Buttermilks & Druid Stones
Cody, Itai and I drove out to Bishop on Friday afternoon for a weekend adventure. We got into the Buttermilks around 7:30 and decided to have a night session before turning in.
The next day we got up early and ran out to Dale’s Camp. We had a long morning session on the immaculate Xavier’s Roof and then got on Green Hornet and Solitaire on the way out. By the time we got back to camp the sun was oppressive and we decided to take a long siesta.
Later that day we felt wiped and opted to kill a few hours by running up some easier classics. We also spent a lot of time up on highballs enjoying the view and beautiful, but not climbing friendly, weather.
We woke up on Sunday morning feeling incredibly sore and sunburnt - yet, for some odd reason we decided to brave the Druid Stone hike. I have to say, we were pretty eager to check out this outlying area for the first time, despite what we’d heard about the approach. The Druid boulders are scattered over a mountain ridge that overlooks the valley and the town of Bishop. The approach takes about 45 minutes, and by the end you gain 1,200 feet of elevation. On the way up I was stopping every few minutes in order to avoid keeling over take photos of our progress. Below is a photo I took from about 3/4 of the way up the hike. The arrow should help you find our starting point (my car).
The hike was definitely heinous, but worth the quality of climbs out at the Druids. We spent hours climbing exclusively area classics and enjoying the view.
Although we managed to put a significant dent in our Druid Stones tick list, we vowed to return and finish off the list in cooler temps.
Till next time,
Eden