Our final day in Smith Rock State Park was another joyous one, full of classic climbs, perfect weather and incredible views. After packing up and saying farewell to our wonderful Oregon home, we drove the 5 minutes to the parking lot and enjoyed the final walk into the park. Although we both like a good campsite, given the weather we’ve experienced, this decision to stay here was certainly the right one!

To our amazement, the car park was almost full when we arrived around 10am. (It’s not just the Ogwen Valley that gets busy at the weekends!). As it turned out, most of the cars belonged to hikers and tourists and the crags, although pretty busy, were not mobbed. The cliffs are so wild, even just to look at!

We headed over to an area called the Dihedrals (UK translation = the corners). There’s the biggest concentration of mid/low grade climbs there and most of them are 3 star quality. To our amazement, despite it being busy in the park, we pretty much had the place to ourselves for most of the day!

All we had to do was flake the ropes out, gear up and set off up a striking like! We climbed an excellent two pitch route to start and it was good to be up high at the top of the cliff.

This crack had a bolted route to the right of it, allowing a little extra security thanks to our minimal ‘British’ Rack of climbing gear – (a set of double cams would have been helpful otherwise!).

Clare then climbed the pitch of the day, up this perfect corner! Solid rock, plentiful protection, good holds and top level exposure. Dream stuff.

I followed soon after, with shirt off as it was so hot by then! A big contrast to the sub-zero temperatures when we arrived here!

And of course, the view kept catching the eye – even after taking a hundred photos of it!

Although though there was plenty more to climb, the time (and our strength) began to run out and all too soon, it was time leave…

Before we drove away, we stopped for a celebratory ice cream at the Smith Rock Guides office and took a coffee ready for the 6 or 7 hour journey north back to Bremerton.

We crossed the wilderness, drove back through the forests, past Portland and Mt Hood (thankfully no snow this time!), and then into heavy heavy rain! The last four hours of the drive were slowed by driving in the dark with the wipers on full speed. Jonathan welcomed us in to his house at sometime after 10pm and we collapsed straight into bed with eyes stinging…

Smith Rock Climbs:

– Bookworm, 5.7*** (big cams)

– Bunny Face Finish, 5.6***

– Anacylostoma, 5.9**

– Lycopodophyta, 5.7*** (Amazing!)

– Rabbit Stew, 5.7** (Steeper)