Ten Sleep Canyon CLIMBING

Category: Wyoming Elev: ~7,500 ftRock Type: Madison Limestone and Bighorn Dolomite
Dates: August 2014(x1 day), August 2021(x1 day), June 2023(x4 days)Partners: Eric Schweitzer (2014), Nate Arganbright (2021), Erika Bannon (2023), Alissa Doherty (2023)
Trip Report #s: 172c, 488(these trip report numbers correspond to the first two times I climbed at Ten Sleep and established this page on my website)

List of Climbs I've Done & Some Photos

Ten Sleep Canyon is a premier limestone climbing area in Wyoming. It is located just east of the town of Ten Sleep on Highway 16. There are dozens of mini-crags up and down the canyon offering nearly 1000 routes. Routes range in grade from 5.7 to 5.14. Almost all the climbing is sport.

The first time I climbed in Ten Sleep was in August 2014, for one afternoon during which we climbed just a few routes, on the drive between Devil's Tower in Wyoming and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. I only got a flavor for the climbing on this quick trip, but I knew someday I would come back. Seven years later, in August 2021, again passing through after a trip to Devil's Tower and on a 10-day climbing road trip beginning in the Black Hills Needles of South Dakota and continuing through few climbing areas in Wyoming, one of which was Ten Sleep, I established this page on my website. A couple of years later I joined a work/climb trip to Ten Sleep where I stayed in an Airbnb with a couple of friends and cragged after work, which was a fun way to experience the area and not have to take days off work.

On this page, I keep a list of the climbs I've done in Ten Sleep Canyon. Below the list, I have random photos from cragging in Ten Sleep Canyon.

list of climbs i've done at Ten Sleep Canyon

Ten Sleep

Photos

Some random photos from climbing at Ten Sleep Canyon.

Color coded by area:
Roadside Areas - Home Alone        Lower Canyon - Hound Dog Crag       Lower Canyon - Wall of Denial      Dry Wall     French Cattle Ranch

First Trip to Ten Sleep Canyon (Aug 2014)

Date: August 2, 2014 (Sat)      Partner: Eric Schweitzer       Climbed at: Roadside Areas - Home Alone 

I originally posted the following photos on my 2014 Devil's Tower trip report, but added them here when I created this Ten Sleep page in 2021. These photos were taken during one afternoon at Ten Sleep, where we stopped briefly on the drive from Devil's Tower to Rocky Mountain National Park. We climbed three routes at the Home Alone area.

1. The limestone crags along highway 16 just east of the town of Ten Sleep.
2. We stopped for a few hours and climbed at the popular roadside area called Home Alone. Even though I am not really much of a fan of sport climbing or cragging, it was a fun stop. I've not climbed on limestone much before this.
3. The view from the crag at Ten Sleep Canyon.

Second Trip to Ten Sleep Canyon (Aug 2021)

Date: August 5, 2021 (Thu)    Partner: Nate Arganbright      Climbed at: Lower Canyon - Hound Dog Crag

A one-day five-route stop between Devil's Tower and Deep Lake on a 10-day climbing road trip beginning in the Black Hills Needles of South Dakota and continuing through few climbing areas in Wyoming. The climbing here is good and I could see climbing here as a great way to get stronger, but I will always be a trad multipitch girl at heart.

4. How Ten Sleep got its name. The Indians measured distance in the number of sleeps, and Ten Sleep was located "ten sleeps" between two of the main camps.
5. We stayed at the Ten Sleep RV Park for a night to regroup after Devil's Tower, take a shower, charge the batteries, etc.
6. We splurged and stayed at a cabin at the RV Park. Nate wanted an air-conditioned place to sleep.
7. Enjoying an evening on the porch reading.
8. Hound Dog Crag.
9. If there are sticktights, Steph will somehow manage to walk through them.
10. Looking up Big Bear Memorial (5.10c), a must-do classic at the crag following a nice bolted crack system. Mostly stemming around the crack and limestone jugs for hands.
11. Nate leading Big Bear Memorial (5.10c). I also led this route. Fun stuff.
12. Looking down Big Bear Memorial (5.10c).
13. Nate leading Banga (5.11c).
14. Looking down Banga (5.11c). Just follow the chalked holds to the top when you are sport climbing!
15. A band of chert?
16. All the routes we did had mussy hooks at the top.
17. Nate leading Munsterlander (5.11c), a 5-star must-do at the crag.
18. Steep climbing on Munsterlander (5.11c).
19. Roadside cragging.
20. Nate got a burger and fries at 1 Cow in Ten Sleep after our morning of cragging. He reported it to be one of the better burgers he had had in awhile.
21. I took advantage of the stop to download some photos and hotspot on my computer, and ate some stale crackers and warm tuna.

Third Trip to Ten Sleep Canyon (June 2023)

Date: June 7-10, 2023 (Wed-Sat)    Partners: Erika Bannon, Alissa Doherty     Climbed at: Dry Wall, Lower Canyon - Wall of Denial, French Cattle Ranch, Lower Canyon - Hound Dog Crag

My friend Erika does a lot of work/climb trips where she goes to an area for a couple of weeks, usually stays in an Airbnb with power and wi-fi, and then works and climbs, often not having to take any vacation days off work and getting to climb in a cool area that is too far away from home for just a weekend. Since I began my remote job in July 2022, the idea of joining her has become tempting. Finally, in June 2023, fed up with the wet weather (Colorado is the new Pacific Northwest, apparently), I joined her and her friend Alissa for a work/climb trip to Ten Sleep. 

