Maybe the climbers who named these rocks hoped to keep the yuppies away by giving them impolite names or, more likely, got into a competition that included putting up the hardest climbs with the foulest names. The way I see it, the visions conjured up by the names here make the reality the most pleasant of surprises.

My dad, ever a good sport, buys us breakfast and agrees to explore the area with us. Parking a short way off highway 126 on FR 550, we pick an old road to follow after seeing some other climbers tromp off in that direction. Passing a grand view of Asshole Rock, I spot a small formation through some trees and elect to investigate it. The side we approach looks fairly limited, but as I circle around I see I’ve found none other than The Big Butt, and the climbers I saw earlier are here starting up Ho De Do, 5.7+. I circle the formation to notify Dad & Ann, and after much scouting and a short rain storm start up Hymen Trouble, 5.9. After my recent struggles I’m not really feeling up to 5.9 trad climbing, but this particular route has a big pillar behind it that looks like it might serve as a training wheel for the start. It does the trick, and I make a solid lead of this beautiful, if a bit mossy, finger to hand crack. Ann follows in fine form, without the training wheel, while Dad takes pictures. The location is as good as they come for views, with the Cathedral Spires rising up to the north. I do the climb again before we run out of time. This trip has been well worth the trouble, as we can now return and immediately get on a climb.

I should mention that this formation has been retro-bolted, and not very elegantly. It seems like bolt wars could easily ensue. The other climbers there skipped the bolts on their route, and ours was clean. It’s possible to downclimb from the top, so we didn’t use any of the rappel anchors either.

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