Bishop & Stockton

Dan (scroll down for Em's perspective)

Just west of central Nevada there’s a small town in California called Bishop. Throughout the trip we were going back and forth about stopping here. We were thinking we would just skip it and go straight to Yosemite but the weather was somehow still in the negatives at nighttime there so ended up stopping here for a bit. Bishop has incredible weather. It’s sunny 300 days of the year and it’s possible to do just about any outdoor activity you can think of year round there. It’s situated right next to the Sierras so there’s lots of places to go up at altitude if it’s too hot around town. People were still skiing at Mammoth while we were there in May and baking in the sun.

Another sweet part of Bishop is the camping at ‘the pit’. It’s pretty barebones but you get great views of the Sierras and it’s only 5$ a night! My dad would especially love it because if you’re a senior it’s only 2.50!!! What a deal. Almost immediately when we showed up we saw our first rattlesnake. It hissed at us as we walked by. Emily didn’t hear it which is a little disconcerting but apparently they are pretty timid and give plenty of warning before they attack.

The campground was also really close to the local disc golf course which was great for me. I was able to sneak in a round after climbing one day and play on our rest day as well. It’s been fun checking out the courses as we travel. Usually Em stays in the van and reads while I go play so I’m on my own but more often than not I end up playing with somebody else that I meet on the course. It’s always fun to nerd out about discs with people and compare myself with different players.

In terms of climbing, Bishop has great places to visit for just about any style. Pine Creek canyon is supposed to be very good for trad and multipitch climbs (placing your own gear and protection). The Buttermilks are world famous for their highball bouldering (no rope just pads at the bottom to cushion a fall). And Owens River Gorge has a huge variety of nice sport climbing (climbing routes with ore placed bolts). Since we had just spent so much time trad climbing in the Creek we were keen to clip some bolts and check out Owens River.

I really liked the Gorge. The climbs were fun, the rock was interesting, and there was a good mix of easier and hard routes. The area wasn’t quite as pretty as I thought it would be, but it blows anything we have around us in Ottawa out of the water. We’re just starting to get a bit spoiled visiting so many nice places I guess.

Now being that we were in Bishop which is probably most well known for its bouldering we decided to check out the Buttermilks for a day. Emily has wanted to boulder in a few of the places we’ve visited in this trip but bouldering outdoors for me just doesn’t feel exciting. There’s very rarely such thing as a ‘chill’ boulder problem, you always have to try hard of painful holds. The few times a problem is easy it ends up not feeling like you accomplished much because it’s over so quickly and the view is basically the same as from the ground.

Anyways, we committed to it so we went to the climbing store and rented some crash pads. Unfortunately the road to the Buttermilks got damaged from some flooding during the spring and our van couldn’t quite make it all the way. We had to park 2.5 miles out and hike in lugging up the huge pads in the hot sun. When we finally got there the boulders were pretty impressive and huge. It definitely would be incredibly scary to climb anything hard up on the massive highballs. We tried to climb a few things but everything was mostly too hard for us or quite scary because the climbs went up pretty high.

The rock was also quite painful on our skin and made our fingertips raw. Overall I would say I had a bad time climbing there but it’s probably because it’s just not my thing.

After another day of sport climbing we set off and started making our way towards Yosemite. On our way there it just so happened that there was a Disc Golf Pro Tour event happening in Stockton which wasn’t incredibly out of the way. I was still hemmin and hawing about wether we should go but Emily went ahead and bought us tickets. This was very nice of her because she doesn’t love disc golf and it’s a long day to stand around watching people throw plastic frisbees around if you’re not that into it.

At the tournament we ended up getting asked to volunteer and keep stats for one of the cards. We got to walk with the players as they played their round which was pretty neat. We got to hear them talk about many things like their sponsors, other players, touring life etc. And we got a close up look at a lot of incredible throws. The nice part afterward was that with our brand new staff shirts we were also given VIP access and were now allowed free reign on the property. It was pretty cool to see all the pros up close and see how easy they make it look to throw over 500ft.

Pretty cool day but im definitely ready to get back climbing. Really really looking forward to the valley.

Emily

Bishop is a pretty cute little town in California that seems to be centred around outdoor adventure. Dan said he could definitely see himself living there. I’m convinced he’s giving a little too much weight to the fact there’s an “outlet grocery store” right in town.

Within 5 minutes of being at our new campground, we were alerted by the rattle of a rattlesnake (which only Dan heard…lol). Given we heard it was rattlesnake season and the fact we saw one right away, I was sure we would be encountering snakes right, left and center. Turns out, that was the only one we saw. I sent my Dad a picture of the snake and he responded “don’t worry, I won’t show mom”. 😂

The campground was pretty neat. The sandy desert floor was paired with the backdrop of the massive eastern Sierra mountains. It was a bit confusing for our brains though…the giant snowy mountains were so close by would seem to indicate the air would be cool, but we were absolutely baking in the hot sun and 30 degree weather.

We spent about a week in Bishop. The majority of the days we spent climbing in Owen’s River Gorge, which is mostly sport climbing. To get to the climbing, there was a steep descent into a gorge. The rock was pretty incredible looking - column-like features that twists in unnatural looking ways.

Dan and I aren’t big into outdoor bouldering, but we knew we had to make a stop at the Buttermilks, a world-famous bouldering destination located in Bishop. Well…we kinda had a not-so-great time. First, the road to the boulders was washed out from recent flooding, so we decided to walk the road instead of drive, which ended up being a hefty hike in while carrying the bouldering pads, water, and snacks.

When we got there, we found everything tall and scary, hard, and it was super hot given the lack of shade. Despite our overall bad experience, we still had some good, memorable moments:

Climbing our first highballs.

Working out the weird moves on “The Womb” - a boulder where you need to crawl into a hole and awkwardly find your way out.

Our next real planned stop was Yosemite National Park, but we made a stop in Stockton, CA to watch a pro disc golf tournament. When we got to the course, Dan looked like a kid in a candy store. Vendors selling disc golf paraphernalia everywhere, other disc golf-obsessed folks nerding out around us, pro disc golfers walking around.

We started the day by following the lead card of the women’s finals. Even I (not a big disc golf fan) was fan-girling a bit seeing the pros that Dan and I had watched on TV at home. Sadly, we got pulled aside at one point and told we needed “VIP” wrist bands to follow the tournament from hole to hole. This was obviously super disappointing. While contemplated our next move, someone approached us and asked if we’d like to volunteer by following one of the groups to keep score.

I was initially apprehensive..first because I didn’t want to be responsible for entering the wrong scores, and I also felt a little like an imposter fan since I don’t love disc golf. BUT volunteering meant we would be able to have free reign of the course without restrictions…a status even higher than “VIP”.

Another perk was the free snacks and sunscreen. Dan went to put some sunscreen on his face, which I pretty quickly noticed was actually very light tinted moisturizer. Too late - he had pinkish-grey streaks across his face for the rest of the day 😂.

As it turned out, Dan ended up keeping score while I just tagged along (perfect!). Following the group of pros actually felt a lot like watching a reality TV show (and y’all know how I like reality TV). We got some insight into their real personalities, and overheard some interesting disc golf gossip. One guy who appeared really friendly on TV was actually kinda a big jerk, another guy complained A LOT about the government and paying taxes, and another got pretty candid with us about the struggles of living in his car while touring.

At the end of the round, each of the players gave me a fist bump to thank me for volunteering, which has always felt like a super unnatural movement to me. We were absolutely pooped by the end of the day, but incredibly excited for our next stop …YOSEMITE!!!