An Adventure in Hiddenite

Anna and I drove two hours with our T@B camper to Hiddenite, North Carolina to go rock climbing at Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area. A former quarry was bolted for top rope and sport climbing. Climbers can park right at the face of the rock wall. We did some recon after setting up camp.

https://youtu.be/NSLzRIvhMkY

Our campsite was at the edge of a stream.

https://youtu.be/7uaMoQIFQMo

Anna set up the anchors so we could top rope:

The rock was very different from any we've climbed; there were very few easy places for hands. We had to keep our body up against the wall and rely on toe placement to ascend. Climbing the routes was all slopers and smearing.

Anna did very well while I barely managed to summit a climbing route; but I did clean the anchor.

On our second day, Anna did her first outdoor sport climb! She placed all the quick draws ascending and cleaned the route coming down.

As usual, we ate and drank well. Our first night at the campground was filet mignon and the second night was Indian Dhal.

Before leaving Hiddenite we panned for gems at the Emerald Hollow Mine ( https://www.emeraldhollowmine.com/ ). We were quite successful (aventurine, common opal, amethyst, quart and jasper) but we didn't strike it rich.