The idea of getting paid to climb in the Black Canyon almost sounded too good to be true. But, I found myself on the North Rim of the Black Canyon in early June to meet my friend Bernadette, a botanist with Colorado State University.
We spent the next four full days driving around between different sites, hiking, scrambling, rappelling and climbing on the walls of the Black in search of a small, rare plant called Black Canyon gilia (Gilia penstemenoides). It is a “climbers’ plant” because it only lives on steep cliff faces and not on ledges or in cracks. It likes little tiny seams or pockets. I’m not a flower lover but I have to admit it, I fell in love with it and had a great time with Bernadette as she described to me the unique characteristics of the many plants we saw around the area.
I am a committed first ascent seeker because I love the adventure and adrenaline you get when climbing a route for the first time. Hence, it was with great excitement that I located our first new, previously undocumented site of the Black Canyon gilia. I was hooked. Even when out for a run in the evenings after work I kept scanning cliff faces in search of this elusive little plant.
The task of relocating previously documented sites, the climbers’ equivalent of a repeat or second ascent of a route, was also a thrill. My first 10 hour day was filled with rappelling, climbing, scrambling, hiking many miles and carefully scanning cliff faces with a spotting scope but without finding a trace of the gilia. The difficulty of the task was immediately exciting and every time I spotted one of the little things I was filled with excitement.
I hope to do future work in this field and have had some discussions about future projects. In a way, I found it a way to make a more useful purpose for climbing and that alone has helped hook me into the work.
For more, check out Bernadette’s botany blog post or my gallery of pictures from the experience.