The Choss Files #3 – Perham Creek

Welcome to the third installment of the Choss Files. Last time we checked out a scrappy crag an hour from Boise, which turned out to be less than inspiring. This time, I turned my focus to some rock that is pretty close to town, only about a ten minute drive or so at the Perham Creek trailhead. From hiking in the area I knew there were some small limestone outcrops down by the trail, and some promising looking cliffs up high on a ridge. Yesterday afternoon I took a break from work, grabbed the dog and headed out to see what could be found.

We hiked up the trail until I found a good spot to cut up the steep slope towards the top of the ridge. It was slow going, as the ground was soft and the way was steep. After plodding up hill for fifteen minutes or so, I got the first close up view of the cliffs, and it looked somewhat promising. They were fins, similar to Thompson Creek, and if the rock was good, looked like they would yield some fun routes in a cool setting.

Alas, it was not to be. This stuff makes the Fisher Towers look like granite. It was some sort of crumbling mud/stone matrix. Oh well, can’t win them all I suppose. After so many successful explorations around town, it was a bit strange to be let down. We chilled at the cliff for a bit, and then checked out the top of the ridge before descending back to the car. Another cliff sat at the top, some sort of funky, bad limestone. Really interesting geology, not so good for climbing. On the way down, we passed by some other limestone outcrops that were pretty small. The stone was really good, the same as the hard grey stuff on the right side of the Puoux, but there just wasn’t anything worth climbing on really, unless you want to do some low ball boulder problems and short top ropes.

Until next time…