Smith Rock Climbing Festival - Fall Trail Day
Come Give Back at Trail Days - Oct 4th!
This year's fall Trail Day is on Sunday, October 4th, which is the last day of the Smith Rock Climbing Festival. So if you're already headed out to Smith for the festival, we've got an easy way to spend a few hours of it giving back to the rock before you head out.
What we'll be working on
Three projects, ranging from moderate to pretty physical:
Monument Belay Ledges — Finishing the retaining walls and staircase into the base-area ledges, so climbers can get to each one without wearing away more soil in the approach. Physically demanding.
Rope De Dope Stairs — Replacing stairs, rebuilding belay ledges, decommissioning old use trails, and building retaining walls. This area needs a lot of love, so we'll have several teams working it together. Moderate to highly physical.
Russian Thistle Removal (Main Area) — Clearing tumbleweeds by hand before they go to seed, to cut down next year's invasive growth. Moderate effort — a good option if you want to help but keep it lighter. Bring your own leather gloves for this one.
The details
When: Saturday, October 4th, 10 am–4 pm
Where: Smith Rock State Park — meet at the grass lots by the bathroom
Bring: Water, sturdy shoes, leather gloves (required if you're on thistle removal, useful either way)
Cost: Free
Why it's worth carving out the time
Smith Rock sees close to a million visitors a year, and the trails, belay stations, and staging areas take a real beating. Trail Days is how a relatively small group of people keeps ahead of that wear — one retaining wall, one staircase, one trash bag of tumbleweeds at a time.
If you're in town for the Climbing Festival anyway, this is a chance to meet the people who keep this place climbable, put in a few solid hours of real work, and go enjoy the rest of your weekend knowing you left it a little better than you found it.
Questions about the event? Reach out here.
