2010 - Pre-emptive "It Was a Very Good Year" Post

I like to plan ahead. That said, come New Years 2011, I expect to be reminiscing about how incredible 2010 has been for me.

The first three months, unfortunately, have not been. In some respect, "stagnation" would be an apt word for some areas of my life. Up until a few days ago, I had been seriously struggling with feelings of "How did I get here? How do I work this?"(ala Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" lyrics).

Winter was about work for me - I started to expand my t-shirt empire... More aptly, my t-shirt anthill. But it's MY anthill! It ain't much, but Ive spent the last few months building a second shop for ClimbAddict, and also an umbrella shop called OutrageousTees.com

I am still looking at this thing, this entrepreneurial baby of mine, and thinking "Sheesh, yer an ugly little runt...." But - I keep pecking away, adding new designs and hoping something will come of it. Something sort of NEEDS to come of it, for this is to be my replacement income for my animal care service, a healthy chunk of which I am letting go of as we spea...errr, write. And read.

Outrageous Tees seems to be a pretty redneck t-shirt shop. That's going to have to be okay, since the largest market of t-shirt wearing people do sort of tend to fall into that category... Just because I think up these designs, just because I commit them to pixels, doesn't mean I would actually wear them myself! And some of them aren't so awful...and maybe some better ones will come. But like I said - this winter was a weird one, and what came out of it, came out.

Partly, I was waiting on someone. Someone I thought had romantic interest in me. Guess not..... And that is sort of sad, because that someone had some characteristics that I greatly admired. I don't meet many people who have characteristics I would consider greatly admirable. There was also a slight blip on the health radar. Well, actually there still IS that blip. And I don't know what it means yet. Very likely it is nothing, as in benign, if you catch my drift. But I won't know for another few weeks. If it's not nothing - well, them my pre-emptive Fabulous 2010 post will have been written pre-emptively. But I digress...

This post is about how AWESOME 2010 is going to be for me, now that winter has subsided and new life is springing up all over the place. The BIG news....is really very big! I am going to be living on the Mohonk Preserve again. In a cabin, acting as a caretaker. My job description is: Open the gate in the morning. Close the gate at night. Pick up any litter that litterers leave. Keep an eye on things.

In return, I get to live in a cabin in the middle of the woods. A twenty minute walk from the cliffs. I will be there from about May 1st through November. I TOLD you it was awesome!

No electricity, nor plumbing. A quarter mile walk to drinking water and a mile to cel phone service. Eight miles to town - no car.....I did this last fall, for three month, so I know what I am getting into. Several people - guys, even - have told me they are surprised; that they don't think they could handle this. I don't understand why....

So - during this wonderful period, I have some creative projects to work on. I'll be doing pen & ink studies of the various trees and other plantlife, and also illustrating the various stanzas of a children's poem wrote several years ago, called "Patrick the Fir Tree." I'll just have to find out which of the spindly little firs in my massive yard is Pat, and see if he'll pose for me.

I also intend to do more writing than I did last year, though there is some issue with this. I enjoy typing on the computer. I'm pretty good at going stream of conscious - I don't really edit any of these blog posts, for instance. But I LIKE the fact that when I recognize a typo or make a poor word choice, it's easy to fix. FIX - not cross out and scribble the correction. And I like how I can go off on a tangent, only to see I went off on a tangent, and simply insert a smooth transition on the spot, rather than have to...well, I don't even KNOW how to do that on handwritten paper....

The issue is no electricity. My computer will go 2 hours until it needs to be reheated. I'm considering getting an old typewriter, sort of as a compromise.

I have another book - a big one - that I have started a couple of time over my adult life. In the last several years I thought maybe it didn't need to come out after all. It is not a pretty story. But....here it is, tapping at my window again, for the last few months. I think it's trying to tell me something....Or get me to tell someone else something.... It is not a pretty story. That is not a writing misfire; it bore repeating.

And of course I will CLIMB! I will climb, climb, climb! During the 3 months I was here(there) last season, I lost TWENTY POUNDS, and went from being timid on the lead on 5.3 to being solid and ready to go for the lead on High Exposure. From flailing following 5.8, to being able to focus and follow 5.9 onsight. AND it was hard going, in the star, finding climbing partners. But by the time I left - I HAD found some. And we have kept in touch over winter and will be back climbing together again.

That is enough - this glorious gift. But I don't think it is all that is in store.

For the last several years I have wanted to go west for the winter, but each time winter comes, I am unable to do so, because of financial constraints. I am not sure HOW this year will be any different, but I just somehow KNOW it will be. Getting those t-shirt shops standing on their own may prove futile, but I hope not. I sure as hell don't see how I could get a jo...jo... a...j.o.b.

