Eagle Creek Canyon (TR)

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bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, Ca.

Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 28, 2009 - 10:22pm PT

Alright, I feel kinda bad posting a trip report when I was climbing on the weekend of John Bachar’s memorial. I didn’t really know John other than trading jabs on this forum and I would’ve felt weird going to his memorial, but we plan this annual trip early in January to snag the ultra-badass campsites that are so coverted by many in this camping area.

What I will do is dedicate this TR to the memory of John who probably woulda soloed everthing on the rig we were climbing.

This is for you John Bachar. Rest in peace, now, and God bless you!

O.k., almost all my usual friends ended up bailing on me for one reason or another. So now I have 2 of the best sites at Eagle Point Campground in Emerald Bay and nobody to fully enjoy them with us. Plus we dropped some major cash down to reserve these babies. So what do I do?

Call Supertopo, he can fix anything camping/climbing related;

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=813722&tn=0

Cleo steps up and takes the site next to mine. Sweet! And she graciously reimburses me for the site. Xtra-sweet!

So, my family arrives Friday afternoon-ish establishes camp, etc… Some dude arrives late afternoon and parks in Cleo’s site adjacent to me. Great. “Uh, hey dude, that site is reserved…just so ya know”, I say. He informs me he is a friend of Cleo’s. Sweet! First arrival.

Me and Will get to chatting until others show up. We’re definitely both stoked on Eagle Lake Cliff. I even mention I’m eye-balling Space Truckin’ even though I usually only lead 5.8/5.9 on gear. “You just gotta go for it”, he keeps telling me. And he’s obviously right, but sometimes that easier said…ya know? So me and Will drink beers until everybody else shows up.

The group was; Me, my son John, wife Stacy, Marcos, Felix, and Ezra in my site. In the adjacent site was Cleo, Phil B, Will, and Matt. Each site also sported a dog. Mine was killer Chihuahua/terrier mix Maggie and in Cleo’s site was her 3-legged pup, Joey.

Here’s what the two sites look like. We were in the upper one and Cleo had the one we’re occupying in this older pic. Notice the weak looking bear-boxes! They have really nice ones now.

So we all chatted/drank/ate and then crashed with no late-night surprises (this comes later).

Supertopo beta...some of it;
http://www.supertopo.com/rock_climbing/route_photo.php?r=taeaspac&dpid=Pjw-Ozs-JyQk

Next day is Eagle Creek Canyon with the goal of hittin’ Eagle Lake Cliff. Everybody appeared to have the stoke. I underestimated the hike in and decided, foolishly, to have a 3-beer breakfeast instead of a real one.

We headed out and hit the Eagle Creek Canyon trailhead parking area and surprisingly had damn good parking. We racked up and hit the trail. Well, it tirns out that after the bridge near 90’ Wall, the trail is pretty much constantly uphill to varying degrees. Never too bad, but almost all uphill until you reach the lake.

I’m starting to have ‘thirsty’ problems but my water is buried deep in my pack (second mistake) and I have a rope over my pack so it’s a PITA to get my pack off. My buddy Ezra can’t seem to locate it when I ask him to fish it out. I say f*#k it, I’ll wait. I start to really need some water so I suck on Ezra’s water-bladder umbilical (I was trying to avoid this at all costs). It helps a bit.

By the time we hit the lake I’m getting dizzy and low blood-sugar flashes and absolutely need to stop. Felix, the young German asks if he should stay behind, I say no. “I just need to get this f*#king rope off and get into my pack and eat and rehydrate properly”. He heads off.

I plow handfuls of Trailmix (nuts, Chocolate, raisens, and berries) left over from the Wamello Dome trip with Ezra. It was actually his trailmix I think.

I feel better after like 2 minutes,.I head out in 5. I eventually catch the group at the talus-field at the base of Eagle Lake Cliff. It’s more like a 100 yard section of 30 degree boulders, but whatever. I climb it and regain the group.

