Journeys: City of Rocks, ID - Day 1

"She's not coming. Boyfriend drama." Ryan uttered the words without looking up from his phone. He sat across from me at a small table in the Chinatown Restaurant of West Yellowstone. Smoke from the kitchen hazed the air between us making the dining room seem hotter than it was.

"Really?" I responded with a neutral tone. My gut told me Ryan was about to pull the plug on the whole trip. We were only 45 minutes from home. It would be so easy to turn back.

"Want to go to the Winds?" Ryan asked. Disaster averted. Climbing trip was still a go.

"Sure. Have you ever been there?" I replied.

"No, but I hear it's great."

We had no guide book or internet connection. Researching routes for a place neither of us had ever been would be problematic.

"What about City of Rocks?" I asked. I had climbed there before.

Ryan's face lit up and excitement spread across his face. "Yeah I've never been there before. Let's go!"

And just like that everything had changed. A weeklong climbing photo shoot in the Tetons rearranged to four days at City of Rocks.

It was near midnight. The moon was out and nearly full almost overpowering my headlights against the desert landscape of southern Idaho. We were not lost, but we were not sure if we were on BLM land or private land. I was tired, Ryan was asleep in the passenger seat. I wanted to be asleep. I found a side road and pulled off. In the moonlight I could see an abandoned looking camper trailer. Ryan and I hauled all of our gear out of the bed of my truck and unrolled our sleeping bags and pads. The warm night got cool. The moon cast erie shadows in the sage brush. Coyotes howled in the distance.