Back in the 'Nut

Minus one pillow, a hat, a sock, a little bit of sanity, and a lot of our health, we are back home in Walnut Creek - for about a week. We didn't make it to Moab and Canyonlands, but improving Chris' future employment prospects (by way of a job fair invitation) seems like a legitimate exchange.

After heading out of Zion, I somehow caught a nasty sinus infection/cold. I usually pride myself on my 'immune system of steel,' craftily dodging the Petri dish of viruses that come through the office. But somehow this cold knocked me down in one fell swoop. As we headed to Bryce Canyon - ascending from 4,000 to 8,000 ft - my head felt as though it were in a vice. While Chris was entranced with the unusual and colorful rock, I barely got out of the car for more than a couple of minutes. That night in Page, Arizona, I told Chris - through the haze of Sudafed and Nyquil- that my sinus was so congested, my teeth hurt.

Ok, I guess it wasn't that bad. But I can't stand being sick, especially on vacation. After a couple of days, my cold finally relented, and we were able to take in the awesome sights of Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

Flagstaff is a fun town. I've heard people say that it is nothing more than a gateway to the Grand Canyon, full of cheap hotels and tour companies. While the hotels are reasonable, there is a lot to do in Flagstaff, and I really admire how they have preserved their old downtown area. Instead of strip malls full of stores that you can find in any city, they have kept the old diners, breweries, art galleries, and bookstores. On the day we arrived, we were able to go to the Lowell Observatory (http://www.lowell.edu/), where Pluto was discovered. In the evening, around 8 pm, crowds of people gathered there to look through their huge telescopes at some star clusters. We took a look through their 24 inch refractor at M15, a globular cluster within the Milky Way, and through some portable telescopes (12 inch reflectors, I think) at the Andromeda galaxy. It was very cold up there on the hillside, but well worth it, for some awe-inspiring views of some very, very far off places (beyond the range of our over-loaded Toyota Camry).

The next day, telling myself that I was totally healthy again, we drove out to Oak Creek Canyon, about 20 minutes south of Flagstaff. At the parking area, there were tons of tourists taking in the view of the bluffs and checking out the many jewelry vendors. It had been a long time since I climbed on Basalt, probably not since I lived in Portland, OR, but I was up for the change - until we started out on Mint Jam 5.7. I can appreciate an area that has hard climbs and stiff grades, but it seemed to be covered in a layer of dirt, with cacti growing from inconvenient places all the way up, and giant wasps hovering perilously close to us both. At any rate, Chris made short, proud work of Everyday Five Three 5.6, a peculiar climb involving awkward chimney moves, and we called it a day.

Zion National Park

Rain Rain go away. When we left Las Vegas last Saturday morning, the rain was pouring like I had never seen before in Vegas. The local Starbucks was crammed with climbers thumbing through the Joshua Tree and other guidebooks, trying to think of a new place to go. We felt pretty good about our Vegas trip, which included going up to the Stratosphere (and going on the Insanity amusement ride on top) and taking in "Mystere" a Cirque du Soleil show, on our rest day.

We moved on to Zion, one of my favorite places. Sunday we headed up "Angel's Landing," a strenuous hike that ascends over 1,000 ft to an amazing view. Strangely enough, I ran into a friend, Susan from Boston. We had climbed in Yosemite together a few years ago, she memorably lead the terrifying second pitch of Great White Book in Tuolumne- a fantastic climb. She and her partner Kate had also been rained out of Red Rocks.

After nearly 7 years of coming to Zion to hike, camp, and take in the stunning vistas, yesterday finally seemed to be the right time to attempt a couple of climbs here. Wow, I'm glad I waited! Climbing here is serious business, very much unlike Lovers Leap or some of the easier Yosemite climbs. The smooth sandstone cracks are mostly featureless, and ascent requires pure, sustained jamming for the hands and feet. Nevertheless, Cave Route 5.7 and Cherry Crack 5.9 - at the base of Cerebus Gendarme - proved to be an excellent introduction to Zion climbing.

As we climbed, we watched another climbing party making their way up Prodigal Sun 5.8 C2, one of Zion's classic Big Wall routes - where they would inevitably spend the night. I thought about them again last night as a thunderstorm rolled through the park, and a cold fog enshrouded the canyon. Hope they got off okay! Dark, wet rappelling is never fun.

So we move on, in search of sun! Bryce Canyon today and then on to the Grand Canyon, and perhaps some Arizona climbing.


Drinking in Utah: a very special experience...

"Polygamy Porter: Why Have Just One?"

Las Vegas and Red Rock Canyon.

After about a week of camping in the desert, we were ready to seek out some kind of civilization. Naturally enough, finding a good Hookah bar was critical.

That accomplished, we felt sufficiently strengthened to go and check out some climbing in Red Rock Canyon.