There. I typed it. Forget the fact I DO spend hours each day actually working - real work - on these t-shirt shops. It's just not the same damned thing. It's FUN! Well...the marketing isn't fun. I suck at the marketing. But every day I try to suck less, and little by little, put myself out there, hoping some of those little put-outs will take root and grow into a viable message that someone will hear.

In a few days I will be off to Joshua Tree for my annual spring climbing trip kick off. Some of the locals I've come to know won't be there, unfortunately. But others will be, and I will have a great time. Hopefully I will take lots of photographs, and them take the time to edit and post them for the viewing pleasure of others. Then, I come back and bear the bad news to some of my clients - that I am leaving. For most, it will be the seven months, with my assistant handling things. But for three of them, it is permanent(one has already been taken care of). But - the future is now, and I've got to step into it!


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The Amboy Underwear Bush

The Amboy Shoe Tree, which I wrote about here, on my winter 2005 trip(scroll to near the end to find photos), has competion!

Now - if you don't know much about Amboy, or the Amboy Shoe Tree, all you have to do is Google, and you'll soon have a plethora of pages to wile away while you're busy wasting time at work. Sure, I could provide links, but...there are so many to choose from, and half the fun of surfing the net is deciding which wave you want. So - get to it. Or not.

Okay....If you truly need help, here's one to see.

I don't know how long the amboy Shoe Tree's been bearing fruit in the form of Keds, Pumas, Nikes and all manner of flip-flops and boots, but it's been there since I first noticed in in December of 2005, and was obviously not a mere seedling at the time.

But!

The new, Amboy Underwear Bush IS a mere wisp of a bush, with just it's first few skivvies snagged on it's desert prickly limbs. When I drove by on my way back to the Las Vegas airport last week, there were butt only four pair of shorts adorning the little bush. I had thought it was a Creosote, but to be honest, I didn't make a note of it. So - if you happen by and get the details, please do let us know.

What's so special about the Amboy Underwear Bush? Well - if you can't figure that out for yourself, then you should just stay at work, getting away once a year to visit the relatives at holiday time. Amboy in itself is an icon of an era gone by; near as a town can be to being a ghost town and still have a few living members of it's population. Once a stop along the infamous Route 66, the town lapsed into despair when the highway was decommissioned(or something - If you want specifics, Google is your friend)and renamed things like National Trails Road.

Amboy is also one of the very few spots along the back road from Vegas to Jtree where there is sign of human interdiction(if you can forget you're on an asphalt lane and running alongside a railroad track for much of the way, I should say). One can cut at least an hour off the travel time by choosing this route over the boring - but safe! - US Highway System.

I have made the voyage in two and a half hours several times(though this time I took three, since I had plenty of time due to a later flight). There's fun in the sun and something decadent about knowing you can run a road as fast as your (and your car's) heart's desire, with no worry about a speeding ticket(for going 50+ miles over the limit....). Plus, after a few trips, you'll figure out how to manage the bottom-out washes and get through without damage to your undercarriage. I cannot guarantee the avoidance of motion sickness, however. So far, I've not been able to get away without at least a little bit between Kelso and Amboy, where the road sign says "Dips - Next 15 Miles."

Until now, Amboy has been known for a few things:
- The exquisite "Roy's Diner" (.....Google, if you don't know)
- The Amboy Crater (someday I will go out and see it; I actually didn't know about it until this last trip
- The fact that the town was auctioned off on Ebay, in hopes to save it's financial soul(don't know how that went)
- The Amboy Shoe Tree

Depending on what you're into, be it geology, 20th Century Americana, or something flavored by some other factor, one of the above would be what you think of when you hear mention of the town called Amboy.

For me, it was first the restaurant - hard to ignore! What a beauty, with it's glorious sign that has somehow been saved from the degradation one might expect in such a desolate location. There must be some desert charm protecting the thing.....

But, if one takes the time to look around, they notice Amboy's got quite a bit more to offer. If you've never been the route, next time you're headed to the Tree (or elsewhere in the direction needed) from Las Vegas, I hope you'll do the right thing - Get some gas and refreshments and make the trek. It's worth it.

I never hoisted a pair of shoes to the shoe tree, but obviously many, many other people have. The think is covered(though there's room for many a future generation to add). But when I drove past, getting a little bit of joy from the thing, I couldn't help but chide myself for being stingy all these times.

I was still in that mode when a flurry of color hastened by my driver's side window.... "What was that?!" I wondered. Looking in my side mirror, and then out the rear-view, I wasn't sure....But I believed(as was later confirmed) that I saw some pairs of boxers blowing in the breeze of my tailwind.

