Monday, June 30, 2008

In the interest of time we decided not to visit Salt Lake City. We stopped briefly in Green River, and later grabbed dinner at Rooster's Brewery in Ogden, then it was on to City of Rocks. City of Rocks National Preserve is a major climbing destination consisting of huge granite blobs, pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the bottom center of Idaho, near Alma. Getting there involves driving 25 or so miles on well maintained dirt roads, dodging giant jackrabbits all the way. We arrived in Almo at 11:00 pm, and stopped into the convenience store to try to buy a climbing guidebook for the area. They were all out, and informed us that the campground was full, due to some sort of festival going on here. They directed us to an "RV Park" just up the road. They told us that it was not maintained, and they didn't think anyone even checked the pay station. Indeed, when we pulled in it was competely deserted, and looked as if no one had stayed there in years. It consisted of leveled gravel pull-thru sites in an open grazing field. We fed the pay station the requested $10.00 anyway, and decided it was the perfect, quiet place to crash for the night.

The next morning we drove into the climbing areas, marveling at the enormous amount of climbing that must be here (we picked up a guidebook at the Visitor's Center on our way out, and there are over 750 routes listed). The blobs are everywhere. For the non-climbers, in the sidebar you will find a link to an abbreviated Glossary of Climbing Terms from the end of an old trip report. We had a look at someone else's guidebook, and chose a few climbs on Elephant Rock (recommended by Anne and Tom), namely Rye Crisp (5.8), The Pygmies Got Stoned (5.10a), and Columbian Crack (5.7). All were fantastic. The rock here is amazing, and the number of routes and close proximity campsites seem to make a future group rendezvous here essential. Anybody? We were on the road to Hood river by 11:00 am.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Boulder

We rolled into Boulder on Wednesday evening and hooked up with Tracey at a great restaurant just down the street from her house, Centro. Bedtime followed soon after with plans to get up and climb in the morning.

June 26, 2008
On Thursday morning, we woke up and headed out for Eldorado Canyon. As on our previous visit to the Canyon, we marveled at the amazing little community of Eldorado Springs. It seems like quite an ideal place to live.

Our initial plan was to climb the Green Spur- on our last visit to Eldorado, we climbed a route called the Yellow Spur, possibly one of our favorite multi-pitch routes. We hoped to find the Green Spur a similarly spectacular route. We arrived at the base of the Green Spur to find a party of two at the first belay as well as a party of three slowly making their way up the first pitch. Therefore, Will decided that he should warm up on a 10c instead, Grandmother's Challenge. Allison started off by leading the first pitch (8), only to discover that she used up all of her gear before arriving at the belay. Therefore, Will took over and made his way to the first belay stance. The crux of the route was the 10c roof immediately above the belay. Will took off and pulled the off-width roof without much problem. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for Allison. (I'm blaming it on the top-rope pulling me off the route.) In any case, with a little help from Will, Allison made it up the route just in time to be greeted by a thunderstorm coming from the south. We decided to rap down and not risk the lightning. Of course, by the time we walked out, the sun was shining again.

We headed back into Boulder where we strolled a bit and then had a fabulous dinner- Will had paella cooked by a visiting chef from Barcelona.

June 27, 2008
One of the best things about our road trips is visiting our friends and hooking up with folks along the way. Two of our friends, Skip and Kelly have a conference to attend near Rocky Mountain National Park. They decided to arrive early- Kelly and Eric from Houston and Skip from Atlanta- and meet us for a little climbing. We hooked up early and hiked to the first Flatiron, barely 10 minutes out of town. The route was absolutely fantastic. Rated 5.6, the challenges were more mental than physical with the first two pitches being run-out slabs with great friction. We topped out at the first false summit and then climbed along the ridge to reach the real summit- at 1000 feet. The views were incredible. A highly recommended route.


After descending from the summit, we headed back into Boulder for lunch. Again, we found a great dining experience within a stone's throw of Tracey's house., West End Tavern. Talk about a great location.

