"Wedding Vows", V0-, 30', Mendocino Headlands State Park

A friend from high school, Jeff Yates, drove out from Sacramento to meet up with me as I made my way down the coast. We had a good time exploring the cliffs and beaches of Mendocino, and biking down to Van Damme State Park to camp in the hiker/biker group site there.

First we got some beers and road out to the end of the headlands and checked out the tidal pools. We found some crabs and urchins and anemones, but no starfish or octopi. Then we found a route down the cliff to a beach and sat on some rocks and watched the tide come in. As we walked back to the route we had taken down the cliff, we saw a way up to a grove of trees that might be climbable.

The climbing consisted of 10 feet of easy scrambling onto some ledges, followed by a 10 foot section which was a wet corner. The right wall of the corner was completely covered in 1/2 inch of brown slime. The left wall of the corner was turf with thorny bushes growing out of it. My technique consisted of digging handholds into the turf and trying to stem on the slime. I think having hiking boots on was actually better than if I had had slick rock shoes. The end of the climb was a 10 foot traverse right across some scree, then a 10 foot traverse left on some grass. When we topped out, we arrived at the grove, and found ~100 white, wooden folding chairs set up, where a wedding ceremony had just taken place, or was about to take place. (I'm sure this route has been ascended before, but I couldn't find any mention of it, so for now it's Wedding Vows, V0-, 30')

We went into town and ate a pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushroom, and roasted red pepper pizza, and it was delicious. We then rode 3 miles to the campground. At the hiker/biker site, there was a 29 year old German guy and a 25 year old woman from Victoria, BC, who started her trip in Oregon. We stayed up late, had a fire, drank some bourbon, and exchanged stories about our travels. It is nice to see who else is out there.