Screeching to a halt, as there really is no other way, if one wants a dramatic tale to be told, I quickly ascertained the coast was clear and threw a U-ie (is there a correct way to spell the word?)

Heading back to the west, I slowed down on the reapproach (yes, I had been going quite fast, if you are wondering - as I said, it's part of the deal. Don't - I repeat DON'T do this tour if you can't drive more than 55. Well, actually it's fine. The whole stretch is flat as a pancake(except those dastardly washes....) and anyone can sail by without much incident).

And so - since I need to go do some work, I'll leave the rest of the story to be told in the photos. But - I will suggest that you be prepared to help this new icon floursih, and if you head out that way - think about helping the legend continue and losing your shorts at the Amboy Underwear Bush.....


Here's the bush


Closer


Red Boxers


Blue Ones


Champions


Blue Plaid


First pair of women's panties on board. Now....there's something to be proud of....
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My Worst Nightmare - Jackie T Leads 5.9

A few nights ago, I dreamed I was belaying Jackie T* on a 5.9. It had been raining and the route was wet, but Jackie soldiered on and went through the crux like it was a walk in the park. What a send! This was her first season climbing and already she was a burly leader.

And then....I woke up.

The problem is - Jackie T is not a climber, or at least I highly doubt it. I haven't seen or heard anything about her in more than twenty years.

She was in my class during grade school and the first two years of high, and was the "it" girl that each classroom must have. Most kids had the 24 pack of crayons and that was the standard. Jackie had, as you have guessed, the 64-pack with the built-in sharpener. And a mother who made her delicious packed lunches that included the latest in premium brand sugar-laced snacks. Most of the cold-lunchers had PBJ or bologna, or warm, smelly tunafish sandwiches, pulled from brown paper bags, and were definitely seen as being in a class lower than the hot lunch crowd. Not Jackie, who always had a thermos(matching her fashionable Scooby Doo lunchbox, of course) with hot soup to complement her fare.

And in fifth grade, she was the first to have a boyfriend, when she started dating Steve B, the beautiful blond boy wonder, who was bright, decent and an all-around athlete. Well, until eight grade, when she dumped him for Tim C, which was a shocker. A girl, going DOWN a grade!? Unheard of! Tim was also a powerhouse athlete, but he was short. Shorter than Jackie, another taboo. Within a few months though, she had ditched Tim for his senior in high school, older brother Terry, who was...hot by any standard. Tall and thin, with wavy shoulder lenght brown hair and a full-on well tended beard and mustache.... Now it all made sense. "How...sophisticated" we though. She had a more worldy view than any of us parochial school girls had even so much as read about in our romance paperbacks.

Jackie was, clearly, the star of Presentation, BVM(Blessed Virgin Mary) in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and she reigned the entire eight years. High school was a more wobbly throne for her, since she had the competition of all the various princess' from other schools in the district. Especially with PVBM being the lowest on the cool school totem pole. And, even though she had had the top man as a beau, things were different now. He was from the suburb town and not FDL proper, significantly lowering his status.

Still, she was stiff competition, and a lot of the St. Mary's Springs boys followed her in awe.

I changed schools in my junior year, and lost track of Jackie, along with most of the other kids I'd grown up with, but as a young adult I'd occasionally hear news of their whereabouts - usually the bad news, of course.... Like when Jean C actually made infamy by drunkenly running over a pedestrian on the side of a country road, or Marty R's name was splattered all over the Reporter's Police Blotter by pistol-whipping the poor old lady at Badger Liquor, the packaged goods store that was attached to a bar the sort of which saw most of it's business in the afternoon hours(when the men still had a few dollars in their pockets and hadn't...dozed off....watching the football game on the overhead TV).

Jackie's second coming wasn't one for the papers; it was a rumor that rumbled through the lower section of society - word of mouth. Gossip. But the source was impeccable, my own brother Oney. Oney, who had loved Jackie T, and had a brief courtship with her during one of her breaks with Steve B., and held her in high regard even though she eventually rebuffed him to get back with her sweetheart.

My brother told me that he'd been to Summer Stage in Milwaukee, a big event... And had seen Jackie. She was onstage, flanked by two...large...Harley-rider types with dirty hair and beer bellies; men too old for a nineteen year old pretty girl with any sense to be associated with.

And not only that, along with being stumble-down drunk, she was sopping wet. As you may have guessed, she was a participant in a pageant of sorts. the Wet T-Shirt Contest.

Oney told me that Jackie was a fallen woman, how everyone had seen the spectacle and would never respect her again for as long as she lived, and how it only go'ed to show you that character is the mark of true beauty in a soul.....

