Free Soloing My First Crag
This weekend we picked a hike in Boulder because it was a short drive to our lunch plans in Erie. Having lunch plans meant we couldn't do anything too long, so we picked Royal Arch since that's still a tough hike with over 1,500 feet in elevation gain but it's packed in a short hike that's less than 4 miles long. The hike was something we knew we could do in under 3 hours, so we got to the trailhead 3 hours before we needed to leave for lunch and got hiking.
Like all the other hikes we've done recently, the spring rain has made the area ripe with green grass and lots of wildflowers. Since we were hiking considerably lower in elevation than our previous hikes, most of the wildflowers were wilted and dying, but we managed to find several that were still in peak bloom. We're ready to start getting up higher where it's not as hot now that the wildflowers are blooming up high.
We got to the summit in a little over an hour which gave us about 30 minutes to relax before heading back down. Since it was a nice Sunday morning, the summit was packed with people, but that didn't stop us from getting a good spot to rest. I decided to wander around a little and give Katie some anxiety by climbing up high. I did two sketchy climbs, the first one up to the Westernmost tip in that area behind Royal Arch, and the second climb was up the East face of Royal Arch itself which I summited to the top of the arch. I didn't have any climbing equipment with me and had my camera shoved into my pocket so I could use both hands. While I was climbing, Katie looked it up and found out what I was doing is a class 5 climbing route. It's at the low end of the class 5 scale coming in at a 5.0, but it's still class 5 and is the first outdoor climb that I've done outdoors that's more than just a scramble without any rope protection.
Climbing classes are as follows:
Class 1: Hiking
Class 2: Scrambling using hands
Class 3: Scrambling, fall could result in a broken bone
Class 4: Simple Climbing, fall could be fatal
Class 5: Technical climbing
Since this ranked a 5.0 climbing I should have had a rope and protection like a helmet. But it gave Katie (and may other people at the summit) some much-needed anxiety that was only worth it because I didn't die.
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The Flatirons
The view as you hike from Chautauqua towards the Flatirons is a perfect picturesque view.
Mariposa Lily
Using the pocket wildflower guide Katie got me for my birthday we were quickly able to identify this as a Mariposa Lily.
Jacob's Ladder
Some of the flowers were starting to become wilted from the summer heat but not the Jacob's Ladder.
![Royal Arch](/photos/2023/june/album252018IMG_2374_Panorama1.jpg)
Royal Arch
We made it to the summit in a little over an hour, about the same time that it took us the first time we hiked this 3 and a half years ago.
85 Photo Panorama
Even with my 16mm wide-angle lens I couldn't get the entire beauty of the area from my fist scramble to the West end of Royal Arch. The stack of boulders in the center-right of this photo is the West end of Royal Arch.
Off the Edge
There was a steep drop off from where I climbed to.
From On Top
I took this panorama from the top of Royal Arch while I caught my breath. That free solo climb to the top definitely got my adrenaline pumping, but I made it all the way up and back down safely.
What I Climbed
It doesn't look very steep, and it definitely isn't, but it's also not something that many people have summited. My first 5.0 climb outdoors and without a rope.
Wild Flowers
The wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous in Boulder. The sprint rain we got made the flowers stunning this year.