Lander, Wyoming

My good friend Jonny Wilson had a birthday coming up at the very start of September. For his birthday we wanted to go somewhere awesome on a rock climbing trip, to celebrate the big two, nine. Many ideas were presented but what location everyone decided on was Lander, Wyoming. My thoughts were probably about the same as yours right now! There is no way there is good climbing in a place called Lander, Wyoming, but I was in it for the long haul; as were my four other friends Merto, Lauren, Jonny, and Blake.

We left Friday evening, Merto and Lauren came and picked me up from  my new apartment and we were off with a couple quick stops to pick up my boyfriend Blake in American Fork from work, and Salt Lake to pick up Jonny from his house.

We soon found out that between the five of us we had way to much stuff, not all of it was going to fit. I think the idea of car camping vs backpacking got into our heads. You feel like a little kid in a candy store when you are car camping because you can bring extra blankets! Between cramming it in the back, below our feet, and on our laps we made it all fit.

The drive to Lander should only be about a 5 hour drive. We are just such good road trip'ers that we turned it into an 7 hour drive instead!

We made a few stops, one was to eat. Which was a life changing experience for me! We went to a KFC & Taco Bell. They were combined! The man who decided to combine random fast food chains together was pure genius!!! <-- yes that deserved three exclamation points. No other time in my life could I order a Cool Ranch Dorito Taco, and 3 chicken tenders full of KFC goodness at one time. After that life shattering event we went to a Walmart just for some last minute things that we forgot!

When we finally rolled into Wild Iris, the area we were climbing and camping, which is about a half hour out of Lander, it was almost 1 o'clock. We turned onto Limestone Road, which was the road to the forest area that we were going to be camping in.

It seriously was like a roller coaster ride on that dirt road! Not to mention the Asian driving the car was a little out of control. Luck was in our favor despite the crazy dirt road because we got the very last camp site. We quickly pitched our tents and got some rest before the next day, full of climbing.

 After we  had woken up and made breakfast we piled into the jeep and headed off to the first climbing area, Ok Corral. After we got out of the grove of trees that the camp sites were located in all you could see was a scene that can only be described as very wyoming like. I was still not convinced that there was going to be good quality climbing here, but it was still beautiful!

                         

But then I got a glimpse of the Main Wall, one of the crags in Wild Iris, and I immediately changed my mind. Just some random cliffs in the middle of Wyoming's rolling hills!

Ok Corral is just to the right of the Main wall and that is where we climbed the first day. It honestly was so amazing. How the limestone has formed made for some slabby, technical climbing with fantastic pockets. The first warm up climbs that we jumped on at Ok Corral were the best climbs I have ever done with such a low grade. After a couple 5.8-5.9's we moved to a different wall, made some new friends, and finished out the day there.   

That night we went into good old Lander so the crew could get dinner, and Blake and I could go buy some sun screen, and neosporin. That way I wouldn't get burned and Blake, who had randomly stabbed his toe on accident with a stick wouldn't have to lose his toe to some infectious disease. 

When we got back to our camp site the sun hadn't even set yet but I, along with everyone else was exhausted from the day of climbing. The next day, Sunday morning, we woke up, after sleeping in and prepared to go to church. Lauren had found a ward that we thought started at 12:30 in Lander, so we got there right on time! Just in time in fact to find out that it actually started at 1:00. I just love small towns! In that half hour before church started we were introduced and welcomed by many people. All in all it was a very good Sabbath day.

When we got back to our camp site after church we made a dinner, of hot dogs and potato salad. Hot dogs really are in my top 10 favorite so I was very happy!

Blake and I even had some spare time to go and adventure around the area where we were camping. We scrambled up some rocks and had a really cool view, this view only inspired our  adventurous side more!

                                 

After walking through some trees and across a big open field, we ended up on top of Ok Corral, the wall that we had climbed the day before, just in time for the sunset!

On the the forth day, we made a group decision to wake up early and go climb at the Main Wall. Many people we had run into at the crag on Saturday, had recommended the walls there. We packed the car before we left, just so we could stay at the crag till we were ready to head home.