So - it must go without saying that I, dreaming that Jackie T is kicking ass on a climb I would be hard-pressed to follow, must have layers and layers of deep, mysterious meaning....

This weekend I am climbing on Saturday and even if I don't lead anything - I am going to use that dream to my advantage. If I come to a tough spot, I am going to show that Jackie what I'm made of! And in two weeks when I get myself to JTree for the SushiFest and my autumn holiday, I am going to kick ass like the title of Donald Trump's new book....Grrrr.


* Some names have been altered to protect the innocent, and/or because my memory is faulty and I can't summon the correct one.

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Upcoming - Fred Beckey Slide Show

The man is scheduled for a visit at Rock & Snow on Saturday, October 27th.

This may be a hot contender for the largest audience in the venue...AS some may remember, last season when Lynn Hill did a show, the place was packed tighter than a pair of 38DD's in a 36B brasierre(c'mon - this post is about Beckey; that makes the turn of phrase appropriate).

Lynn is a Gunkie from back in the day, who put up hard, sparsely protected routes, so that may give her an edge. But....the meeting of Mr. Beckey is something on most every real climber's tick list.

Mentioning the show to another world class climber the other day, he said (something like)"Beckey's put up more routes than any other climber in all of history." No doubt - I remember seeing a photo of him on a route and he must have been in his early 20's. He's been climbing for how many years? He's something like 80 years old now - and STILL throwing down.

Fred Beckey, as a symbol of climbing, is sort of important to me. I have only been climbing 4 years, and I'm 45 years old. When I started, I was hooked. Hard. I devoured any materials I could find on the topic, wanting to immerse myself at every opportunity, whether I was out there on something or not. And so - like many others - I'd grab climbing magazines of the racks like they were bags of chips and could snarf them down in one sitting.

One day, I was thumbing through an issue, and all the pictures of young, beautiful climbers climbing incredible stuff(posed on sport routes, most likely) started to get me down. I started to think about how much I had missed out on. Here I was(I thought) beginning a thing that would probably be over for me in a few years. Climbing was..... the pursuit of the youthful(as well it may be; if age is only a state of mind, but that's not how I was thinking that day....).

So, page after page, beauty after beauty, I found myself slinking into self-absorbed sadness. I was pretty well suckered into the depths of that emotional off-width, really feeling sorry for myself.... And then, as with OW's, I moved the smallest muscle (I turned the page), and was free and clear. The sun was shining on my cloudy day, for there was a full-paged photo of Beckey, pulling up over a bulge, with the biggest grin on the wrinkliest face I'd ever seen. The myth I'd been believing in that moment, that climbing is for the kids, was busted wide open. And I owe that to Beckey, for being SO out there.

The man does live up to his various legends; that I can say is true. Having been introduced informally to him one evening in Jtree, the moment I made eye contact, he lit up like the panty-melter he's suggested of being. Maybe I started it, looking at him with gratitude, but he sure wasn't missing a step. An octagenarian - and STILL getting down? Surely, I couldn't say, but....that's the rumor... You'll just have to come to Rock & Snow and see for yourself.

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Gunks Fall Season Has Arrived!

The e-connection of my computer's still funked, but at least now I have exhauseted all hope of doing a self-fix..... Resignedly, I'm packing the thing up and taking it to the shop this afternoon, where I'm expecting to receive a diagnosis of "fried modem" or something similar.

In the interim..... Despite a slow start on Saturday(morning climbing called on account of rain), the day did an about-face around 10am and a splendid "feels like autumn" day stepped forth. Though it had been raining steadily since late night Friday, the cliffs hadn't even gotten wet. Must have been the direction and angle the precip dripped. Nature had thrown a curve ball in the team's favor and the backside of the Trapps got a nice watering, while the front side stayed cool and dry to the touch. Climb on!

Plenty of people out there, too. Teddy couldn't move ten paces without someone from his fan club stopping to say hello and shake his paw.

I flailed lightly before slipping into the void of "the move" on Shockley's Ceiling. Luckily, I brannish a pair of prussiks like a cowboy does his pistols. Embarrassing - but true.

Still, it was a good day, and later we headed into town for the John Bragg slideshow - first entertainment event of the season. Beautiful pictures, incredible scenery, fun stories - If you missed it, you missed a good one.

The event was in support of the Gunks Climber's Coalition Rescue Fund, and $800 was raised.

Perhpas even more valuable.... was the announcement updating us on the status at the Rosendale Water Works.

If you don't know, this is an area that came into the spotlight a short while back; bouldering has been going on there, to climb what is allegedly(I've never been, nor spoeken to anyone with firsthand knowledge) world class third class..... Word was spreading and whispers of access issues arose in the mix.

