I got awesome news at work... I had to be in Edmonton right after the May long weekend for a conference. I booked my flight out for Sunday afternoon, which left Monday free for some climbing with my good buddy AJ, who now lives in Edmonton. We researched climbs online in the Jasper area and found a few areas with route descriptions, but no guidebook (it's out of print). AJ found this beta on SummitPost, so that's what we used.
AJ picked me up at the airport Sunday night. We picked up a six pack and headed straight for Jasper. The drive was a real treat for me... It was SO good to spend time with AJ again (I really miss him since he moved), and it was fun being on a drive with someone else instead of my usual solo road trips. It's a good thing AJ was driving, because I saw a sign for the "Scenic Route to Alaska"... I'm not sure I would have been able to resist taking that exit.
We got out to the Pocahontas Campground around 11:30pm, and quickly set up camp in the rain (I've been rained on while camping a lot this year). We killed the six pack and shared a few more laughs while enjoying to fresh Rocky Mountain air.
Monday morning we got up and headed into Jasper for a quick breakfast before trying to find the Rock Gardens. Finding the parking lot was easy. We broke out the makeshift guidebook and started hiking in. About 20 minutes in we realized that we had missed a turn on the trail. While we should have been at the crag already, we were instead following the winding river. So we turned around and started the approach for a second time. This time we found the crag without any problems. Read more »
