Jun. 7, 2008 - Obed, TN
Atlanta Climbing Club members broke new ground on the June climbing trip with the club's first trip to the Obed in Tennessee.
Obed/Clear Creek, nestled in the forest near the small town of Wartburg, TN, is a gold mine of challenging sport climbing. Surprisingly though, only two of the eight club members in attendance on Saturday's trip had ever climbed there before.
Denmark, Tom, Chuck, Siew Ching and John hit the road much earlier than usual Saturday for the four-hour drive. At the parking lot, they met Cathi, who'd driven up from Chattanooga that morning, along with Gary and Frank, who'd camped the night before. The group hit the trail for the easy 20-minute hike down to the South Clear Creek area.
Not far down the trail is the Image Wall area, home to several nice moderate routes. Denmark led Comic Relief Left (5.9), John led Coco Puffs (5.7) and Comic Relief Direct (5.8) and Gary led Backlash (5.10). In spite of our fears of unbearably-hot weather, the Image Wall was well shaded and pleasant, and we all enjoyed toproping or leading the climbs there.
In the meantime, Frank moved further down the trail to find one of the relatively rare trad lines to lead. Chuck went around the corner to set up Shadowhawk (5.9), a nice route with a great view of the river below; Frank came back to lead Spawn (5.10c/d), a burly route next to Shadowhawk.
After everyone had had a crack at these great routes, we headed past the fearsomely-overhung routes of the Stephen King Library section and settled on the Balcony. Denmark and John took turns leading Fat Lady Sings (5.9+), while Frank found another nice trad line, Sky Hook (5.8). Chuck got the "hard lead of the day" prize by leading Paleface (5.11a).
As the afternoon wore on, we began hearing the ominous sounds of thunder, and soon it was raining. Luckily, the Balcony area is capped by a prominent roof, keeping most of the wall perfectly dry, so there was no pause in climbing. Denmark put in some hard work leading Double Feature (5.10c), a route with a very tough start. While we were toproping the other Balcony climbs, Chuck didn't let the damp rock on Best Seat in the House (5.9+) keep him from leading that three-star classic.
With the day winding down, Denmark finished out the day with a lead of one of the Stephen King Library's routes, Christine (5.10), while several others followed on toprope or re-led it. We all re-convened in the parking lot and headed down the highway for some great Mexican food before making the long trip back to Atlanta.
All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day for our introduction to the excellent Obed sandstone, with a number of nice onsights under our belts. Next time, we'll make it a weekend trip (in cooler weather) to get the most out of the long drive. Thanks especially to our two Obed veterans, Chuck and Frank, for showing us where the fun routes could be found!