Last weekend I had my technical rock climbing class at Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin. I had a great time trying to climb outdoors for a change as it really is quite different than climbing on an indoor wall.

Saturday we spent the entire day at the Railroad Ampitheater with several routes setup. Being pretty much a novice climber, I didn't have the stamina/strength to climb all day, but it was still awesome watching some of the other more skilled climbers. One of the guys climbed every route there with ease. Later in the afternoon a little rain blew in and we decided to go for a hike and eventually head back to the campsite. On this hike we went up the rock stairs to Devil's Doorway and along the East Bluff Trail back to our campsite. I don't envy the person who turned the scree field into a staircase!!

Sunday we ended up at Balanced Rock and had about seven top ropes setup for the day. I enjoyed this wall more than Railroad Ampitheater, but it's definately not a solitary place to climb as the hiking trail passes about 10 feet from the wall. I enjoyed the routest on this wall a little more for some reason. The ones at Railroad Ampitheater were just somewhat akward compared to those at Balanced Rock. We stayed at Devil's Lake until mid afternoon then carpooled back to La Crosse.

Although I'm not much of a rock climber, it was a lot of fun playing around on the easier routes and just watching some of the more skilled climbers. Definately one of the easiest credits to get at college.