Wednesday, July 29
Ok, so, I sort of broke my promise-I haven’t kept the blog up to date very well lately. As you can tell, there’s a lot to catch up on from the last 2.5 weeks. I’ll try to bring you up to speed quickly and painlessly.
Ok so the week of the 13th, work was not too exciting. Well, for me and most of the wilderness crew at least. We returned with the fire crew to North inlet trail. There, for the next 3 days, the Fire crew with Jim and Terra cut down over 70 MPB kill trees in all the campsites along the inlet. As for the rest of us, we were given the most important duty of protecting the lives of the innocent hikers. Meaning, we sat there at the intersection of the access trail drinking our coffees*1 , eating, daydreaming, what have you; halting and talking to the scattered few visitors we saw. After the fire crew was finished felling trees at each campsite, we usually had the chance to at least help clear out the logs and branches in the site. Oh and I almost forgot, the American conservation Corps were up in the inlet as well, taking down on old hitching rack. They had one boy in their group named Random. How interesting. He basically brought 30 cliff bars to live off of for the four days, besides the dinners. What a random, bad idea.
At night, the conservation group cooked dinner together and the wilderness crew enjoyed our first group dinners (first night provided by Tara, the second by Christina, and dessert was painstakingly and lovingly put together by Ryan (a delicious no bake cheese cake), and it was all marvelous) We all watched with interest as the fire crew ate their MRE meals (which they ate for 3 meals a day). *2
Oh, one good thing out of that part of the week-the boss of the fire crew, Singer, mentioned to me that I should do fire crew, and to give him a call next year. A summer where I actually make money? Good money? Now there’s a novel idea. I am rather tempted-could have some new exciting experiences, and not to mention some free travel (ok, so maybe I wont see much battling fires, but I’ll have the chance to do some resource management-new form of education).
Thursday we worked with the fire crew again, but this time we worked on relocating a campsite that’s north of the big meadow. So we actually got to do some real work, which is always exciting. We created a new trail with markers, put in new tent pads, and did fill.
Lets see, the weekend of the 17th to 19th. I believe that Friday, Jim, Estabon (spelling?), Kelly, and I made an attempt on the Diamond. We were up at 2:00 in the morning, hiking by 3:20 am. It was a long day, and unfortunately, because we got caught in the bottleneck of the climb in this chimney at the base of the diamond with all this loose rock *3 and people flying by, we only got the 1st pitch of the casual route done, before we rapped out. But at least I got my second lead on trad climbing in, with Kelly’s very helpful mentoring.
Saturday, I went climbing with Kelly, her 2 year old Rohoan (no idea how to spell), and her climbing friend, Pete. We went down to the Monastery, and did about 3 good pitches. I then hung out with Kelly at her house and watched that movie on earth houses made out of garbage.
Sunday…I think I sort of just relaxed, went for the first sort of long run in a very long while. It felt pretty good after the first sluggish 20 minutes. Got some other things done. Oh and I went to the library and basically just researched South America.
Monday, the 20th-my last day as a raging teenager and I’m sent out with Luke to do BICAMS (camp/bivy site inventory)-something I have learned now is very tedious and boring. We were hiking up to Meeker’s bivy site by chasm lake, and we were approaching the intersection for the lake and Boulder field on the north side of Longs Peak, when I heard a call on the radio. Someone called into 911, saying a man was having a heart attack on the Home Stretch of the Keyhole route. I slowed, listening to see if it was a real call. Luke said that they’d call us if they needed our help, though they probably wont because they like their regulars. Then the call on the radio came in that people had started CPR and Andy was heading up from Boulder field with the hasty med kit. I called when we got to the intersection, asking if they needed our help. They said yes and to meet them up the Keyhole route. We headed as fast as we could for Boulder field and the keyhole. But when we got to the far side, Andy called us in, saying we should go back to what we were doing, they have the help they need. So we turned around, disappointed and confused. But then they called us in again, asking us to walk down with the party that was with the man. I was wondering what was going on. I knew they called a helicopter, Maybe just Andy and the man were gong to wait for them to come in (I for some reason assumed they had an AED in the med kit). Andy informed me that the daughter of the man was in the group.
