Trip Report
Herring Creek Dome TR
Tuesday September 2, 2008 1:59pm
This past Saturday I headed up to Castle Rock state park again, this time with Mike Z, whom I tend of think of as my trad mentor. Mike had visited me when I was in the hospital, when I was still in a halo and in a wheelchair, and then again after I was discharged and still walking with forearm crutches and a leg brace. We toproped at Cal Ridge and Shady Rock, and we had a good time getting pumped silly on the sandstone.

Sunday I drove up to Herring Creek Dome on 108, hiked in, and bouldered the start of Sea of Tranquility (5.7) and looked around at the other climbs. I camped in the national forest that night, and fell asleep dreaming of those first few moves .. someday I hope to be strong enough again to lead it. Tollhouse this winter ..

Monday I awoke to a car thermometer reading of 31F and then went to meet Dan, his wife Lynn and his friend Joel in Strawberry. They were from Modesto and Dan had visited me almost every day while I was in the hospital there last year. We had talked about climbing Mt. Olympus in Washington state this past summer, but it didn't work out. Next year perhaps ..

The hike up to the dome through the woods was marked with ducks, amid fallen trees and boulders. It saved us all some bushwhacking. The day warmed up and the beautiful granite came into view.

[url="http://www.summitpost.org/image/437959/153211/herring-creek-dome.html"]
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We sat at the base for a while, chatted and geared up. Dan and Lynn were new to technical rock climbing, so I set up a toprope for them to practice on Grandpas (5.1)

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In the meantime, Joel and I went to climb The Teacher (5.2) .. my first trad lead in over a year. Joel has been taking classes with guides and is a new trad leader.

[url="http://www.summitpost.org/image/437962/438212/the-teacher.html"]
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The old focus was starting to come back, though there were a few moments where I had to tell myself to breathe ;) I brought Joel up, lowered him back to the base and then walked off the right side of the dome.

We fooled around on toprope for a bit, and then Joel and I headed down to the base of the Body Parts Wall. We went over a few things like nuts in opposition, tricam placement, etc. and then Joel cast off up the first pitch, easy fifth class.

He brought me up and by then it was getting a bit late, so we decided to head to the right of the headwall and find a place to walk off. My turn to lead again .. the topo didn't indicate much on that side, and the pro was a bit sparse =:-O but it was only about 5.4 (or so I keep telling myself ;) This seemed to help my focus quite a bit ..

Anyway, I found a place to build an anchor, brought Joel up and we scrambled the 3rd class gully back to the base. We were pretty enthused.

It was a beautiful day and we had the whole place to ourselves !

  Trip Report Views: 3,559
rhyang
About the Author
rhyang is a climber from SJC.

Comments
10b4me

Social climber
Lida Junction
  Sep 2, 2008 - 02:07pm PT
Rob, glad you're getting back on the rock.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Sep 2, 2008 - 02:10pm PT
Great stuff--keep it up!
(just take your time with it. . .it'll all come
back).
spyork

Trad climber
Tunneling out of prison
  Sep 2, 2008 - 02:10pm PT
Nice one Rhyang. Glad to see you are climbing amd having fun.

I climbed Sea of Tranquility with Boku and my son a couple years ago. Looking down from high on the climb, my son said something to the effect of, "look at the ripples in the granite, it looks like we are on an ocean". Just that one insight was worth the hike in.

Steve
mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
  Sep 2, 2008 - 03:33pm PT
Rob, the old 2001 topo of Sea of Tranquility is outdated as to the first pitch. Shortly after that book came out, the first ascent party pulled the 4 old 1/4 inch bolts protecting that 150 foot pitch. They were replaced with 3/8 inch stainless steel. At the same time the first ascent party added two more bolts (also 3/8 inch stainless) to the pitch and fixed the anchor. The first pitch is now a little runout, but not hair raising.

Take a few medium cams (1 to 2 1/2 inches) for the belays atop the third and fourth pitches.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Sep 2, 2008 - 04:16pm PT
first rule of SPH club...


;)
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Sep 2, 2008 - 04:26pm PT
Thanks all. Brad, the bolts looked great - I could see most of them. Thanks for the beta on pro !
Captain...or Skully

climber
Boise, ID
  Sep 3, 2008 - 01:08am PT
Actual climbing, amazing.....Bump!
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Jul 27, 2009 - 10:17am PT
Friday I headed up with Joel to climb Sea of Tranquility (5.7) .. I'd been wanting to do it since seeing the cool-looking start - a left-leaning crack (not shown) with a dike and knobs -


It was a warm day, and we got an early start.. probably around 9:30 or so. I clipped the six bolts and stopped at a two-bolt belay station with a ring and a chain, not realizing that the three-bolt station was 50' further. It seems that this station was spaced for rappelling with a single 60m rope.

Anyway, it was a fun pitch .. Joel seemed to enjoy it -


Joel headed up to the true belay on easy terrain .. we noticed a bolt just below it .. maybe part of another route, or was it part of this one ? Not sure.

Anyway, Joel cast off up the second pitch (5.3) -


I led the last two pitches, which were pretty easy, though runout. I used some mid-sized cams for the belay below the roof, and a #3 for the roof itself. Somewhere above the roof the terrain eased off to third class scrambling and I just slung a cordelette around a horn for an anchor.

Looking down from the first belay - a sea of tranquil granite -


Spotted the 12' column near the top before walking off to climber's right down the descent gully -


That was fun & enjoyable, and we were done before lunchtime. It was pretty warm when got back the cars - near 90F.

