Smith Rock, Monkey Face

Tucker is the champion!

The first time Tucker and I went to Smith Rock together was in 2008 when we first started hanging out. We watched a guy climb Monkey Face from the top of the canyon and we could see how exposed the drop was if he were to fall. It completely sketched me out! I could barely climb the rest of the day. You can see that post here.

In October we went out with the goal to have Tucker climb Monkey face. We went with Maria's sister Sarah, and Tucker's brother Patrick. We got there around 9 am and started climbing around 10 after we waited for one group of two to get up. Then Tucker headed up and placed his trad gear. It was the first time Tucker had used Trad gear on his own so it went a little slow as he made sure each one was secure. Also, having three people climb a 4 pitch takes sometime as all three have to get up one pitch before they can set up to climb the next pitch.

It was getting dark before they started to repel down so Weston and I headed back while they packed up the gear. It was bit of a hike back and it was getting darker with each step. I was going super careful cause I didn't want to slip carrying Weston in the pack. I got back okay, but Patrick who had ran ahead of Tucker and Sarah to try to catch up and help me down took a wrong turn and ended up getting lost. We didn't realize he was lost until we all met close to the parking lot. None of us had flashlights cause we had taken them out of the baby pack for our last camping thing. So Tucker ran up and borrowed a flash light from someone and as he was getting the light Patrick yelled from the top of the cliffs that he was lost. I yelled back that Tucker was coming and to stay where he was. He was pretty relieved to hear that so hung tight. Tucker ran all the way up and made a half hour hike in about 10 minutes. I felt bad cause Patrick was so worried about making me wait cause I hadn't had a meal all day and he was worried I was going to be all pregnant sick. Luckily we had packed plenty of snacks and I was feeling pretty good, so we all went home happy, had a good meal and slept great!