So we waited and listened. Soon I heard mention of a body on the radio. I wondered, but it just didn’t sink in (I guess I’ve just pictured all the rescues of me being on, being successful-the first one gave me that false sense of security). I confirmed the truth though with Michelle (a back country ranger) when she arrived. I wondered now how old the daughter was. I figured if the father was 62, she must be late 30’s, early forties. Oh how I was wrong. When they finally met us at Boulderfield, we found out that the daughter, Natalie, was really was the only one in the group that was actually with the man, the rest were just involved in CPR. Natalie, it turns out, was only 22 years old. Within 10 minutes of their arrival, I was walking with Natalie to the trail head, six miles down trail, while Michelle and Luke interviewed all the people involved in the incident. Andy waited for the helicopter. He waited with the body. Alone.
Just before the trail head, we met with a couple who were like Natalies Family #2. I stayed with them to the trail head, unsure what to do. There we met with Donna, the stress counselor/dispatcher for the park. She had Natalie, the couple and me join her in a ranger house, and I stayed with them for the next hour and a half, as Natalie went over probably 3 times the details of her father’s death. I don’t know how she did it.
One thing good thing that I think came out of the day, I made a new friend. Thought I’m afraid she has some hard time ahead of her, and her mom who is not in the best of health. She asked me though if I’d join her on this hike she and her dad were supposed to do the next day.
July 21st, after work where I actually did get the chance to do some BICAMS with Luke over near Morraine Park *4 , I organized a very last minute dinner, and met up with some friends at Nepal’s Café. I was really excited and happy actually with the turnout. Terra, Christina, Ryan, Matt, Monica, Estabon, Kelly, Rohoan, Garrett, and Brian Drew all made it to the party (Jim wanted to come, but unfortunately he had band practice, though he left me a gift at the restaurant). And after dinner, Garrett surprised me with a German Chocolate cake and everyone covered my bill, which I hadn’t expected at all. It was definitely one of the best birthday dinners I have ever had. *5
Wednesday and Thursday were just some more BICAM days at work. Thursday night though, I went to Terra’s friend’s house for the night and caught my flight out of Denver to San Francisco Friday morning. I was off to the re-supply for the new Joie Armstrong scholars, hoping that all my random rides and connections on places to stay, falls through.
The weekend was fantastic. I was easily able to meet up with my first ride, Steve Lockhart, who I believe is the president of Yosemite Institute (the fist of several connections I made this weekend). He turns out to be a climber of 20 years, so when he drove Jane (JAS alum from 2008) and I to Yosemite, he tells me all about these different climbing routes in Yosemite, especially alpine (now I have to go back to do them one day).
That night, I ate a delicious swordfish sandwich at a Mobile gas station *6. I stayed at a campsite that night with all the other re-suppliers and we left about 6:30 in the morning to Twin Lake, where we hiked up to Peeler Lake to meet the JAS. It was a rather hilarious time. Refer to pictures to get the thousand word details. Oh and don’t forget to watch the after lunch dance party video.
The next morning I did some crag climbing with Jesse and Alison who were on the re-supply (and had just returned from Alaska) and that afternoon, after seeing my first sequoia trees, Leslie (my former JAS leader) and I headed to Oakland, CA. there I stayed at Marcia’s (member of HI board) house and got to enjoy a nice hot Jacuzzi and shower. I headed off about 8 the next morning to San Francisco via BART. After walking around San Fran for about 4 hours, eating delicious, though odd Chinese donuts, I headed to the airport. By this time, I have realized that I left the charger for my cell phone at Marcia’s house, but know there’s nothing I can do about it now. I apologize now to those I have not gotten back to that I said I would. I’m gonna be out of cell phone communication until my charger travels halfway across the US.
Ok, I think that covers it for this entry, I’ll catch up on the last two days of work in the next one.
*1 In Ryan’s case at least. He’s been on coffee since he was 10 when he had hockey practice at 5 in the morning (yes, I did feel that the underline, italics and bold was necessary) and his dad gave it to him to perk him up.
*2 We read the ingredients on some of those packages-talk about a long list of who knows what? We think some of the ingredients are in plastic.
*3 Jim accidentally knocked a huge one loose while Kelly and I were still tied in the anchor below. I’ll confess, I was a little terrified, clinging closely to the cliff, listening to the crashing of something very big and helmet penetrable coming down toward us. Oh, I’ll give away the ending for you so you don’t have a heart attack-we lived, it missed us completely. But a helmet is first on my list of things I need to pro-deal this summer.
*4 This was somewhat exciting, because I hadn’t been on this trail before, and I got to see a coyote.