To warm up for a day of real (i.e. multipitch trad) climbing, we got to work clipping bolts on Panty Wall. Between us, we led our way up about half a dozen lovely sport routes on beautiful featured red sandstone in perfect October sunshine.

Feeling a little adrift from the real world, we drove into town to take in a movie. Scorcese's latest, The Departed, fitted the bill nicely, reminding us how unpleasant the real world actually is, and how nice it is to be camping in the desert. Or how nice it would be if the city planners of Las Vegas actually realized that there is some wilderness worth preserving that probably shouldn't be bulldozed for more housing developments. The city is getting closer and closer to Red Rock Canyon every year, and there doesn't seem to be any incentive for it to stop.

Now fully warmed up and ready to go, we headed out early next morning to climb a classic of the area, Cat in the Hat (5.6, 6 pitches). This route runs up the left hand side of the pyramid of rock shown here, just out of sight around the corner. The climbing was superb, all sorts of crack and face moves, leading on and on up the pyramid. Lots of other people were climbing this route, and since the descent involves rapping down the route itself, things got a little crowded at times. But when we were away from other climbers, the only other sound was the swishing of swallows in the air around us as they chased away a hawk.

Joshua Tree
After our less than thrilling day spent sport climbing at Big Rock, we decided to head out for an unscheduled stop at Joshua Tree National Park. It turned out to be just what we needed. Great weather, great climbing, and gorgeous camping. We stayed at Hidden Valley Campground Oct 5-8, amidst the huge rocks, cacti, and howling coyotes. Chris even managed to toprope a gnarly overhanging crack about 5 ft from our tent!

Our first day in J-Tree we spent at the Atlantis Wall, over in the Lost Horse area. Chris and I took turns leading a variety of 5.5-5.8 single pitch trad climbs. A couple of climbers from Oregon had rigged a nearby rappell, so that saved us tons of time not having to do the walk offs. I thought it was pretty funny when I told them we were from the Bay Area and they responded: "Wow, you must get out here all the time!" Um no, J-Tree is 7 hours from our house, pal. Try Lake Tahoe.... Later that day we went over to Hemingway Buttress and climbed "White Lightning," a 'classic' 5.7- I found the small off-width roof section to be super hard!

We went through an awesome cactus garden in the southern part of the park. It had tons of Teddy Bear Cholla and Silver Cholla. In that same area, two different deserts meet- the Mojave and the Colorado- each marked by different geology, landscape, and plant life. Perhaps it comes from growing up in the Midwest, and not being familiar with the area, but the desert landscape is always incredibly fascinating to me.

Of all the internet cafes in the remote Mojave Desert, we happen to have chosen the one where we can't download pictures of our trip - sorry folks, we'll have to describe it in words now, and add photos when we can.

Idyllwild, CA
After living in the S.F. Bay Area for the past 3 years, it's easy to forget that much of California truly is farmland. A 5 hour drive down the I-5 to L.A. will quickly remind you of that. A 2 hour drive across L.A. - to reach Idyllwild - will also remind you how huge and sprawling L.A. is. I think if we hadn't gotten in the carpool lane, we might still be in Glendale!
We reached Idyllwild, a small artsy mountain town, late Monday night. Tuesday morning we were able to drag ourselves out of bed and head out to Tahquitz - a huge granite rock formation just outside town. Idyllwild is at about 5,000 ft elevation, and the summit of Tahquitz is around 8,000 - so yes, we had a large elevation gain ahead of us. That elevation gain came in the form of a 1/2 hour, very very steep approach. For those of you who have climbed and hiked with us, you are probably well aware that Chris and I are not exactly speedy trailblazers....even so, this approach took just about everything out of me. I whined most of the way up....Chris whined most of the way down, but the climbing in between.....
Well, the climbing was great. We did Angels Fright, a classic 5 pitch 5.6. The rock was high quality granite, and the view on top was really amazing. The descent was a bit taxing, and after a careful examination of our state of physical fitness, we decided to - yikes! - go sport climbing the next day.



Big Rock- Lake Perris, CA
If you ever find yourself visiting family in the sprawling suburb of Lakeview, or passing through, or - well, honestly, I can't imagine a reason for wanting to come to Lakeview. But should you find yourself out that way, there is some greasy 'sport' climbing (read: 20 ft run outs) on Big Rock at Lake Perris. After backing off a super polished 5.5 - (the thought of hobbling around Europe with a broken ankle was not appealing) we found a semi-decent 5.6 called Puppy Dog. Lowering Chris a good 60 m down the cliff to try to retrieve the quickdraw we'd bailed from on the first route left him about 20 feet above it, but a combination of downclimbing, intermediate belays, and rappels brought us back to earth with our precious $13 quickdraw. After that, we cut our rest day short, and headed back to Idyllwild.

Crazy last minute packing and cleaning the apartment. Aaaarrghhh!!!!