This leg of the trip was the chance to visit somewhere that I’d been hearing about for a long time. Daniel, being the southern boy that he is, would tell me about the Triple Crown bouldering series that was held down in the South. Near Tennessee and Georgia, on the Southern Sandstone boulders, they’d have some of the best short-route climbers in the world come and show off.

So, I’m driving all the way down to Oklahoma and Arizona already… may as well hit Tennessee, right?

Right.

Saturday, 30-May-2015

After my long drive, setting up camp came easily… but I was still more than a bit energetic after sitting in the car for basically two days straight. And it was still light out for another hour or two…

So I drove. I headed up the winding road to the top of one of the mesa-like mountains, and drove up to the Montlake golf course. No, I wasn’t golfing – this is the home of “Little Rock City”, also known as the Stone Ford boulders.

Supposedly there’s been a long and checkered history between climbers, residents, and golfers… but by 2015 most of that has been dealt with. Climbers have a segregated little lot away from the golfers, and we’re allowed to climb any boulders in the area… as long as they’re not overlooking the green, where golfers could see us.

Accepted, but not seen or heard, seems to be a good analogy.

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But who cares? I was able to go in and check out the boulders! And since I got there late, around 8:30 (sunset was 8:45) the golf course had already closed for the day. So I didn’t have to worry about being seen, and thus headed straight toward the greenway boulders.

I met up with a group of fellow climbers by the boulders – they were taking advantage of the closed golf course as well, it seems. They showed me a few routes, we chatted, and they gave me some advice on where to go on Sunday.

I climbed ’till it got dark, enjoying the routes and the view of the sunset, until I could barely see anymore. Then, I packed up, headed back to camp. Cooked up a quick dinner, read a chapter or two, and slept like a log.