This was not as easy as it sounds. If you don't recall we had already had a hard time fitting everything in the back of the car, now just imagine what it was like after we had accumulated a giant bag of garbage, and of course "leave no trace" so we had to bring it home with us. After arguing wether to bury it in the ground, make a treasure map to it, and post the map on the bulletin board at the front of the camp sites, OR just to hide it in a fellow climbers car while they were fast asleep, the boys decided they would accept the challenge of making everything fit in the back. When these three boys put their mind to something they can be very successful.

Eventually we made it to the parking lot for the Main Wall. The hike in was a little bit longer to the crag than Ok Corral. Luckily it was just a 30-40 minute walk on semi level ground, so not to strenuous.

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At the very end of the trail, when you hit the cliff, you are already at the first wall. Which is very convenient when it comes to finding your location in the climbing guide book. Sometimes the directions to certain walls can be very vague and confusing. 

The first wall we got to was called Cowboy Poetry. Which has a very popular 10b on it called, Take Your Hat Off. All of the climbs on this wall are amazing though! Between us all we climbed a few 10's, 11's, and almost everyone attempted a 12a, which was a second pitch to one of the 5.11b's.

The weather was so strange, but maybe that is always how it is in Wyoming. For 2 minutes it would be windy, cloudy, and cold, and for the next 2 minutes, it would be ridiculously hot. This lead to a continuous action of removing or putting on my sweater. 

Later in the day we moved up to the next wall over, called Rode Hard wall. This was a very interesting wall, most of it was flat and slabby, but right at the top was the flattest roof ever, which in my mind would be impossible to pull. Then to the right side there is a massive bulge. This wall is the home of a very classic climb, Wind and Rattle snakes, 5.12a. Located right on the bulge. This, according to Mountain Project is the best climb in Wyoming of any grade.

Lead climbing for me is scary enough without having the first bolt being 15 feet off the ground so I avoided this climb while everyone else had a go.

 Lead climbing is such a mental game. Even though you have the proper training, the correct equipment, and the enough strength, just the idea of falling gets in your head. This has been a struggle for me since I started climbing outside. But it is what attracts people to the sport, the adrenal rush it provides is incomparable. 

This is me on a 10d right next to Wind and Rattlesnakes.

We ended the day on this wall. At a little after 5, Blake and I started packing up our stuff and decided to hike out a little bit before everyone, since Blake had forgotten his glucose meter in the car. Once we got out of the tree line and started walking across the open field, to our right we saw dark clouds rolling in. There was no way the three other people in our party were going to stay dry. Literally the second we made it to the jeep it started pouring. 

When our soaking friends piled into the vehicle, we decided to drive to the nearest gas station to throw our garbage away and rearrange our stuff. That way all our climbing packs would fit without having to be on our laps and we wouldn't have to do it in the rain. The nearest gas station just happened to be located in Farson, Wyoming (shout out to the Walker clan that lives in this little town). The gas station is small and unfortunately doesn't have a dumpster, so we just crammed it into the little garbage can out in front of it. 

After playing a successful game of tetris with the packs, tents, pads, and coolers everything fit so perfectly we didn't have to have anything on our laps!

Everyone at this point was getting a little hangry. Which is most commonly defined as hungry and angry. So we tried to find something open in Farson that served hamburgers. Mainly because I wanted a hamburger so badly. regrettably Dan's Cafe, was closed, and the Ice Cream shop only was home to really expensive sandwiches, and not hamburgers. What we ended up doing was driving to Kemmerer. We stopped at a little mexican restaurant, that appealed to me because it served hamburgers! Even though I ended up getting some delicious enchiladas. I would recommend this cute little restaurant to anyone passing through Kemmerer! Great service and really good food!

After dropping Jonny off in Salt Lake we rolled into Provo right before midnight on Monday. All in all our trip was very successful, and we learned two very good lessons, one, there is nothing better than the great outdoors, and two, Wyoming does have good climbing :)