My group of Marcos and Ezra is looking for a low 5th class gully to gain easy access for topropes and Cleo’s possee is rackin’ up for Space Truckin’. I decide to watch Will absolutely float the route like it was a 5.8. Dude climbs well!

Eventually I discover Phil B and Cleo are doing the bolted 5.8 chimney. Phil led ‘er and Cleo was following when I got there.

We decided to try it as well. Meanwhile badass Will is eyeballing a sweet looking crack and decides to lead before he even knows what it is (I think). Welcome to SpaceWalk!!!!!

Will on ‘er! Hey, is it me or does he look like Dano from behind?

5.11c Badass!!!!!!

One with Cleo in the foreground.

Ezra leads the 5.8 bolted chimney

Marcos topping out after Ezra. Marcos decided to lead it later also.

Felix doin’ it!

Me, Ezra, and Marcos hiking out with Emerald Bay in the background

Felix ze German

After climbing I was super-stoked to swim out to the island pictured in the pics of the lake. We did! Me and Felix bailed doen there first and the others joined us shortly afterword.

Super fun!!!!!

At camp later that day…

My wife decide to stay behind in camp the day we all climbed and look after my son John. They went cruising around the campground.

Camp self-portrait

Saturday night...the sleepless night.

So after the fires were out and we were all in bed, around midnight or so, my buddy Ezra who's dirtbagging next to my tent wakes me up by saying, "Steve, get up, I need help, there's a bear trying to get into your truck". I'm like, alright, I start getting outta my bag and Ezra says, "Dude, he's got the back of your truck open"...F*#K!!!

I come running out now, Ezra is doing drum-rolls on the picnic table to scare the bear off and I'm yelling, "HEY", as loud as I can.

The bear bails. I re-lock my truck tailgate cover and we go back to sleep...for 20 maybe 15 minutes.

Ezra wakes me up, "Steve, he's back, he's got your truck open again"!!! Now I'm pissed. I come charging out and Ezra informs me it looks like he may have grabbed something from my truck and bailed.

I decide to stand on the picnic table and wait him out. We can hear him eating 'something' up on the hill. We assume that he grazed some other site. The grazing stops, I tell Ezra to crash out, I'll hang for a few and have a smoke on the table.

I can hear the little SOB walking down the hill, then I lose him. He goes into silent mode. I have a headlamp and am scanning when I make out two eyes refelcting off my light. He is jet-black in color, looks like a shadow. He comes within 12 feet of me when I say, "STOP, get the f*#k outta here", and I start jumping up/down on the table.

He stops dead, assumes a Spinx-like pose as he sits on the pavement near my truck. This blew me away until I decided to start jumping again and finally scared him off for the night.

Turn out the treat he grabbed from my truck was my f*#king climbing pack!!! It still had the trailmix I forgot to take out inside.

I found the pack the next morning after combing the hill with Matt. He ripped the side pouches off and feasted on trailmix and a sealed bag of crab-meat.

I f*#ked up, I shoulda had that stuff in the bear box. This is another reason I didn't stay Sunday night. He woulda been back and gotten even more accustomed to 'foodtrucks'.

I feel like a dumbass for forgetting the food. I kinda assumed they weren't like Yosemite bears. Stupid. Lesson learned.

Sunday was family day, Yeah! The other went to 90’wall (cleo’s gang) and Phantom Spires (Ezra’s possee).
We went to a dog-friendly beach.

Even the beach time can wear one out…

Photos generously courtesy of Marcos (the French dude, my new buddy), Felix (ze German), and Stacy (my lovely wife who lets me do this shit). Thanks!

All things considered, f*#king good times, man!!!!!!

Anybody with pics of Eagle Creek Canyon routes can feel free to post stuff here.

John Moosie

climber

Beautiful California

Jul 28, 2009 - 11:24pm PT

Great report Blue. It looks like you had a blast. I love Lake Tahoe. Lived in South Tahoe for 3 years in the late 70s.