After lunch we headed up to Flagstaff Mountain to check out the local bouldering. It was a little warm for bouldering, but fun to check out new areas.


The day's activities were wrapped up with a dip in the pool at Kelly and Eric's hotel. Then off to meet Tracey for dinner at Med before she took off for salsa dancing with her Boulder folks.

June 28, 2008
We decided it was time to stop lingering in the fairy tale town of Boulder and head on towards our next fairy tale town of Portland, OR. We are now heading in that direction with a few detours in Green River, WY, Salt Lake City, UT, City of Rocks, Idaho, and Hood River, OR. I hope we can do this all in two days!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Days 1 & 2

06.24.08 Day 1
Our proper sendoff for any road trip has become breakfast at Ria's Bluebird in Grant Park, our favorite breakfast in Atlanta. Only 2 miles from home, already various allergies are clearing up, leading us to the conclusion that we must simply be allergic to not being on vacation.

Approaching Columbia, MO, we drove into some of the most menacing clouds we'd ever seen, and thought for moment we'd see a tornado first hand. I looked up just in time to see the last second of some ball lightning exploding in mid air. We had dinner at a bar in Columbia and retired to Katfish Katy's Campground, along the Missouri River. Their lower campground has been under water for a few weeks, but the upper one is fine, if a bit buggy. No matter, we're just here to sleep.

06.25.08 Day 2
About a mile from our campsite, between potato fields, stands the Missouri State Champion Burr Oak (pictured below). Last measured it is 84 feet tall, with a spread of 116 feet. Its trunk has a circumference of 272 inches at 54" above the ground, and it is about 350 years old. We breakfasted in its shadow, and began what will probably be the most boring day of driving on the trip, the long, straight interstate between Columbia and Denver. I maintain that playing though your ipod library alphabetically by song is usually more interesting than utilizing Shuffle.



We stopped at Grandma Hoerner's Foods, beside the interstate in Alma, Kansas, where they produce and package all natural salsas, jellies, juices, and other items for stores around the country including Trader Joe's and Harris Teeter. It was surprising that such a small operation could output enough product for big chains like these. We sampled and bought a lot of stuff.


At a fuel stop near Abilene, KS I photographed this hearse, painted like the General Lee, of Dukes of Hazzard fame. I was taking a picture of the side that said "Beads For Boobs -OR- Boobs For Beads" When the owner said "The other side's better. My goat ate up this side." so I moved around to get shots of the "FREE MAMOGRAMS" side. See our Flickr site for a photo of their buddy's trailer, painted with zebra stripes and labeled "BUSH WACKER" So far this drive isn't nearly as boring as we would've imagined.

We rolled into Boulder at sunset, with a beautiful view of Long's Peak. We met up with our friend Tracey, who moved here from Atlanta 2-1/2 years ago. We'll be staying with her for a couple of nights.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Accessorizing our "Mobile Home"

Installing Dome Lights

Making Curtains


Saturday, June 21, 2008

Canadian Rockies Summer 2008

Gas prices are rising and there seems to be no end in sight, so why not take a trip across the country? This summer we're heading to the Canadian Rockies to do a little climbing in Squamish, the Bugaboos, Yamnuska, Banff, and a few other places. We've decided to send out our trip reports via a blog- yep, we're venturing into the blogosphere. This gives you the option of checking in on our travels whenever you want...or not!

Below is a tentative itinerary for our trip. Feel free to pass along any recommendations of places to stop and check out along the way. Also, we are not quite sure how we are going to get from the Canadian Rockies to Minnesota, so any recommendations there would be welcome as well!


June 24
Head out of town!
June 27 - 28
Boulder
Eldorado Canyon
June 30 - July 2
Portland, Oregon
July 2 - 3
Vancouver Island, BC
July 4 - 8
Squamish, Vancouver, & Skaha
July 9 - 10
Glacier National Park
July 11 - 14
Bugaboos
July 15 - 21
Bow Valley; Banff, Yamnuska, Jasper, Lake Louise
July 22
Calgary
July 25
Edina, MN
July 27
Home