6 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
As you drive south on 26/97 from Madras to Terrebonne, look east, just north of Smith. You will see several ridgetop pinnacles. This area is referred to as Mendenhall Ridge on Mountain Project. The biggest horn shaped tower has an offensive name, but I call it Picnic Rock. The precarious pinnacle with a narrow base has been called both Hanging Rock and the Poplar. Anyhow, because of our recent fun times climbing towers in Sedona, Melinda and I decided to explore them and consider climbing them. We carried our climbing gear- rope and trad rack, making our packs heavy-good training for our upcoming objectives.
The weather was lovely and we enjoyed the desert rambling. Got to Picnic Rock and examined a potential two pitch route to the summit using a crack system that looked decent for taking gear, but the rock was suspect. We wondered why there was no mention on MP as this was the most prominent of the pinnacles in the area (We later saw that it was well documented with several routes in the Watts Guide). Chickened out on the climb, but enjoyed our lunch here.
We then sidehilled over to the adjacent ridge to examine the routes on " The Poplar and The Sapling". These look so cool from a distance, but up close- not as aesthetic. We were getting hot and tired, and the chimney on Poplar was full of bird poo, so we decided to skip it and just hike out. We need one of them testosterone laden rope guns to lead this type o climb.
