Mountain Home

With the Leavenworth leg of our trip winding down we decided to escape the canyons and hit the high road. A four mile uphill dirt road led us to some very different looking granite reminiscent of the Sierras with an inspiring backdrop.

We spent the evening at the Star Wars boulder (is there a crag or boulder field in the country without a Star Wars themed area/route/boulder/obsession?) where I managed to reach the top of the powerful one-mover Yoda V9 and the super stiff (at least at the end of June) Emperor's Lightning V7.

The opening cross of Emperor's Lightning.
Stretching out on the exit moves.

As the sky darkened the small orange dots of streetlights flicked on and headlights wound along the bends of Highway 2 as Leavenworth slowly fell asleep below us. We decided to chance the 10% chance of rain and sleep under the patches of clouds and stars, our backs on a cool slab of granite.


Morning view from our boulder bed.

We woke early to the sun flashing over the ridge and decided to make the most of the cool morning temperatures. Lib made a second try send of Fairly Desperate V4 and tried the very slopey Andy's Arete V5 while I got my early morning cardio workout attempting a silly run n' jump problem. The heat wasted no time in settling in on the exposed hillside and we were sweating well before noon as we packed up and sought shade elsewhere.



-BLOCHEAD