had snowed in the Sea to Sky, which I was very happy about, but the warm weather would still be a treat.
In the morning we saw that there were about 50 vehicles camping and 20 more in the parking lot. Walking towards, over and in between the incredible looking spires the crag was insanely busy at 10 am. Walking along the Sunshine Wall (which we had climbed at 3 years prior and loved) almost every single one of the climbs were busy.
My dad said it was one of the busiest he has ever seen a crag. Looking through the online guidebook we waited in line for a 5.9. After this we looked around other walls that were close by and I led twFo very short climbs.
We then searched for some more climbs and found some open ones and moved across the wall.
One that I especially liked consisted of wide stemming for 30 metres. The heat was much more intense than we expected, likely 25 degrees Celsius. We climbed until 5pm and then then took some photos in the sun.
The features of that place are so unbelievable and so different from where I am used to climbing in Squamish BC.
Leaving one beautiful place for another we drove south towards the next state, Oregon and Smith Rocks. We slept at another truck stop and left the next morning. Reaching the famous climbers destination we ran into people we knew as we parked. The scenery was amazing, there were small canyons that were carved down from the surrounding flat desert. It was so weird to see rock that went down instead of up from the main elevation of land. After chatting with some people my parents knew, we packed up and started to walk past the hundreds of cars to the crag. My dad was shocked by how many cars there were, so different to how it had been the last time he was there, twenty years ago. Walking down into the valley there were people everywhere. Hikers, mountain bikers, sight seers and lots of climbers. The guidebook we had was very outdated, and there were so many other climbs. We stopped at a small wall and started up an easy climb.
Once some of the other parties in the area had left, we moved across the wall. The rock is so different than we were used to, with pockets and nubbins. Climbing there, we saw some other people we knew from Squamish, crazy how small the climbing world is. Eventually we moved over to another wall. This one had huge pockets that looked insane.
The climbing was a bit awkward but all of the holds were super neat. At that wall there was a group of climbers from Vancouver and the Island, weird how many Canadians we ran into. We moved across the wall until it got dark. There were about 15 cars left when we reached ours. We drove to a campsite with WiFi so we could do our homework. The next morning we talked about what we would do that day. My dad asked if I wanted to climb Monkey Face which is an aesthetic, exposed spire with an easy route of 5.7 A1. When we arrived my dad and I set out. We walked down in to the valley and then back up to the top of the main hill in the area. Walking down the other side we watched people at different stages on the 4 pitch climb. It looked scary but so cool. After wrapping around to the base of the climb, there were 4 other parties already on the route. We decided to not climb it because we figured it would take a long time, and we didn’t want my mom and sister to have to wait too long for us. Walking back down we decided to hop on a 5.9 4 pitch route.
Starting up this we didn’t know if we would go all the way to the top. While I was half way up the first pitch, seconding, my mom and sister arrived. I hauled an extra rope up and set up a top rope for them. They climbed this while I belayed my dad up the next pitch. The second pitch was one of the strangest climbs I’ve done. It involved mounting these large blocks that were wedged into a large crack. There were some very cool moves, but I felt uncomfortable when it moved to face climbing where the holds and the bolts were separated by a corner. Reaching the top of the second pitch the view was amazing. The small river cut across the bottom of the picture with some bluffs opposite of us and many neat rock features in sight. Setting up to belay, we had a pitch of straight traversing. The pitch was probably about 30 metres to the left and maybe 5 metres up.
There were a lot of bolts and my dad stopped a couple times to take photos of me. When my turn came around I was pretty nervous, starting out was fine, but the moves became trickier and it felt like the bolts were getting farther apart. Every time I unclipped from a draw I held my breath as the slack was pulled in. I didn’t let myself look around until I came to the belay and when I did it was incredible, the light was constantly changing and I loved being high up. We had thought that we would be able to walk up a steep gully from this part, but it turned out there was another pitch to the top. The beginning was very low angle and incredibly easy, but there was a series of moves at the top that were overhanging and likely the hardest moves of the route. My sister and mum had made their way up the trail and I could hear them talking as I hauled myself up over the lip and stood on top of the cliff. I had really enjoyed the climb, but felt bad because they had been waiting on us. From the top we walked back around to see Monkey Face and watched as the team that would have been in front of us moved up, it was a good call that we choose to skip over that, and now we have a great reason to return. Returning to the base of the climb we had done, we saw the team that we had crossed while at the second belay station. My dad would switch climbs with them and he headed up the neighbouring 5.8 with my sister. My mum and I walked down to Morning wall and looked around for easy climbs. We found a 5.7 that wasn’t being climbed, but had a toprope on it. We asked a party if they could pull it, but they said they wanted to climb it again. Waiting for ten minutes, a girl finally started climbing, but we realized that once she reached the top she was going to wait there and someone else was going to climb up to her and teach her how to set up a toprope, so we left. The next 5.7 we came across had a leader almost at the top, we figured it wouldn’t take them very long, but we were there for an hour waiting. This showed us that we shouldn’t split up when we don’t have cell service, and reminded us how slow newcomers can be at transitions. Without one pitch while waiting, we headed back to the truck for our organized return time.
Leaving the park at 5pm we were out in search of the closest taqueria. Finding one in a town nearby we enjoyed tacos that are so much better than Canadian ones. We then drove until quite late and slept along the highway. The next morning we woke up early and headed towards the coast. Reaching the ocean at 10am we had a short walk on the beach before it started pouring.
From there the drive was beautiful as we drove to Cannon beach. On the way we stopped at Tillamook Creamery and ate a delicious ice cream. Once at Cannon Beach we walked along and took pictures amidst quite a few people. I was confused why this place is so popular, it’s just a rock in the sea.
Leaving here we found another beach which was much lovelier than Cannon Beach. It wasn’t busy and we could drive along the sand. It was sunny and so beautiful. The pictures from there were better and the beach felt much freer.
Leaving there with thoughts of all the homework I still had to do, we had two more stops to make before crossing the border. Some more tacos, and Trader Joe’s, which we had to set a timer for so we didn’t lose hours in there. Sitting in the car the rest of the way, I couldn’t wait to get my N so I could drive away whenever I have enough money. I was so happy I hadn’t spent Thanksgiving the traditional way, but had made amazing memories which made me thankful for my insane and incredible family.