Ian Caldwell

Spring Thing Volunteer Day at Smith Rock returns for the 25th year!!! Made limited number of 25 years of volunteering t-shirts. Show up at parking lot between 8am and 9:30am to sign up for a project. Alan Watts and Doug Crispin (former park ranger) will give a slideshow and talk about development of Smith Rock in the 80s and early 90s. We provide dinner for volunteers. Also screaming deals at the Auction and Raffle. (need to volunteer to attend evening event)

Great event. We had 165 people show up. Got a ton of work done. The weather was perfect at 64 degrees. The day before was nearly 80 and on Sunday it rained off and on all day. Thanks everyone who helped or donated. ian

http://www.ktvz.com/news/rescuers-reach-fallen-injured-smith-rock-climber/25807000

Score some good karma points by volunteering. Good karma helps you send routes! Evening event is lots of fun. Yoga starts at 3:30. Slackline will be set up. Several shoes demos. Practice your dart throwing to win prizes. NEW this year...free "Spring Thing" Stickers. T-shirts for sale $5 (we lose money on them, so this is a good deal for you). We will also have the spotting scope on the golden eagle nest.

Lots of projects lined up. Shipwreck Wall, including over to Voyage of the Cow Dog, Phoenix Buttress Area, Marsupials Area, Backside Trails, Aggro Gully, Misery Ridge Trail, Monkey Face Trail. Lots of prizes coming in. Gonna be a good year.

The Smith Rock Spring Thing, volunteer day, will be on Saturday May 3rd, 2014. We normally have about 200 people. Projects will be throughout the park. Sign up in the parking lot between 8 - 10 am for a project. Dinner, slideshow and auction will be that evening.

Spring Thing this weekend. Weather looks good. This is a really good event. We get lots of work done during the day and in the evening have a ton of fun. This year we will have a slackline set up in the front yard and yoga in the back yard (3pm and 4pm). Dinner, slideshow, lots of great gear for killer deals (auction and raffle). There will also be golden carabiners hidden in some of the projects, which you can win a prize if you find one. ian

Great way to rack up good Karma points to help you send your project.

Smith Rock. It looks like the closure for the Prairie Falcons is also going into effect in the First Kiss area. It will be the same closure as the last 2 years.

There are multiple Golden Eagle nests in the Monument area at Smith. Every year they use a different nest.

At Smith Rock, the Golden Eagles have returned and appear to have selected a nest site in the Monument area (different nest than last year). Closure is in effect. There is a pair of Bald Eagles nesting near the Bivi area. You can see the Balds flying over the climbing area most days. No word on the Prairie Falcons yet. Although I think I saw one yesterday.

Fuel taxes from snowmobiles also pay into the program, that's why their fees are less.

I think a guy named Leonard??? lived in the Coos Bay/North Bend area about 10-15 years ago. He was climbing 5.13s at Smith. I heard he put up some routes in the coastal area. I think he moved to colorado some years ago. I have no beta for you, but if you hike around you might find some developed areas.

How many jamboxes do you see at Smith? People don't take them out because other people don't want to hear the music. Ipod and headphones is the easy solution.

That swing has endangered other people. And by the many anti-swinging rants here and supertopo and complaints State Parks has received it is ruining other peoples experiences.