I don't think you have to apologize for not going to John's memorial. I'm pretty certain it was private. Karl started a thread about having a public memorial, maybe at facelift.
Plus I am reasonably certain John would have said, "go climbing". Memorials are for support of those left behind and happen in more then one way. The memorials on this forum are just another kind of support and are important too.

Glad you had fun. Woooot !!!

mucci

Trad climber

The pitch of Bagalaar above you

Jul 28, 2009 - 11:29pm PT

Ha good one Bluey!

You got tooled by yogi

Nothing short of an adventure as always!

cheers

How's the kankle?

mark miller

Social climber

Reno

Jul 29, 2009 - 12:51am PT

Great TR Blue and pics thanks... Sorry the usual Breakfast didn't work for the hike in( maybe I'm just used to it). Dano looked similar to that monster on sight leader but was alot lankier. Those are killer campsites but living in the area, I've overlooked the great campsites around the Lake, in favor of (the challenge of) avoiding the DUI and making it home, I'm happy you had a great time up Eagle creek canyon. Have you looked at any lines on section 20? Lot's of potential.

Andrew F

Trad climber

Sunnyvale, CA

Jul 29, 2009 - 01:25am PT

That chimney looks sweet! Gonna have to do that next time I'm up by Tahoe.

Dirka

Trad climber

Jul 29, 2009 - 01:26am PT

Bumpity!

JOEY.F

Social climber

sebastopol

Jul 29, 2009 - 01:37am PT

Nice Bluey!!!!

bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, Ca.

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 29, 2009 - 11:36am PT

Oh yeah I forgot to mention my 'kankle'. Something bit me on the trip. By Monday afternoon the right ankle looked this this. I couldn't find an entry would or 'bullseye' pattern of a venemous spider. I'm guessing it was one of the many huge black ants in the campsite.

UNHOLY!!!111!!

It may have been a minor bite that was infected by my persistant scratching with 'camp hands'. I dunno.

As of today the swelling is going down. I can start to see my ankle again.

TKingsbury

Trad climber

Jul 29, 2009 - 11:42am PT

Good stuff Blue! Crazy ankle!

I liked that crag the one time I got to visit it....

Thanks and Cheers!

rhyang

climber

SJC

Jul 29, 2009 - 11:55am PT

Looks like a fun trip !

cleo

Social climber

Berkeley, CA

Jul 29, 2009 - 12:25pm PT

Fun pics! Hahaha, I don't think I've ever heard Will described as a monster :).

msiddens

Trad climber

Mountain View, CA

Jul 29, 2009 - 02:35pm PT

wow, no shoe going on THAT foot for a while!!!

Phil_B

Social climber

Hercules, CA

Jul 29, 2009 - 02:42pm PT

Yes, great time there.

Thanks for offering up the site to us Blue. I gotta get back again some time soon.

Zander

Trad climber

Berkeley

Jul 30, 2009 - 12:42am PT

Hey blue,
that ankle looks nasty. I hope it heals quickly. thanks for the TR. Looks like you guys were having fun.
Zander

Blitzo

Social climber

Earth

Jul 30, 2009 - 12:46am PT

Nice shots of a place that I know well!

Russ Walling

Gym climber

Poofter's Froth, Wyoming

Jul 30, 2009 - 12:52am PT

Good stuff Bluey!

Blitzo

Social climber

Earth

Jul 30, 2009 - 01:10am PT

Sorry, I just felt like adding a photo of Rick Cashner on the First Free Ascent of Space Walk.

photo by Blitzo.

Nice thread Bluey!

caughtinside

Social climber

Davis, CA

Jul 30, 2009 - 01:29am PT

Nice TR!!

Notice in the Blitzo shot that the big block is still in place, I think the Bloot said he used some pins to nail it in there for the climb? Wonder when it fell down...