Beacon Rock

                                Photo by Peter Marbach, from the site www.gorgecommission.org                                  

Although I have walked to the top of Beacon Rock, an 850-foot monolith in the Columbia River Gorge, and though it rises prominently as you cruise past it, I must say that it's been awhile since I've really paid the massive beast much mind.

But today, I climbed a roughly six pitch, 5.7 route known as the Southeast Corner route with my friend Erik Becker and an old-school, real Beacon climber by the name of Jim Opdyke. 

My hands, in fact, still sting as I type this; it's from all the climbing today  without having seasoned them up first earlier this year. So, briefly: it was an incredible experience that gave me an entirely new appreciation and perspective of Beacon Rock, for the joy of climbing and being outside, and for good people who do good things.