We all drove up after work on Tuesday, with the plan (weather permitting of course since the forecast did call for daily thundershowers) of cragging after work on Wednesday-Friday and then cragging a full day Saturday and then driving home Sunday. For the first three nights (Tue-Thu) we were staying at in airbnb in the town of Ten Sleep and for the last two nights (Fri-Sat) we planned to stay at the campground at the Ten Sleep Brewing Co. During the week, everything went to plan, and we climbed 4-6 pitches every evening after work. We had the place to ourselves and temperatures were perfect. On Saturday, we woke up to rain. We managed to get in one pitch (then it counts as a day of climbing, right?) before deciding to use the rest of the day to make the 7 hour drive back home. Despite the weather cutting the trip short, this was a fun trip and made the work week much more enjoyable. I hope to do more of these kind of work/climb trips in the future.

22. Downtown Ten Sleep. With the stormy skies, this place is a nice setting for a Steven King novel.
23. Driving into the canyon. The storm clouds were threatening but nothing ever materialized.
24. Approaching Dry Wall. The thundershowers never materialized and we got in a productive 6-pitch session! There are lots of bolted cracks and corners at Dry Wall. 
25. Erika leading our first route of the afternoon: Pop Quiz (10b) at Dry Wall. A fun bolted crack.
26. Alissa leading our second route of the afternoon: Neufchatel (5.10b) at Dry Wall. Another fun bolted crack.
27. Our third route of the afternoon: Who Dunnit? (5.10d) at Dry Wall. An aesthetic corner climb.
28. Midway up Who Dunnit? (5.10d) at Dry Wall. 
29. Alissa leading our fourth route of the afternoon: Cheese Sauce (5.11a) at Dry Wall. Another aesthetic corner climb.
30. Alissa leading our fifth route of the afternoon: Mug Shot (5.11a) at  Dry Wall. Our sixth (and final and also hardest) route of the afternoon is the next bolted line to the left: Kunckle Basher (5.11b). 
31. Typical anchors at Dry Wall. 
32. View up canyon. We had the place to ourselves in perfect climbing conditions.
33. Back at the car after a productive after-work session of cragging.
34. The Airbnb where we stayed for the first three nights of our trip. This was nice to have to be able to put in a full work day before an after-work session of climbing. This is on the main street in Ten Sleep. I think my phone camera was a bit fogged up when I took this photo.
35. My office (at least until the daily afternoon thundershower hit).
36. Pacific bleeding hearts at the Airbnb.
37. The Airbnb had a map where you could add a pushpin for where you came from. I added a pushpin for Estes Park.
38. Fish tank at the Airbnb. Maybe I should get some fish to keep my cat Newt entertained when I am gone for a few days.
39. Wildlife during a morning jog.
40. I paused during my morning jog to watch a helicopter crop dusting a field. It was a beautiful morning and the light was lighting up the dusting, and I wished I had a better camera (all I had on me was my phone).
41. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a few days (egg wrap, salmon, cream cheese, lettuce, grape tomatoes, and cucumber with a Fanta to wash it down). Tasty. 
42. Plinko (10b) at Dry Wall. Our first route of our second after-work session. 
43. Sheltering from a thundershower. Fortunately is passed and we got in two more fun pitches of climbing before calling it quits for the evening.
44. Ice cave. There are lots of these scattered at the base of Dry Wall (and perhaps other cliffs too).
45. Insane Hound Posse (10b) at Lower Canyon - Wall of Denial. A fun steep route with lots of cool holds.
46. On my second morning jog, I went south from Ten Sleep on Cottonwood Street / 434. I passed some idyllic ranches. What a nice place to jog.
47. Wyoming is a reliably red state.
48. Another Biden sign.
49. This was my favorite sign of the bunch.
50. Oops. I learned that you cannot put dish soap in a dishwasher. (I had found some unlabeled pods in a jar and some dish soap, and not knowing which to put in—disclaimer: my family nor I have never owned a dishwasher—I decided to put in a pod and some dish soap....not a good idea...).
51. Thanks Alissa for helping me clean up my mess as I had to take an intermission for a work meeting.
52. For our Friday after-work session, we went to French Cattle Ranch. This is a popular area.
53. Voluntary bird closures at French Cattle Ranch area. 
54. The hike to French Cattle Ranch area was a sea of beautiful wildflowers. 
55. Field chickweed.
56. Another variety of pretty white flowers. I looked these up on a flower app I have on my phone and determed they are probably Small-flowered Woodland Stars.
57. Another pretty flower. My flower app suggests this is Heartleaf Arnica.
58. Erika leading Copper Top (11b) at French Cattle Ranch: Matrix Pillar. An okay route. There were better routes in the area but the area was pretty crowded so we took what we could get.
59. Snatching a few pages of reading while off belay duty. 
60. For Friday and Saturday nights we stayed at the campground at the Ten Sleep Brewing Co.
61. Pleasant camping at the Ten Sleep Brewing Co without the scene of the Rock Ranch.
62. Settling in for the evening.
63. Driving into Ten Sleep Canyon on a rainy Saturday morning, determined to climb something.
64. Waiting for the rain to left up under a boulder at Hound Dog Crag.
65. Waiting for the rain to left up under a boulder at Hound Dog Crag. The two who joined us were Alissa and Erika's friends from Boulder.
66. It counts as a day of climbing if you get in one pitch, right? And a great pitch it was: the classic Big Bear Memorial (10c) at Hound Dog Crag.
67. Rain drops on grass. The wet brush meant we were soaked from the knees down on the hike out.
68. Water droplet on leaf.
69. I drove through a pretty intense storm on the way home. Wyoming has some pretty intense weather.

previous and next adventures

(August 2014: First time cragging at Ten Sleep Canyon)
(August 2021: Second time cragging at Ten Sleep Canyon)
(June 2023: Third time cragging at Ten Sleep Canyon)