I had planned a 4-day climbing trip in the Rocky Mountain National Park area with Annie Hines, but the first day of our planned trip was forecasting "60% thundershowers after 1pm" in the Park. We tossed around the ideas of Lumpy Ridge, Eldorado Canyon, and Boulder Canyon. I had climbed the last 2 days at Lumpy and had already climbed at Eldorado Canyon, but had never climbed at Boulder Canyon. Neither had Annie, so we were both eager to check it out. So Boulder Canyon it was!

Boulder Canyon is just west of Boulder. The rock is granite, smooth in places but for the most part highly textured. The canyon has a wide variety of climbing types, both sport and trad, and nice scenery above the highway. At the recommendation of an Estes Park local, Annie and I started off the day by doing laps on three popular routes at Bell Buttress: Cosmosis, West Face, and West Crack. We finished the day by climbing a 2-pitch route on the cool-looking Cob Rock ("that rock looks cool, lets climb something on it"). The tyroleans across Boulder Creek to access Bell Buttress and Cob Rock were a unique treat to climbing on the south side of the highway. We finished early, but we needed to get ready for a climb in RMNP the next day.