The next day we went up to Tuolumne (or down, depending on whether your orientation is geographic or elevation-based :) and climbed Zee Tree. Another early start -

Looking up the first pitch (5.7)

Joel atop the second pitch (5.3, he only clipped one of the bolts, Mr. Runout :)

Looking up the 5.7 dihedral on the last pitch

Looking out over Tenaya Lake from the top -

Cathedral and Dozier from the rap station -

Finally back at the TM store -
mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
  Jul 27, 2009 - 10:38am PT
Rhyang, on Herring Creek Dome, it sounds like you did a newer route called Jenn's Hooked as your first pitch. Sea of Tranquility starts about 40 feet further left. Jenn's ends 101 feet up at two bolts. The anchor for the first pitch of Sea of Tranquility is 50 feet up and left from that. I tried to scan the topo that is in the "being-worked-on" second edition guidebook, but it's a photoshop doc and I can't get it to scan before I need to leave this morning.

Nice trip report. Getting into the mountains sure is fine.
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Jul 27, 2009 - 10:54am PT
Thanks Brad !! I'll send you an email ..
scuffy b

climber
heading slowly NNW
  Jul 27, 2009 - 11:05am PT
Very nice, Rob.
I love the tone of your reports, Chapter 1 from last Autumn
and the latest installment from this weekend.
You make things sound so soothing!

Your progress in most inspiring, and I'm flattered that you
came to visit my monster.

Keep up the good works!!
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Jul 27, 2009 - 12:48pm PT
Thanks for hosting me Steve ! I still have dreams of getting my OW technique back somewhat, though 5.11a is probably a little much to expect (I was never that good to begin with :) I'll keep at it on the easier stuff ..
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  Jul 27, 2009 - 12:52pm PT
that looks like some fun stuff!!!
TKingsbury

Trad climber
MT
  Jul 27, 2009 - 05:16pm PT
Nice!

thanks for posting!
Josh Nash

Social climber
riverbank ca
  Jul 27, 2009 - 05:29pm PT
Last wednesday I took my sister out to hcd for her first multi pitch and did the teacher but instead of walking off we went straight up for the summit. It can be very run out.
The angle of the pic is a little deceiving. the second pitch is short but not as short as it looks.

My sister's camera took the short way down. We found the body all tore up. if anyone goes out that way and finds a data card she would like it back and I'll pay for postage.
Russ Walling

Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
  Jul 27, 2009 - 05:32pm PT

Neck bump!!!! Glad you are gettin 'er done! Good job!

All these TR's are keeping FatTrads manzeer from getting made though.....
Iron Mtn.

Trad climber
Seattle Washington
  Jul 27, 2009 - 05:33pm PT
Man that looks great, thanks for that!!!
L

climber
Just livin' the dream
  Jul 27, 2009 - 07:34pm PT
Another great TR, Rhyang. Thanks for posting it.

Hard to believe you've come this far after that horrendous accident...an amazing accomplishment, truly. Keep going at this pace and 11a OW will be your warm-up on your off-day. ;-)



Andrew F

Trad climber
Sunnyvale, CA
  Jul 27, 2009 - 08:21pm PT
Nice pics of zee tree, just did it about a month ago, fun route. It took us about 20 minutes of standing on knobs to find the anchor for the first pitch...

The cascade down from cathedral lakes is so cool.
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Jul 27, 2009 - 08:25pm PT
Thanks everyone ! :)

It can take a while to see the anchor bolts on Z Tree .. I'd done it before in 2007 and 2006 though, and knew basically where they were .. luckily in 2006 someone had slung them with bright-colored webbing, so we had no trouble (heheh).
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
  Jul 27, 2009 - 08:28pm PT
Where do I find more info about the climbing here?

I took the kids for their first camping trip on Herring Creek about a month ago, saw some really nice rocks to the south after topping out on a forest road to a peak a few miles in. Pretty area, good and remote feeling, even though we passed the ATV crowd and weirdos with rifle targets lashed to the roof of their cars.

Speaking of which... has anyone heard of foul play or accidents in those parts? We heard a lot of gunshots, wasn't exactly comforting to be out there alone with a couple of small kids. It wasn't the same as the type of folks you see 10 miles from a trailhead on a backpacking trip.
cleo

Social climber
wherever you go, there you are
  Jul 28, 2009 - 12:21pm PT
Wow, nice! Hmmm... more time on SP is needed :)
Zander

climber
  Jul 28, 2009 - 01:17pm PT
Good thread,
Zander
spyork

Trad climber
Tunneling out of prison
  Jul 28, 2009 - 01:34pm PT
I got the guidebook Scott. I will let you borrow it if you want. Also check www.SonoraPassclimbing.com

Edit: Speaking of sketchy, one morning I met Scuffy at the pass and was greeted by automatic weapons firing nearby!
mrtropy

Trad climber
Nor Cal
  Jul 28, 2009 - 01:55pm PT
Guide book is usually available at SNAC stores in Arnold and Sonora.
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Jul 28, 2009 - 03:12pm PT
Hmm, the MWTC is right over the pass .. somehow I think you'll be safe :)

I think I picked up my copy of the guidebook at Mammoth Mountaineering Supply ... could be other copies floating around local REI's and climbing gyms ..
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Aug 6, 2009 - 02:33pm PT
I added a route page to summitpost for Jenn's Hooked -

http://www.summitpost.org/parent/537725/jenn-s-hooked.html

Let me know if I got any details wrong !
mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
  Aug 6, 2009 - 03:21pm PT
That looks perfect.
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