Something had to be done....

The GCC has been working with the Mohonk Preserve and Open Space Institute on acquiring this land, and a Letter of Understanding was signed last week. So far as I have seen, the Open Space Institute gets things done, and if all goes as hoped....the Gunks 2008 season will be seeing an incredible new venue for serious bouldering.

I like to boulder, and even though I climb less than V0, can't wait to see how this pans out. Hopefully, many of the area boulderers will be interested in stewardship for this new locale, and will avail themselves of the considerable amount of work that will go into developing and maintaining the space. The Rosendale Water Works will be part of the Mohonk Preserve, which excels in educating preservation ethics, so the place should become a crowning gem in the US bouldering scene.

In other news - when I recently spoke with guidebook author Dick Williams about his progress on the lates edition(updated guidebook to the Near Trapps), he said the writing had been completed!

This was no small task, as the man personally (re)climbed most of the existing routes in order to insure as accurate a book as can be made, while putting in many new routes at the same time. (We joke, a while back, that when he'd written in the earlier guide not to bother with sections of the cliffs duew to loose and dangerous conditions, that he was actually trying to deflect interest because he hadn't been able to snag all the FA's he'd been eyeing!)

Of course, parts of the Nears ARe known to have loose, chossy sections and Williams, in his climbing research, safely trundled rocks that were ready to roll as he came across them. This made for slower progress with his book work, but it's of incredible benefit to our climbing community, and something most of us will never even be aware of. Thanks Dick!

The book has been(or is soon to be) handed to an associate who will put it into Quark for editing, and Dick is going through his picture collections to decide which photographs wil be included in the new guide. He expects the book to be available in stores early next year, in time for the spring season of 2008.

Though many will lament the sure to be expected production that might aptly be called "Gumbys at the Gunks" to quickly run through the Nears, the publication will certainly be a most welcome one by the majority. Not only will many existing routes that have not been included in previous editions come to light, but also variations and linkups, along with new lines put up since the last edition. As happened with the release of the Trapps guide a few years ago, the Gunks will suddenly seem bigger, as people explore lines they'd previously been walking past unawares.

I also heard that the Adopt-A-Crag Skytop CleanUp, which I mentioned a few posts back, went very well despite a rainy day start. Volunteers filled five large bags of trash, the majority of which consisted of plastic water bottles left in situ by hotel guests and day-hikers visiting the property. One need only think about this in juxtaposition to an average Peterskill CleanUp day to comprehend the difference in mindset between those committed to the area(such as climbers and dedictaed hikers) and the person for whom a daytrip to the outdoors is their adventure of the year.

Keep in mind that the next Adopt-A-Crag event will be on October 20th. This is a great way to meet others from the area, give a little back, and get involved.

As well, the New Paltz Film Festival takes place on Saturday, October 6th. There are plenty of events the whole weekend too. Kick off the weekend on Friday night with a slideshow at the Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center. There's a bagel breakfast and climbing clinics on Saturday at the Trapps, the Film Festival that evening, and another slideshow (or film?) at Rock and Snow on Sunday night.


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Road Trip Pre-TR

Busy, busy, busy...I have photos to edit, catalog, email, and post for the Goddesses on the Rocks event I talked about here.

So, instead of making an all-inclusive "here's what happened" report, I'm breaking it down into segments.

The plan was to Amtrak to Boston, where my friend Cheryl would pick me up. We'd stay the night at her place(a very nice little arts& crafts-y bungalow she's got, though I'm not sure if technically it's a bungalow. But I love built-ins and simple, beautiful wood trim, and the place had the original in place.). The next morning, we'd pick up person #3 from he airport, head to a campsite near North Conway, and get in a day of climbing on Friday.

Then, the Goddesses event for the weekend. And, as you may recall, I had no plan as to my transportation back....but obviously, it has worked out, and I am back home, being bombarded with the anxieties and troubles of city-living in the age of advanced technology. yesterday, my AOL service was FUBAR - that should be in 96-point type, by the way - yesterday. SO messed up that I spent more than 6 hours in attempts to diagnose/repair, with less than 15 minutes of that involving human tech support(an epic unto itself, but luckily I saw the route would not go early on, and bailed before committing past the first few moves..... GRRRR).

The train ride - This was stylee mass transport, in my book. I had a few options. Take the Acela, which is supposedly that ultrafast ride.... But at twice the cost, with only a half an hour shaved off in transit time, I felt it was a rip-off, and declined. Maybe there is something I missed that makes it worthwhile....I couldn't say.