*5 So now that I’m 20, does this mean I’m a normal person now? And seen as an adult? Because all those crazy, spontaneous hormones and crazy teenager ideas all disappear on this day…right?
*6 Who would have guessed a four star chef would quite his job at a fancy restaurant to be able to ski in the winter and serve food to the local hiker and at a gas station no less?
Friday, July 31, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
These boots weren’t made for climbing, but climbing’s what I’m doin’. These boots weren’t made for climbin’ but I’m climbin’ over this peak.
Saturday, July 11
Talk about a very long, tiring week where sleep seemed to be at the bottom of the priority list. So I wont go in so much detail of everything, because I really don’t want to type up that much and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to read it. If you want the details, you’ll have to call me or come talk to me in person (meaning come visit!).
So Friday morning (July 3), I borrowed my roommate’s car (wow, she is so trusting) and drove down to Boulder to pick up Tom (who flew in that morning to Denver), shop, get a hair cut (long hair is not cutting it in this heat), and meet up with Walt and Sally Lundt for the afternoon. After I picked up Tom, we did some fast shopping and then met with Walt and Sally at the store. Unfortunately, we could not spend as much time with them as originally planned because they had to fix the propane detector on their RV, but we did get to have a wonderful lunch at this beautiful restaurant (mom, grammy-you would have loved this place), the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. The building was actually made in Tajikistan, and then sent in pieces to Boulder.It was beautiful, with original columns with engravings that were all carved by hand, colorful painted flowers on the wall. It definitely had a Himalayan theme/style. And they had rose bushes outside and delicious food.
After lunch, the Lundts gave us a driving tour of the Flat Irons and we went by El Dorado Canyon. After that, we unfortunately had to split, but it did give Tom and I some time to wonder around Boulder, before heading back to Estes Park.
Saturday (July 4th), the plan was to climb all day with Christina in Jurassic Park but unfortunately, the rain rolled in right after we finished just one route(Tom apparently flew the bad weather from New England over with him). We then spent a few hours at Christina’s house, before we headed off to a BBQ where we found everyone crammed into small shed, waiting for the rain to stop and the food to be done. Luckily, we did get a couple of volleyball games in before we headed to Jim’s to go with him to his Band concert.
Jim performed in a concert band that evening for the fourth of July. Between 2 of the songs, he received a well deserved award from his fellow band members and the community (though some people in the park service may not admit what a great guy Jim is and the amazing things he’s done for park and its visitors, the community recognizes it). After that, we went to Jim ’s friend’s house, to watch the fireworks and eat some delicious ribs.
I ended up not watching the fireworks because I got so side tracked talking to Shorty (Jim’s friend) and his wife Cartoon (who’s from Thailand). They are so amazing. Shorty is this older man who has pulmonary hypo-tension and has an oxygen tank, but this does not stop him from skiing on his own. In his day, he has done so much traveling and hiking, especially in the Himalayas. Cartoon is brilliant, knows 7 languages, and owns her own business. Their house was awesome-so many cool pieces of art from all over.
Saturday night was a late one and we had an early morning Sunday. We slept over Jim’s house, to join him, with his friend Glen (who has made 3 Everest expeditions, summiting it in the 80’s, and was using this as training to climb the Matterhorn again) to climb shark’s tooth-the most technical summit in the park-5.6 alpine climb, 6 pitches, with I think a 4-5 milee hike in and out. It was fantastic, though our day ended up far longer than we expected, and there was a close call with a thunderstorm, (we watched it blow by about 10 miles away-pretty scary when your 4 pitches up). It was awesome anyways though, and I think I (well I guess Jim really) finally got Tom hooked on rock climbing-well at least alpine rock climbing. It was pretty neat to get to know Glen too, though I don’t think he cared for us very much at first or took us seriously, until we got him talking a few times, and I went and peed on a large ledge with all the others there (hey, there’s no resisting nature’s call, especially when you’re in a harness for so many hours, and as Glen said, sometimes you have to lforget modesty on these sort of expeditions). I think it got him to see though that I do know sort of know/understand what backcountry adventures are like, and Tom and I weren’t just city kids tagging along).
Well anyways, after that long day, we had a really late dinner at Jim’s house and slept over again, to wake up at about 5 to have time to go back to my house and pack for work. Tom was able to join Luke and I for an overnight in the backcountry doing Wilderness crew work up at Pear Lake. We had the bonus too of getting an extra hike in with almost a summit of a 13000 footer.
