City of Rocks I

Boise was not at all what I expected. I've only driven through the state once, and it was the tiny, 60-mile stretch through Northern forests. So when I drove through the semi-desert of Eastern and Southern  Idaho I was a bit surprised. The city itself is hidden in a valley, surrounded by somewhat tall mountains.

It reminded me a lot of Salt Lake City, but less industrial.

I arrived hours before my friend was getting there so I caught up on the interwebs at a cute, local coffee shop and then got an oil change for my poor little car. As of today I have gone 3,800 miles since I left Austin on June 1st. I originally estimated that I was going to drive about 5,000 miles this whole summer. Clearly, I was way off since the climbing trip just started and there is still the road trip with my parents. Lets hope my little Subbie survives the summer!

While getting the oil change I had a phone date with a potential roommate in Boulder. The house (or apartment in a house, rather) is in a perfect location, just a couple of blocks from downtown and a couple more blocks to campus. The girl seems really great and we have a ton in common. The price for the room can't be beat either. Way below the ridiculous Boulder prices. And I get access to a patio right from my room! I felt so much weight lifted once I seemingly figured out my housing situation, the search was getting super frustrating.

Once my friend Brian got into town we went out for dinner with his whole rafting-trip group. 16 people in total. We were staying at a friend's house in North End of Boise, the liberal pocket of the city, apparently. The area was beautiful, with tree-lined streets and neat, cute houses all around.

The group that went on this rafting trip was surprisingly diverse, particularly in age. A lot of people were older, 50+. People from all over the country - NYC, Vermont, Alaska, San Francisco and etc. So great!

The next morning we bought groceries, stopped at REI for supplies (camp fuel, chalk, bug nets for the Winds and etc.), got GIGANTIC breakfast burritos at Los Betos mexican restaurant (open 24/7) and checked out Payette Brewing Co.

By about 1 pm we were all packed up and ready to go. I'm surprised all of the gear and food actually fit into my baby car. We drove East for about 3.5 hours and arrived at City of Rocks National Reserve by late afternoon. Our campsite, thanks to Brian, was incredible. We were camped literally across the road from a major climbing wall, right near bathrooms and one of only 3 water sources in the whole area. Sweet! And to make things even better we have our own neat boulder/big rock at the campsite, which ended up being a great spot to sleep as well. The top of the boulder had these 2 big cavities in it that were perfect for a person to lie down in and be sheltered from the wind.

Thanks to the long summer days here we were able to get a good climb in before the day was over. Brian led an easy trad climb up Bath Rock, which was the formation right across the street from us. City of Rocks is all just huge, old granite formations that pop out of the hills. The rock itself is super grippy and made for amazing climbing.