They also offered an upgrade from coach class to business on Amtrak. Now, I consider myself a luxe dirtbag, so I automatically rejected the "upgrade" without even checking the price.

Locally, I'm used to taking Metro North to the Gunks, with my dog. I get the stink-eye if I take a seat(they're for 2-leggeds only, apparently) and so I ride in the open section for baggage and bikes, using my cooler for a seat, with Teddy curled around me somewhere nearby. simply having a SEAT is an upgrade for me, so I didn't think I'd mind the coach class train ride.

Well - Let me tell you something! I don't know what business class Amtrak offers, but Coach service has butt width seats and leg room enough for the biggest touron venturing cross country. Plush, clean better than any airline seats, in my experience. I settled in comfortably, and the only distasteful item was that the guy across the aisle was yammering into his cel phone for he entire first hour of the trip. Funnily, his big, oft-repeated topic was how "so and so" suffered from narcissistic personality disorder....

Finally, he got off the phone, and soon after got off the train, and I was left to the quiet of my inner thoughts while I watched the northeast corridor glide past as the sun headed round the horizon.

The drive up next morning, from Boston to New Hampshire, was a highway cruise, but since it was my first trip in the area, I was very happy enjoying the changing scenery as we entered mountainous ranges. Very pretty land, and as we drove the smaller roads the next few days, I saw many wonderful old homes, barns and outbuildings. Another few weeks and the foliage color-shift will make such a trip one to relish.

We camped at Covered Bridge campsite in the White Mountain National Forest.. The campground seems nice, I think, though I don't know what other options are available in the area. It had large, quasi-secluded sites that were clean(in fact, it appears someone comes in with a rake in-between tenants), fresh, cold water that comes from a hand pump down the road(there's something to be said for manual labor in exchange for subsistence). Best of all - there are huge logs set across the roadways, at about 8 feet off ground level, thus stopping any RV or monster-tired truck in their tracks.

Apparently, we were pegged as undesirables from the get-go by the campsite host though... Within a few minutes of our choosing a site and unpacking, he drove up in his golf cart and told us to slow it down in our driving. When we returned from our climbing session in the early evening, a form-letter list of Rules to be Broken was tacked under an item on the picnic table. I'd tented on foliage, it seems, although what I'd actually staked my claim on was the same surface that covered the rest of the tent area(gravel). It did have a carpet of dried leaves, but I honestly wasn't anywhere near putting up on the forest dirt ground. Ahh well... I am not one to piss off the guy in charge of my accommodations. So, I quickly moved my tent.

We then set out to begin our evening meal, and as we were doing so, a car that happened to be the same make and model as ours came careening down the road(that means they were going a little faster than the posted fast-idle posted speed limit). As I saw them pass our site, I told the girls "Watch - we're going to get blamed for that one!"

Sure enough! The host came Barney-Fifing down the road in hot pursuit! Off course, he'd had to get off his chair, call his wife/deputy and into the golf cart beforehand, so it was a few minutes later that he screeched to a halt in front of our site.....

I called out an apology for my tent, but was cut off with an officious "I TOLD you not to drive so fast in here!"

Well! My site mates weren't having any bully bullying them around, and they let him have it! Cheryl EVEN pointed her finger at him while declaring "That wasn't us!"

Luckily, she deflected the situation by explaining the look-alike vehicle and adding something like "We get into enough trouble on our own without having someone else's trouble added!"

He laughed at that one and that was the last we saw of the sheriff while we were in his town....

Climbing - Cheryl took us to a lesser-known crag to climb that day, so as not to lessen our experience with the Goddesses event if we'd be going to Cathedral or Whitehorse Ledges the next few days. She chose a slab area called Lost Horizons, which was just a short ride away from our camp area.

The hike in was...vigorous. At least it was for me... The heat and humidity added a level of exertion, but nobody else in the group(we'd met up with some others of Cheryl's friends) suffered as I did.

I don't know what happened, but after a few minutes, I was having some difficulty in my hike. I had stupidly left my full rack in my pack, not wanting to leave it in the car, which was parked along a busy-enough roadway. I fell back to the rear, and later took a short rest. Continuing on, I felt overheated again in another few minutes and had to stop.

By that point, we were a few minutes away from the crag, and Cheryl(enduro-woman, as you'll see in the photos below) had already gotten there, dropped her pack and returned. She offered to take the rope I was carrying, and I gave no resistance.

I decided to take it easy for the rest of the approach, no matter that everyone else was moving more quickly. But then, a steep section came up, and I found myself feeling a little light-headed. I sat down on a log, thinking it would be a short rest and suddenly I was accosted with a full on attack of dizziness and nausea.