When we got back from work Tuesday, Tom and I rushed to clean up (really just change, because we had about 10 minutes) before we headed to the Rodeo with Jim and the Venezuelans. I’ll confess, at first I thought the first 45 minutes was really boring-way too much advertisement and talk of Rodeo queens. But the Rodeo clown, the barrel races (the only event with women), and the little kids getting a taste of rodeo life with sheep-riding (so cute and kind of nerve racking at a few points) really excited things up for me. After the rodeo, we headed to a party at Christina’s (just a wee-bit late) where we were able to talk to some people, and find a ride for Tom to Boulder in the morning.
Wednesday morning, I left for work, and Tom left for the airport. For work that day, I merely spotted the trail for hikers, while Tara cut down trees, and then tossed the logs out of the camp afterwards. This was at a campsite near Big Meadows. That night I shopped, prepped for our long (probably like 20 miles) “orienteering hike” for the next day, and then checked email. At 10:30- that night however, I found out that we were instead going on a SAR the next morning to search for a 71 year old woman who got lost in the Park’s Bermuda Triangle (also known as the Mummy range). So then I had to pack for that instead-a possible overnight. It was kind of nice though not having to meet at 5 in the morning, but instead at 7. However, when I arrived at the SAR cache, I found out that the SAR was off, the woman had come out on her own, hours before the hasty search was sent out last night. Drat.
So, instead, since we didn’t have time now to do our original hike, the Wildernesss crew did half the Mummy range, checking the campsites on the way down from Yiplson.
That evening, I once again was rushing to pack in 20 minutes for my next adventure. After work, Jim picked me up, we went out for pizza and then headed to his house. I slept over to wake up early to hike/climb the Notch on Longs Peak with Jim and his friend Mark, who has also done a lot of hiking in the Himalayas and Andes. It was a long day-12 hours-but awesome. The notch is about 60-70 angle and covered in snow. We had to use 2 ice axes. After we get out of the snow, we have 2, 5.5 rock climbing pitches to the top. Once again, I find myself rock climbing in hiking boots-as I did the second half of Shark’s tooth. We just did the whole climb tandem style, to save time, and climbed down the North face. Once we got to trailhead, we talked with some of Jim’s volunteer friends at the hut and then drove back to Jim’s house to be late to Jim’s own Pieta (?-no idea how to spell) party (luckily, the Venezuelans did all the cooking and it was a real late dinner anyways).
Finally, late that night, I caught a ride home, showered, and crashed. Needless to say, today was a sort of laid-back day, very slow to get anything done.
Once again I fail to keep it short, but there were some bits I just couldn’t leave out. I met so many interested people this week and have begun to do things I didn’t think I would have the chance to do so soon.
Oh I almost forgot! Thursday did have a rather entertaining start off at the cache. A hummingbird got into the building and it was really funny watching so many people sending their jackets flying, using cardboard boxes and a snow shovel to try and chase it out. It was a good laugh for about 20 minutes.
Talk about a very long, tiring week where sleep seemed to be at the bottom of the priority list. So I wont go in so much detail of everything, because I really don’t want to type up that much and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to read it. If you want the details, you’ll have to call me or come talk to me in person (meaning come visit!).
So Friday morning (July 3), I borrowed my roommate’s car (wow, she is so trusting) and drove down to Boulder to pick up Tom (who flew in that morning to Denver), shop, get a hair cut (long hair is not cutting it in this heat), and meet up with Walt and Sally Lundt for the afternoon. After I picked up Tom, we did some fast shopping and then met with Walt and Sally at the store. Unfortunately, we could not spend as much time with them as originally planned because they had to fix the propane detector on their RV, but we did get to have a wonderful lunch at this beautiful restaurant (mom, grammy-you would have loved this place), the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. The building was actually made in Tajikistan, and then sent in pieces to Boulder.It was beautiful, with original columns with engravings that were all carved by hand, colorful painted flowers on the wall. It definitely had a Himalayan theme/style. And they had rose bushes outside and delicious food.
After lunch, the Lundts gave us a driving tour of the Flat Irons and we went by El Dorado Canyon. After that, we unfortunately had to split, but it did give Tom and I some time to wonder around Boulder, before heading back to Estes Park.
