To The Rockies: Day 7

Day 7, Saturday 5/24

We found out that Moraine park is booked due to Memorial day weekend, so we loaded up everything and drove over to the Long's Peak campground off of highway 7 south. Found a great campsite. We set up the tent quickly and filled every container with water. Then we set out for more climbing at a place called The Monastery which is north of a little town called Drake. Drove up some pretty tough farm roads before reaching the hiking trail. After some very strenuous hiking for an hour and a half we finally reach the climbing spot. 

This is the entrance to The Monastery, it was certainly worth the hike!

We took a break in the shade and ate some MREs once we got there. Climbed some classic 5.7 routes and even climbed two 5.8 routes. Shaun finished the day by climbing the longest route there called Steeple (5.8), we barely had enough rope for him to come back down. 

Here is a pic of me belaying Shaun as he climbs Monastic Groove (5.8), one of my favorite routes of the entire trip.

Me climbing the Monastic Groove (5.8)

This is one of me climbing to the top of one of the longer routes.

Me enjoying the view from atop a pretty tough 5.7 called "Pandora's Pebble Pinching Party Palace" I just couldn't pass up such an interestingly named climb. And yes, there was some pebble pinching involved.

After that it started getting late so we decided to head back to the car. Another hour and a half of strenuous hiking later we were back at the car and decided to drive into town to take some showers and do our laundry (in Estes Park there are a couple of places where you can pay for a shower). We drove into town only to find out the place was closed, so we went out to eat instead. After that it was back to the tent. The weather forecasts for the next few days had a pretty good chance of rain, and we decided to leave if it ever began to rain. Tired from all the hiking and climbing I crawled into my sleeping bag. Sleep.