This summer, Ian and I decided to take a climbing road trip. It seemed like far too long since I’d climbed in Wyoming, so we packed up the van and headed north to Fremont Canyon, a place I hadn’t been in over 20 years.
You always wonder how a place will be when you’ve stayed way that long…it turned out to be everything I remembered and more—remote, rugged, a little bit cryptic and just really beautiful with pink granite walls over green water.
Many of the routes require rapping in from the canyon rim, so it can take some time to get oriented, and it’s a place that really makes you stick around and spend time figuring things out. And lots of water, which is very much appreciated in the summer!
Our next destination was South Dakota, with a short stop at Devils Tower along the way, which must be one of the most impressive pieces of geology around.
I’d never climbed in the Black Hills, and we had the fun of exploring a new (to us) area called Spearfish Canyon. It’s a pretty isolated area, characterized by limestone pockets, and with perfect climbing temperatures!
This trip was also a pretty interesting springboard to learn a bit more about American geology and history, so we drove through Deadwood and Lead and saw a massive former gold mining operation.
After a lot of fun pocket pulling, it only made sense to stop at Fremont Canyon again on the way back, and this time we also met a friendly group of local climbers who set up a rope swing from the canyon bridge and invited us to come and jump off some cliffs with them—a perfect activity mid-day when it was really too hot to climb, and a very fun way to cap off the trip!
Steph Davis
Steph KAVU
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