Saturday (July 4th), the plan was to climb all day with Christina in Jurassic Park but unfortunately, the rain rolled in right after we finished just one route(Tom apparently flew the bad weather from New England over with him). We then spent a few hours at Christina’s house, before we headed off to a BBQ where we found everyone crammed into small shed, waiting for the rain to stop and the food to be done. Luckily, we did get a couple of volleyball games in before we headed to Jim’s to go with him to his Band concert.
Jim performed in a concert band that evening for the fourth of July. Between 2 of the songs, he received a well deserved award from his fellow band members and the community (though some people in the park service may not admit what a great guy Jim is and the amazing things he’s done for park and its visitors, the community recognizes it). After that, we went to Jim ’s friend’s house, to watch the fireworks and eat some delicious ribs.
I ended up not watching the fireworks because I got so side tracked talking to Shorty (Jim’s friend) and his wife Cartoon (who’s from Thailand). They are so amazing. Shorty is this older man who has pulmonary hypo-tension and has an oxygen tank, but this does not stop him from skiing on his own. In his day, he has done so much traveling and hiking, especially in the Himalayas. Cartoon is brilliant, knows 7 languages, and owns her own business. Their house was awesome-so many cool pieces of art from all over.
Saturday night was a late one and we had an early morning Sunday. We slept over Jim’s house, to join him, with his friend Glen (who has made 3 Everest expeditions, summiting it in the 80’s, and was using this as training to climb the Matterhorn again) to climb shark’s tooth-the most technical summit in the park-5.6 alpine climb, 6 pitches, with I think a 4-5 milee hike in and out. It was fantastic, though our day ended up far longer than we expected, and there was a close call with a thunderstorm, (we watched it blow by about 10 miles away-pretty scary when your 4 pitches up). It was awesome anyways though, and I think I (well I guess Jim really) finally got Tom hooked on rock climbing-well at least alpine rock climbing. It was pretty neat to get to know Glen too, though I don’t think he cared for us very much at first or took us seriously, until we got him talking a few times, and I went and peed on a large ledge with all the others there (hey, there’s no resisting nature’s call, especially when you’re in a harness for so many hours, and as Glen said, sometimes you have to lforget modesty on these sort of expeditions). I think it got him to see though that I do know sort of know/understand what backcountry adventures are like, and Tom and I weren’t just city kids tagging along).
Well anyways, after that long day, we had a really late dinner at Jim’s house and slept over again, to wake up at about 5 to have time to go back to my house and pack for work. Tom was able to join Luke and I for an overnight in the backcountry doing Wilderness crew work up at Pear Lake. We had the bonus too of getting an extra hike in with almost a summit of a 13000 footer.
When we got back from work Tuesday, Tom and I rushed to clean up (really just change, because we had about 10 minutes) before we headed to the Rodeo with Jim and the Venezuelans. I’ll confess, at first I thought the first 45 minutes was really boring-way too much advertisement and talk of Rodeo queens. But the Rodeo clown, the barrel races (the only event with women), and the little kids getting a taste of rodeo life with sheep-riding (so cute and kind of nerve racking at a few points) really excited things up for me. After the rodeo, we headed to a party at Christina’s (just a wee-bit late) where we were able to talk to some people, and find a ride for Tom to Boulder in the morning.
Wednesday morning, I left for work, and Tom left for the airport. For work that day, I merely spotted the trail for hikers, while Tara cut down trees, and then tossed the logs out of the camp afterwards. This was at a campsite near Big Meadows. That night I shopped, prepped for our long (probably like 20 miles) “orienteering hike” for the next day, and then checked email. At 10:30- that night however, I found out that we were instead going on a SAR the next morning to search for a 71 year old woman who got lost in the Park’s Bermuda Triangle (also known as the Mummy range). So then I had to pack for that instead-a possible overnight. It was kind of nice though not having to meet at 5 in the morning, but instead at 7. However, when I arrived at the SAR cache, I found out that the SAR was off, the woman had come out on her own, hours before the hasty search was sent out last night. Drat.
So, instead, since we didn’t have time now to do our original hike, the Wildernesss crew did half the Mummy range, checking the campsites on the way down from Yiplson.
