Chossy stood on alert at the edge of camp, a look of concern on her face as she examined the black beasts across the stream. She glanced back at us and then back to the beasts. “Honey, they’re just cows,” Robyn said as she continued to make the bed in our tent. Camp was empty – just us. A beautiful backdrop of the Lost River Range punctuated by Mt. Borah, Idaho’s tallest peak reaching to 12,662 feet.
Antelope checking us out along the way.
Private Idaho
The road to camp. Mt Borah as a backdrop.
At the crag, we were expectedly alone. Glacially polished limestone and the rush of crystal clear Cedar Creek our only companions. We saw beautiful wildflowers, stashed beers in the cold water and climbed at one of Idaho’s best-kept climbing secrets. The routes were pumpier than we were used to, steeper than the vertical pockets of The Fins. Our first trip to Cedar Creek came during our bus trip 4 years ago this August. This weekend I sent the five remaining routes I had left undone including the two hardest “34/24” (5.12c/d) and “Pizza Boy’s Revenge” (5.13b).
Part of the Main Wall at Cedar Creek.
Send beers chilling in the snowmelt!
Stopping along Summit Creek on Trail Creek road along the way home.
Chossy and Summit Creek.
Our first visit to Cedar Creek as part of our bus trip. Summer 2012.
Cedar Creek is a special spot, one that will remain in our summer arsenal despite finishing off the routes. We took some time on Saturday to hike across the creek and scope out stone for future development. Unfortunately it was better looking from afar but there are at least two other crags that need a closer look. Just as with our trip 4 years ago, it seems that our “to-do” list grows faster than we can check things off, but I guess there are worse problems to have.