Smith Rock

New gear!

This past weekend Matt and I headed to Bend, OR to meet-up with some friends for climbing at Smith Rock.  Matt has climbed there on several occasions, however, this was my first time.  I was super excited to check the place out - I have heard so many good things about it!

We hit the road around 1pm Thursday afternoon to begin our 5 hour drive.  Matt was kind enough to do all the driving as I had to get some work done while we traveled.  We made a stop somewhere in the Mt. Hood area and Matt acquired a new fly rod for our upcoming Hawaii trip.

We made it to Redmond a few hours later and stopped in to see our friends that had come down from Saskatoon.  They were the real reason we were in Bend.  They are here for a conference in Portland and showed up a few days early to get some climbing in at Smith.  We said a few quick hello's determined the plan for the following day and headed into Bend to meet up with Matt and Cheryl at Deshutes for some tasty food and drink.  They were kind enough to let us crash at their home that evening and the following morning Matt, Matt and myself headed out to the crag to meet-up with the group for a day of climbing. 

The climbing at Smith is AMAZING, I love it there.  I am pretty sure I would love it even more if I had been in better shape.  As it was I felt rather intimidated by climbs that I felt should have been well within my capability.  Oh well, what can I expect after months of not climbing??  It was just great to get outside and spend time doing something I love. 

Matt and Matt

Matt and Eric

Monkey Face



Fancy digs

 Matt and I had intended to camp while we were at Smith.  We brought the dogs with us and figured this would be easiest.  However, a very kind offer from the Canada group had us staying with them at their super fancy resort house.  How can you turn down a hot tub?!?  I have to admit, I felt really spoiled staying with them. 

All in all it was a great trip!  It was nice to be able to catch-up with friends and it felt good to get out and actually touch rock.  Hopefully there won't be such a long stretch before we are able to do either of those activities again.