Society Hole Bouldering
Climb Review
I did not think we’d find rock climbing or bouldering opportunities near Crescent City (Mountain Project showed a vast emptiness), but we got lucky when we found a granite boulder to play around on.
We didn’t bring our climbing shoes, so we ended up bouldering without shoes. Thank you for showing us the way, Barefoot Charles!
Papa Bear Traverse (V0; Papa Bear)—Papa Bear is the larger of the two boulders and I started this traverse on the North East side of the rock and traverse the boulder in a counterclockwise direction. I didn’t do it cleanly, but I did get to the middle of the West side of the rock where bushes blocked further progress. The moves were relatively easy, though the lack of climbing shoes, and the high-ball nature of the South side of the boulder does keep things in perspective.
That’s Possible, Right? (VB; Papa Bear)—Right where I ended the traverse, I wanted to go back to the East side of the rock. Instead of going around, I decided to go straight over it. There was a natural crack/jugs that I followed straight up to the top. Again, easy moves, but it is a highball boulder.
Trash Panda Traverse (VB; Trash Panda)—Trash Panda is the smaller of the two boulders and I started this traverse on the North side of the rock and went in a counter-clockwise direction. The most fun part of this traverse is the slab section on the southern part of the rock. But because no move is a highball one, this one was much less stressful than either of the routes on Papa Bear.
Dumpster Lid (VB-V0; Trash Panda)—The slab section of Trash Panda has multiple routes with the easiest being on the right side and the hardest being on the left. The right side has a natural crack that one can follow and just pull on jugs. The left side, however, is all slab with no holds. But because the angle of the rock is just so, one can make it up to the top carefully. I think with climbing shoes, some people can just walk this up, but without climbing shoes, it is a bit harder.
What I Learned
Random large river boulders are fun! And there’s always an opportunity to climb!
What Happened?
This was our last day before we needed to head back to the Bay Area from our Northern California trip. And so, as we took off from Jedidiah Smith State Park, we aimed to find a small hiking trail to get us one last taste of these gorgeous redwoods. Within a few minutes from our campsite, we crossed the Smith River and the color of the water left us awestruck. So, when I spied a small road that seemed to lead to the bank of the river, I took it. After less than a quarter-mile, there was a sign stating that this area was called Society Hole.
We parked and walked around to see if we could get close to the river and take some photos. While I was taking photos, I lost sight of Cassie and when I found her, she was thinking what I was thinking—could we cross the short shallow section of the river to get on the pebble island we saw stretching out in front of us? We raced back to the car and found ourselves grabbing our sandals. Once we were on the island, we walked around until we found these two massive boulders that seemed to sit in the center of the island.
We found ourselves touching the granite boulder and trying some moves. Soon enough, we ditched our shoes and started bouldering in earnest. After more than two hours of pulling on rock, we eventually rested, took some souvenir pictures, and hiked back to the ever-patient Ramona.
We marveled at our luck at finding such a fun boulder in the middle of nowhere and kept driving to Crescent City in search of lunch.