That evening, I once again was rushing to pack in 20 minutes for my next adventure. After work, Jim picked me up, we went out for pizza and then headed to his house. I slept over to wake up early to hike/climb the Notch on Longs Peak with Jim and his friend Mark, who has also done a lot of hiking in the Himalayas and Andes. It was a long day-12 hours-but awesome. The notch is about 60-70 angle and covered in snow. We had to use 2 ice axes. After we get out of the snow, we have 2, 5.5 rock climbing pitches to the top. Once again, I find myself rock climbing in hiking boots-as I did the second half of Shark’s tooth. We just did the whole climb tandem style, to save time, and climbed down the North face. Once we got to trailhead, we talked with some of Jim’s volunteer friends at the hut and then drove back to Jim’s house to be late to Jim’s own Pieta (?-no idea how to spell) party (luckily, the Venezuelans did all the cooking and it was a real late dinner anyways).
Finally, late that night, I caught a ride home, showered, and crashed. Needless to say, today was a sort of laid-back day, very slow to get anything done.
Once again I fail to keep it short, but there were some bits I just couldn’t leave out. I met so many interested people this week and have begun to do things I didn’t think I would have the chance to do so soon.
Oh I almost forgot! Thursday did have a rather entertaining start off at the cache. A hummingbird got into the building and it was really funny watching so many people sending their jackets flying, using cardboard boxes and a snow shovel to try and chase it out. It was a good laugh for about 20 minutes.
Well that was a great hike, when do we begin work?
Thursday, July 2
Well, I’m afraid the weeks are becoming a little less eventful. Though I guess that’s good for you, because now you wont have so suffer through yet another long entry.
Sunday, I went climbing with Garett at the December wall, which did not remind me of winter at all. We were in the intense sun all day, with no shade what so ever. I will always remember this wall, because it is where I made my first lead fall, on a 10d slab, the total drop was only about 6-8 feet. Wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I kept going, but mentally shut down later in the route on a section that was supposedly easier, but it was definitely not. Some how leaning backward on a terrible hand hold with almost no feet (and those that I had were horrible), 5 feet about my last clip in, was just not appealing to me. I had to bail and Garett gave a go at it himself, but he fell twice at the spot I froze. Luckily, a man did it on top rope and retrieved Garett’s bail bineer.
On our hike down from the cliff, we had a little excitement-Garrett almost ran into a rattlesnake. Don’t worry, he didn’t get bit, but the snake was not at all happy. Then on our drive down to Lyons to grab ice cream (well earned if you as me, and boy, after being in the searing sun all day, nothing like a milkshake to cool down the body temperature) we saw some young big horned sheep on the side of the road.
Monday, I left with Ryan and Matt for a three-day work trip. We drove to the west side and hiked in on the East Inlet Trail. The next three days involved some fill work, fixing up tent pads and removing a few fallen trees, but also a lot of down time. Without being able to use a chainsaw the work on the campsites that we can do, is limited. So we went and hiked up to the 5th lake and added another dip to our list at about 11,000 ft. I swear it was colder than the ocean on May day. My feet were in excruciating pain the instant they hit the water. Yes, I know, we’re just asking for hypothermia. Luckily the sun dried us out quick.
Wednesday, a little while after I got out of work, I went bouldering with Sam. Who in the world rated their boulder problems? Their v3 feels like a v5 just about anywhere else you go. And so it goes with just about every problem here when it comes to rock climbing, at least that’s how I feel about it.
Today, after feeding the llamas, I headed with Christina and Luke to Jim Detterline’s house to do some climbing at the Iron clads again. I have to say the ride in a lot faster and less nerve racking with Jim’s truck than Christina’s little Honda. We did a few climbing routes there then early afternoon we headed home because Jim had a meeting, but we had some exciting plans for the evening, so we would meet up. I worked on this entry and some cleaning. I was watching the weather as I did so, for something was rolling in from the west. I was getting rather worried-a thunderstorm would put a damper on our plans.
As promised Jim arrived at my house at 5:15, as well as Christina and Luke. The storm finally arrived as well. I was expecting the whole thing to be off, which was rather a disappointing thought because this was our last chance to do this adventure. Then again, I didn’t want to get struck by lightning. Well Jim came in and was like, you ready to go? I said yes, very surprised, and kind of worried. He said great, we just have a change of plans. They opened up Old Fall River 15 minutes ago, even though they weren’t supposed to open it up until tomorrow. So we wont be able to do our 25 mile down hill bike ride on the old dirt road. But we’re gonna go by the Balpate to this other dirt road, and it’s shorter but less exposed. Then after our ride, we can go eat at the Balpate (nice restaurant that just has a good salad bar, dessert and the largest key collection in the world (who’s keeping track?).
