Rifle, CO—The Egg has been in this bustling little ranch community (pop. 9,260) on the western slope of the Rockies since August 23rd. We typically come here over our Fourth of July vacations because it offers hard-to-find, cool-weather climbing during the stifling summer heat. Climbing in Rifle Mountain Park is enjoyable for a number of reasons – not the least of which is convenience. I’m hard-pressed to come up with another climbing destination with such easy access to rock. You can usually walk from your car to your climb in under a minute. When the walk is more than that, you are still hitting your climb in under five minutes. This is a huge bonus for us since the standard travel requirement at our “local” crag, the Red River Gorge, Kentucky, can easily require a 20-30 minute drive and a long walk up and down hills through the woods. All told, I’d say you’re looking at around an hour commute from your campsite to the crag. Camp-to-climb distance here – a few hundred feet or less (under 5 minutes). Awesome.
In addition to Rifle being great for its proximity to the camping, the canyon is simply beautiful. Every time we enter it, we both lean forward over the dashboard and stare up at cliffs and admire the 100+ foot walls holding back the earth on both sides of the road like two massive orange and blue/gray bookends keeping the soil and trees from falling over into the creek below. It’s an enveloping feeling as you enter this narrow slot in the mountains, the air is much cooler than just outside the entrance. The creek seems to erase any of the sounds of motors and town life just a few short miles away. It smells like damp stone, wet grass, and fresh earth and has a grandeur to it that keeps us coming back over and over.
We’ve had a productive time here – enjoying a balance of life that feels both refreshing and new. It’s been a fun mix of climbing – then working in the Egg late into the night, or at either the LEED Certified Rifle Public Library or at the local—and frigidly cold (seriously, what is the temp in there??) Starbucks.
During our stay here, it’s rained. A lot. This fact highlighted rather immediately any structural flaws in our living space. We weren’t that surprised (or happy) to find a rather gaping fracture in our refrigerator vent base located on our roof (a common problem and the result of the damaging effect of the sun). One particular day at Rifle Gap State Park, we dealt with about 20+ hours of rain. We filled Pickle’s rubber dog bowl over and over from a leaking rivet, emptying it a dozen times over the day. So frustrating! It was a major relief when we took the trailer in to be fixed a few days later. I think we both fully expect things like this to pop up from time to time, so in the end it didn’t phase us, but we were pleased when the repair was complete. Crisis averted.
During this time, I’ve tried to take lots of photos, too. Take a look below at a few landscapes and climbing shots I took. If you haven’t heard of Rifle Mountain Park, I encourage anyone – non-climbers alike, to check it out. It’s a wonderful destination that families and folks of all ages come to enjoy.
For more information check out these links:
RifleClimbers.org – check out their Facebook page too.
