[Jamin Smitchger]

Suicide Canyon is located about 10 miles west of Lewiston in the Snake River Canyon Phase 1, I attempted to go up Suicide Canyon a few weekends ago. I discovered that there was a small moat of water blocking the way. After I quickly figured out where to cross the moat, I tried to head up the canyon, but I was stopped by a thick growth of blackberry bushes, which were taller than I was. After 45 minutes of hacking through them, I returned to my car disappointed. I had only traveled about 25 feet past the moat. Phase 2, I showed my friend, Doug, Suicide Canyon on our way to see the Devils' Eye Arch a few miles away. He agreed that it would be fun to see what was up the canyon. Phase 3, Doug and I decided to climb up Suicide Canyon this Wednesday. We got a late start and were at the canyon a little bit before 4pm. After I used a shovel to hack past the remaining blackberries in our path, we made our way to the right hand side of the canyon, and tried to proceed. A thick patch of blackberries growing up the slope forced us to gain elevation and do a short easy bit of rock climbing in order to get around them. After a short amount of brush bashing, we broke out into an open, rocky slope. I climbed up many short, dangerous, extremely chossy cliffs for fun while Doug took the safe and sane approach up the canyon. Doug was following me up the canyon when I heard him yell "SNAKE" at the top of his lungs. He had seen part of a rattlesnake sliding under a rock. It was rather unnerving when I realized that I must have passed within about 2 feet of the reptile without even knowing it. Because Doug wanted to take a picture of it and I wanted to eat it, we tried to scare the snake out from under the rock, but the rock was too big for either of us to move. Does anybody know whether it is legal to hunt rattlesnakes? A little bit further down the canyon, the texture of the cliffs around us changed. It was no longer the loose, dangerous, chossy rock that we had seen down lower in the canyon. I went up to a cliff, and I found that it had incredibly good holds and nice solid cracks for stoppers. I begged Doug to give me a belay. He consented, and after gearing up I prepared to lead the route. Like any route that has never been climbed before, there was some choss, but in general the rock was not bad. I had the third lead fall of my life on a #12 stopper, but Doug capably stopped me even though he had never caught a fall before in his life. This was one of the most enjoyable rock climbs that I have had. The rock was some of the best I have seen in my life and pro placements were bomber. Even though the cliffs are only 25-30 feet high, they offer some great trad climbing near Pullman.

The rock

After finishing rock climbing, we realized that it would was going to get dark in about 1-2 hours. We both wanted to get up to the top of the canyon, but we knew that we would have to hurry. We started traveling as fast as we could up a cow trail. In a few minutes I was beginning to feel winded, but we kept pushing upward. Just below the top of the canyon we started running up the hill because we were worried about it getting dark. From the top of the canyon, we could see about 30 miles south to the snowy Blue Mountains, and we were looking down into the Snake River Canyon, which during this time of year is an absolutely beautiful shade of green. The sun was just beginning to set, and it was one of the top ten beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen in my life. We started heading down when the sun was beginning to set, and we made good time down the canyon. It was just starting to get dark when we encountered problems. We could easily see my car down on the road below us, but it seemed that there was nothing but cliffs blocking our path down to the bottom of the canyon. I thought about rapelling down to the canyon floor, but there was no way to set up an anchor. There was only one way that looked like it might go, and that way would probably involve a good bit of brush bashing. Then the adventure happened. Think me, Doug, a big thick patch of blackberries, one small cliff, and a pitch dark night. It was the best recipe for an epic that I have ever come across, and it was a great way to make (terrible) memories. Anyways, it looked like the best way down to the bottom of the canyon was to climb down a short section of rock and drop down into a patch of blackberries that seemed to be only about 2-3 feet deep. However, I could not see very well with my headlamp. Anyways, I went down the short section of rock and then I tried to stand on the mat of blackberries. It seemed pretty solid so I stepped out on it it. Then I started sinking into the mat. I was sure that I would hit the ground at any moment. However, I ended up sinking down into the mat about 12 feet. The vines caught my fall, but because I was wearing a short sleeve shirt, I got many scratches on my arms. When I shone my light around, I quickly found out that I was at the bottom of a slightly overhanging cliff. Most of the vines where I was were dead because the thick canopy of vines above me shut out all of the light, but it was still a incredible spectacle. The vines were rising upwards like an evil forest from hell. After getting oriented, I told Doug to come down. He came down with a bump, landing painfully on his rear end in a tangle of vines. Since I had gotten us both into that mess, I was determined to get us out. All I was able to see at that point was vines higher than my head. It was then that I pulled out my secret blackbery fighting weapon. I had been carrying a heavy duty, thorn impervious carhartt coat with me in case it started to rain. I put the coat on and started forcing my way through the vines by brute strength. I was only a few minutes afterward when I broke out into an open area. Soon we were back at the car. It was the most welcome sight that you can imagine.