Rock Session at Horse-thief

This weekend our BCEP crew had the infamous Horsethief rock session, and camped out near the mouth of the Deschutes river (as it flows into the mighty Columbia)... The drive towards the campsite, located about 25 miles past the Dalles, was beautiful and reminded me of the time my mother drove us to Yellowstone via Hwy 84 when I was younger. Just past Hood River, the rolling hills and mountains changed from temperate rainforest to dry Cascadia desert. The sun was out and was likely the warmest day of the year so far. After setting up camp, a few of us took a refreshing dip in the Deschutes (still freezing cold I might add). Later on, we potlucked (with 3 teams-worth of food) which was amazing. Imaging 30-40 people all interested in climbing, from different cultures, bringing their own special foods to the event. There were a fair share of Spanish, vegetarian, local, and homemade dishes... enough to feed a small town.

The Sapphire Gin that Tery brought, "tinto de verano" that Nicole fixed up, and the Coronas that Audry handed out resulted in warm 'get to know everybody a little bit better' evening (to say it nicely). Because I'm still not comfortable with my sleeping system, and  because freight trains kept rolling through the hills, AND because of the alcohol, I was unable to fall asleep until a couple hrs before I woke up at 6:45am.

Top of Horsethief Butte looking towards the Columbia and Mt. Hood

Needless to say, we awoke, packed up camp, drank a little coffee and jetted out to the Washington side meeting at Horse-thief Butte. Horsethief is a special place to learn/practice rock skills. It's located in the middle of an ancient lava flow and consists of Basalt rock. Not only is it located in an amazing place with views of the Columbia River and Mt. Hood, the crag had many pictographs (not for touching!) from the ancient indigenous people.
It was 8am and already getting warm. The sky was blue and the only cloud in the sky was hovering over Mt. Hood's summit. After the instructors set up about 15 different anchor systems and climbing routes, us students had the privilege of climbing to our heart's desire from 9 till 3pm. I thank all the instructors for helping us out, assisting, standing in the hot sun all day, and taking everything down just so we can have fun and climb!

The Crew 'Team 10' gearing up for an extreme rock sesh

Buddy Audrey about to climb like Godzilla.. she's bad-ass

I completed my 'skills assessment' test early because I'm leaving for the PCT and will miss the remaining week of BCEP. Now that BCEP is nearly finished, my focus is now on the PCT.... and I'm not gonna lie..I'm getting pretty excited :)

For more photos of our Horsethief Session, visit our instructor Daniel's photo page HERE.