Wow! It was bad. I truly thought I was going to pass out and throw up. So, I put my head down between my knees and waited as wave after wave rolled through my body.

Not sure what was causing the thing, I came up with the idea that I must have had my first menopausal hot flash, and when I tried that excuse out on the others(most of whom had already been there/done that) they didn't buy it..... But, they were good-natured about me and my excuse for physical unfitness. It WAS, I will admit, "that time" of the month, and it was generally agreed upon that the humidity, the semi-stiff approach, my pack weight, and the iron loss probably was what did it. Kindly, the "maybe a few sit-ups once in a while" suggestion was not offered as a remedy for repeat occurrences....

So - I survived, though I didn't feel so great, and was careful to be safe once we began climbing. The crag is a slab that rises into routes that range from 5.4 to about 5.8(so far as I know). The trail at the base is simply a footpath where rock meats dirt, and the angle of the slope continues downward, so any trips or stumbles mean down you go, only to be stopped by the forest of trees.

We climbed about 5 routes, with everyone getting a shot on all if they desired. The easiest routes were simply walk-ups, where no real route-finding is required other than the obvious(Go upwards). But the first bolts were up there, and then there were some run-out sections.

I chose to lead a route that was purported to be 5.6, a grade I'd stand by. And that first 25 feet of slab definitely did keep me on my toes(well, actually not, for I pasted as much rubber as I could get). The thought of coming off, and the awareness that the fall wasn't simply to the cliffside trail but onward and into the woods.... made for a sporty feel.

The first bolt passed and I breathed my relief sigh and continued onward. I don't recall feeling any worry about runout on the route, and the climbing was not too difficult(I lead Gunks 5.5). But the anchor! Oh my.....

I have heard of suspect anchors, but this one was definitely a runner for the title of Miss Manky Anchor. Not bolted, by the way. It consisted of a natural bridge-like bit of rock, with a shallow tunnel under it. The width of the bridge was maybe 8 inches or so, but the rock quality was pure, disintegrating as you watch, choss. It had the consistency of sandcastle material with some pebbles added for texture.

At any rate, the climbing was fun; I do like slab. And the route did require some skill in finding the best path, plus it had two crux-y spots(the first before the first bolt).

Still - I nicknamed this crag the "Green Acres Crag." It seemed every route had something....."off" about it. My lead was the awful anchor. There was a route that appeared to have a HUGE run out with groundfall potential from 60 feet up. It was an illusion....The missing bolt was actually in situ. It just happened to be several feet off the natural course of the route.

Another line had anchors placed at a point where a 60-meter rope meant the belayer had to climb 15 feet off deck(easy 5th class moves) to gain the belay stance. It WAS a nice little dish, although the space was tight for leader/belayer to start out on. Nowhere to anchor the belayer, so the leader had best not come off....

And it seemed that someone had made some effort to clear the slabby face of years of lichen. Except the clear spots tended to be in between where the bolts were placed! The routes tended to go straight through grainy lichen patches, making the routes feel as if peppered with a little local spice.

At any rate, it was a fun day, out climbing with a group of women in a quiet setting. We saw no other people while we were there.

As we drove back to camp, Cheryl stopped just after passing through the campground's namesake covered bridge. She wanted to show us what she called a Party Trick. Now, before you peruse the pictures, I should mention that earlier in the day we had been talking about training regimes (Of which, I volunteered I had none).

Cheryl, on the other hand..... did tell us that one of her endurance exercises includes doing repetitions of pull-ups to exhaustion. The thing is to do 5 pull-ups in a minute, and repeat each minute until incapable. So, you do 5 and then have the "rest" of the minute to rest.... Next mintue, same thing. Supposedly......one starts out with lots of rest time, which lessens as the reps build up.

Cheryl does this for.....45 minutes.


....I know.


So - the party trick consists of climbing, hand over hand, up this iron guyline, and then exiting through the pretty window on the bridge.








She did it in one shot, taking probably about 10 seconds, fully locked off the entire way.


What a sicko!


ADENDUM: 9/14 - I just remembered.... When I climbed with this hardwoamn the first time, it was in JTree on April of this year. She had told me that the day before she and some other chicks had gone to the legendary Gunsmoke to do some bouldering.....

She, having never been there before, and being newish to rock climbing, looked at the traverse(from the overhanging end) and....seeing no feet.... had one of the others boost her to the holds. And she proceeded to CAMPUS the traverse fully to the corner. Clean. Onsite.

ummm...yeah.
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NY Times Front Page News: "$(-)!^, But Not in the Pot - Pack It Out!"