And so we went to pick up the mountain bikes and the slow moving/easily distracted Venezuelans, and a couple of Jim’s friends. Jim was able to get a mountain bike for each of us for free for the evening (I wish I had such good networking connections). We all crammed into three cars, drove to the Balpate, and then dropped one car off at the bottum of the 5ish mile hill. And then we were off. For a short run, it was fun. We briefly went on a trail with lots of rocks and pin point turns that made the going a lot more technical. It was a blast though. We finished off our evening with a delicious dinner at the Balpate restaurant and a walk through a room that hold the largest key collection in the world.
Well, I’m afraid the weeks are becoming a little less eventful. Though I guess that’s good for you, because now you wont have so suffer through yet another long entry.
Sunday, I went climbing with Garett at the December wall, which did not remind me of winter at all. We were in the intense sun all day, with no shade what so ever. I will always remember this wall, because it is where I made my first lead fall, on a 10d slab, the total drop was only about 6-8 feet. Wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I kept going, but mentally shut down later in the route on a section that was supposedly easier, but it was definitely not. Some how leaning backward on a terrible hand hold with almost no feet (and those that I had were horrible), 5 feet about my last clip in, was just not appealing to me. I had to bail and Garett gave a go at it himself, but he fell twice at the spot I froze. Luckily, a man did it on top rope and retrieved Garett’s bail bineer.
On our hike down from the cliff, we had a little excitement-Garrett almost ran into a rattlesnake. Don’t worry, he didn’t get bit, but the snake was not at all happy. Then on our drive down to Lyons to grab ice cream (well earned if you as me, and boy, after being in the searing sun all day, nothing like a milkshake to cool down the body temperature) we saw some young big horned sheep on the side of the road.
Monday, I left with Ryan and Matt for a three-day work trip. We drove to the west side and hiked in on the East Inlet Trail. The next three days involved some fill work, fixing up tent pads and removing a few fallen trees, but also a lot of down time. Without being able to use a chainsaw the work on the campsites that we can do, is limited. So we went and hiked up to the 5th lake and added another dip to our list at about 11,000 ft. I swear it was colder than the ocean on May day. My feet were in excruciating pain the instant they hit the water. Yes, I know, we’re just asking for hypothermia. Luckily the sun dried us out quick.
Wednesday, a little while after I got out of work, I went bouldering with Sam. Who in the world rated their boulder problems? Their v3 feels like a v5 just about anywhere else you go. And so it goes with just about every problem here when it comes to rock climbing, at least that’s how I feel about it.
Today, after feeding the llamas, I headed with Christina and Luke to Jim Detterline’s house to do some climbing at the Iron clads again. I have to say the ride in a lot faster and less nerve racking with Jim’s truck than Christina’s little Honda. We did a few climbing routes there then early afternoon we headed home because Jim had a meeting, but we had some exciting plans for the evening, so we would meet up. I worked on this entry and some cleaning. I was watching the weather as I did so, for something was rolling in from the west. I was getting rather worried-a thunderstorm would put a damper on our plans.
As promised Jim arrived at my house at 5:15, as well as Christina and Luke. The storm finally arrived as well. I was expecting the whole thing to be off, which was rather a disappointing thought because this was our last chance to do this adventure. Then again, I didn’t want to get struck by lightning. Well Jim came in and was like, you ready to go? I said yes, very surprised, and kind of worried. He said great, we just have a change of plans. They opened up Old Fall River 15 minutes ago, even though they weren’t supposed to open it up until tomorrow. So we wont be able to do our 25 mile down hill bike ride on the old dirt road. But we’re gonna go by the Balpate to this other dirt road, and it’s shorter but less exposed. Then after our ride, we can go eat at the Balpate (nice restaurant that just has a good salad bar, dessert and the largest key collection in the world (who’s keeping track?).
And so we went to pick up the mountain bikes and the slow moving/easily distracted Venezuelans, and a couple of Jim’s friends. Jim was able to get a mountain bike for each of us for free for the evening (I wish I had such good networking connections). We all crammed into three cars, drove to the Balpate, and then dropped one car off at the bottum of the 5ish mile hill. And then we were off. For a short run, it was fun. We briefly went on a trail with lots of rocks and pin point turns that made the going a lot more technical. It was a blast though. We finished off our evening with a delicious dinner at the Balpate restaurant and a walk through a room that hold the largest key collection in the world.
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