Summary

Description

We didn't have any trouble finding it, and it's only about 40 miles from our house. As we drove down the gravel access road, there were a whole bunch of butterflies flying up from the road. After we parked, Lisa was simple beside herself looking at the various butterflies that were drinking from the gravel on the road. She saw -- and pointed out -- 4 or 5 species that she hadn't seen before. One of the landed on my baseball cap and sat there as Lisa go close and got a good look at it. It even stayed there as Lisa carefully took my cap off and showed it to me!

After about half and hour of looking at butterflies, we headed down the hill to the base of the trestle. Unfortunately, the butterflies weren't the only winged creatures out there. The area was thick with mosquitoes, and we had fogotten bug spray. They were viscious, and we will NEVER forget bugspray again. (Lisa ended up with over 60 bites! They just chewed on her while she belayed me. I got off easier with only about 20.)

I lead up the SW corner route. Don't know if any of the routes are named, but it's the one that's closet to the Tar River and looks to be the longest route because of the way the ground slopes. It also looked like the easiest. The trestle is made of large quarried stone blocks, and the protection is mostly railroad spikes hammered in between the stone blocks. There are a handlful on climbing bolts drilled into the stone faces. (There are two bolts on the SW corner route.)

The climbing was very interesting. The weekend had been wet, and it was still very muggy and humid which made the rock a bit slippery. There were definitely good hold on the route -- especially when climbing the actual corner -- but I was still a bit mental about the climb. I got up about 20-30 feet to the second set of protection and decided that I really wanted some gear with me more than just the slings I had. So Lisa lowered me off the railroad spike and bolt at that point, I got more gear and headed back up. (I never ended up using any of the other gear, although I tried to put a cam in once.)

It was a good lead except for one point just above half-way up when the holds got a little thin and I started to get a bit freaked out. Lisa gave me some good encouragement and reminded me to breathe. I was able to pull through it and get secured to the spike above (which had seemed a LONG way off). Climbing on up to the top from there was no problem. There were two chains bolted into the top of the trestle that hang down over the edge to use for the anchor. It looked like the other routes/faces might only have a single chain. (?)

Lisa lowered me off then took a crack at the route herself. Starting out, she didn't seem to have her mind focused on the climb, but she got over that and rocked on up pretty handily. But after she got down, she wasn't interested in going up again. I think it was the mosquitoes that were getting to her. (I don't blame her.)

I headed up once more, this time on top rope. I worked on going up the face, about in the middle of the route. Much harder over there. I had a very tough time about 2/3 to half way up. The holds got much thinner and crimpier, and after blowing off a few times, I started getting pretty tired. I gave it one last push, and was able to pull through it, but that was about it for me. I climbed up a little higher, but I decided that I was soaked in sweat and tired enough to feel a good sense of accomplishment and had Lisa lower me.

We packed up, carried our gear up to the car and went to have dinner with a friend of Lisa's who lived nearby. He and his wife fed us a great dinner of pork ribs. Yummy!