Normally, I don't notice the news as it appears in papers and other media; I get my news from rc.com(gawd help me) and Supertopo(where, at least the "top stories" don't all boil down to teenaged-boy homophobic attitude railings within 20 posts). But I am a dog-walker, and the summer season has ended. Pepper and Mocha, two cute-as-can-be Havanese, and their family have returned to their posh UWS home from the summer city exodus, and I am back on schedule with their 8am P & P (Poop and Perambulation).

I had to be up and at 'em at eight, but apparently the Pepper/Mocha People had forgotten vacation was over, and I found the front door locked. I quietly knocked, expecting the HUGE Barking Brigade to begin.

Silence.

Eventually, I rang the bell, and it took two more rings, and about 10 minutes before a fresh outa bed Dad opened the door. I guess the girls will be late for school today....

At any rate, in the interim, I tried to amuse myself, and noticed the morning paper at my feet.

I hate looking at front page news. It's propaganda, no matter which viewpoint you come from. Ben Franklin probably cries himself to sleep at night, up in heaven, at what hath been wrought to the press' freedom.

And so....I scanned the page, just for something to do. I had plenty of time....they were really z'ing away in that house. Even the dogs didn't wake up! Below the crease(where news without corporate sponsorship can occasionally be found), I saw an article entitled "No More Privies, So Hikers Add a Carry-Along". Probably my eye was first caught by the photo, of real earth, but I'm able to process info fairly quickly....

Anyway - the story's about the removal of toilets on Mt. Whitney and how, instead, hikers are being given poop bags, in order to reduce the cost/grossness/cleanup labor associated with the traditional park tourist's commode.

I think it's an interesting idea, though of course fraught with plenty of political sidings. We've all heard about the legendary $2500 toilet seat purchases our government makes. How much do you suspect we(taxpayers) are shelling out per WagBag?

First hit on the search engine gives me a retail price of $1.85 to a little over $2 per bag. How much you wanna bet our "official designated procurer" has contracted a near or higher unit price than that for industrial quantities? Maybe; maybe not. But probably.....

In the article there's a quote where a lady says “There are so many indignities on the trail anyway. And people do that all the time with their dogs in the city.” (Aha! A link to my lead-in paragraph! Dogs.....).

Indignities? What indignity is there, on the trail? Do you think she's referring to being one of over 300 people who will trammel the same wilderness highway in a single day(as the article mentions? Sure gives new meaning to the term "Parkway".....).

Or maybe she means the way US citizens get double-billed for actually using lands they already support? Wonder if the mining and timber companies pay an entrance fee when passing national park boundaries.....

I dunno, but I get the feeling not(I mean, the 'indelicacies' thing). I suspect she refers to the possibility of actually having "the world" know your shit might stink, just like everybody else's(or at least everybody who eats processed foods with stink-producing after-affects).

Anyway - there's a video included in the article, where a Times reporter is talking about a changing environmental ethic. I have dialup service, so that's off-limits to me. But it might have some interest to you.

Personally, I like the idea of people taking more personal responsibility. But I can't help but imagine the repercussions. People won't want to carry their crap out(the horreur!) and so they'll toss the poop bags("Bombs Away!"). The term "Mud Falcon" is part of Big Wall lexicon; I wonder what these olive drab birds will go by....Keep your eyes open - "Outside Magazine" will probably clue you in sometime in the next year or so...).

Or, people will leave the filled MicroSquatPots right where they squatted...Unsealed, most likely. And then we will be paying yet again, for the professional picker-uppers to go in and remove the hazardous waste - at how many dollars per hour?

Oh...I could go on, and perhaps you have something to say about it. I'd be interested to hear other's takes on the issue. Feel free to post a comment below. If discussion gets going, someone can start a thread over on my discussion forum.

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Overheard in JTree

My campsite was the one under Toe Jam, which is probably the route that is most widely known by those who have gone, or are planning to go, to Jtree at least once in their lives. It is like the 42nd Street of the Tree - stand around there long enough and you'll meet every climber in the world.....

So, I'm in camp a little early one day and making some dinner. A team is on the route; boyfriend/girlfriend, and it's clear that the second is new to climbing. She is doing fine though, and her partners beta....errrr, I mean encouragement, though probably helpful, is not necessary. She sends the route. Happiness ensues and they rap off, walking through the middle of my camp.

As they come within hearing distance, the guy makes a comment. He pauses and points south, to a small(er) boulder(in Jtree, one could say that most of the formations are really just big boulders, judging by the amount of 4th-classiness that goes on in the place).

He tells his girl, with authority(clearly he's been to Jtree before...at least once or twice), "....and that's the Caveman problem."

She looks over, nods appreciatively, and asks.... "So - what's the problem with it?"