Friends are Awesome!

Well, since we last posted the crew has traveled to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas first of all. Having spent quite a bit of time here in the past both Daniel and I were psyched to show Kristen the awesome sandstone of the ranch. However, upon arriving near the ranch we ran into a horrible fog bank that cut visibility down to mere feat. The fog lasted until nearly midday and we ended up getting in probably a half a day of rock climbing. However, Kristen made short work of a 5.12a called "Lavender Eye" which was quite impressive. Daniel and I, well, we didn't do so much this day and ended up staying one more night at the ranch before heading out for points westward in the morning. Then we drove, and drove, and drove before stopping at a Walmart in Texarkana, Arkansas right on the border with Texas. It was getting dark at this point but we decided to push it through to Dallas in hopes that we could meet up with my high school buddy Brandon who we thought lived in San Antonio. However, about 100 miles outside of Dallas I got in touch with Stringer who happened to actually live in Forth Worth which was right outside of Dallas!! Needless to say after 14 hours of driving we were really excited to see a familiar face and have a comfortable place to stay for the evening. Brandon regaled us with stories of his friend "Jungle Death" and took us out on the town where Daniel and I were promptly hit on by a young gentleman. This was quite the unique experience for both of us to say the least. The next day, nursing slight hangovers, we got the tour of Fort Worth, getting to see some fantastic water gardens, stock yards, and a pretty good taco and margarita too boot. After staying one more night with the ever hospitable Stringer we moved on to Austin TX, apparently home to some fantastic limestone climbing. Once again, while en-route I got in touch with a college friend named Shannon and she offered up a guide book for the area as well as a gracious offer to stay at her pad while we were visiting the area. FYI the traffic in Austin is the worst I have ever experienced and this resulted in much consternation on my part seeing as how my pet peeves are heavy traffic and getting lost, both of which have happened in abundance during our stay in the Austin area. After getting the guide from Shannon's house we hit up a public park in the area called the Greenbelt and managed to make our way to a climbing area known as "Gus Fruh." This turned out to be a little disappointing with some less than stellar routes and bouldering. I guess though, when you live in the city you have to climb on what's convenient and sometimes not what is quality. Thus began our nationwide shit-talking tour 2010, coming to a crag near you very soon. It seems that limestone climbing is quite different than what you would imagine, it is like climbing on plastic, without texture. However, the next day we went to a semi-famous Austin climbing site, Reimer's ranch, which is home to a lot of limestone sport routes. The climbing was also very slick here but not quite as polished as at the Greenbelt. However, as you can see in one of the pictures, some of the bolting leaves a bit to be desired.. After climbing a few pitches Kristen and Daniel attempted some of the harder climbs, some of which were quite unique, such as "Liposuction" which comes out of a very interesting cave climbing stalactites and other wild features moving up the wall. As interesting as Reimer's ranch is I wouldn't recommend this as a world class climbing destination. However, the routes were interesting and most certainly a departure from anything we had climbed in the past. Today we decided to switch things up and go bouldering at McKinney Falls state park which is about 15 minutes from Shannon's abode. The climbing here is also on limestone and from what everyone had told us is considered extremely stout. We weren't disappointed as the climbing was extremely overhanging with slick feet and a myriad of one and two finger pockets littering the wave-like formation that was home to the bouldering. Daniel and I kept ourselves busy for several hours playing on this unique formation and were humbled many times by the difficulty of the climbing. That being said, it was a great challenge and we still managed to get in quite a bit of climbing. Some of these boulder problems were some of the most unique I have encountered so far, ever, but I wouldn't recommend driving to Austin just for this area. That being said, it was a pretty darn good day of climbing. This is probably going to wrap up our climbing in Austin but we are heading to Enchanted Rock tom morrow and will be meeting up with Shannon to volunteer helping Girl Scouts learn how to rock climb this weekend as well as doing a lot of climbing in the area. Tomorrow it is going to rain, for sure, so we're going to check out some wineries around what is known as "E-rock" which is also known as the "Na pa Valley" of Texas. When we post next we'll let you guys know how the wine, climbing, and girl scouting goes. Until then, enjoy the random pictures and we'll keep you posted as we make our way westward! I hope that you guys in Boone are enjoying the snow and that Twigs is hoppin'! We miss all of ya'll, kick back a shot of Woodford for us at the new smoke-free bar! To the rock climbers, I hope ya'll are finding some dry rock and hopefully crushing the proverbial gnar! Until later folks...

Little Rock City

When we last left our intrepid explorers they were holed up in a coffee shop in downtown Chatty drinking PBR and waiting for the rain to stop. After spending the afternoon there and then holing up at a Wall-Mart in Chattanooga for the night I got to see my first glimpse of the famed Little Rock City boulderfield. Located on the Montlake golf course the area is a very strange blend of aging duffers playing the seemingly dogtrack links of Montlake and the younger generation playing on the beautiful boulders that border the fairways of the course. The climbing here is on gorgeous, bullet-hard, white sandstone that offers both very aesthetic as well as fun rock climbing. Being as it was MLK day Monday was busy at the boulders but we met many nice folks including friends of Seiray and getting the phone number of our friend Laban who went to school at ASU during our time there. Aside from that Daniel had a fantastic day, once again climbing nearly everything he tried first or second try and finishing his day by completing the classic problem "The Wave." Kristen also had a good climbing day completing the LRC classic "Super Mario Brothers" among a host of other proud lines. Another great feature of the LRC boulders is that the golf course will sell you beer and then let you go bouldering with said beer! What a novelty! We next spent another lovely evening at the Soddy-Daisy Wall-Mart that is located very close to the golf course and bouldering. As much as I think Wall-Mart is a horrible corporation that exploits small towns the parking lots are a great, safe place to camp with accessible bathrooms and everything you could possibly need for a comfortable evening in the truck. There was even a Mexican restaurant in the shopping center with a great happy hour that we indulged in after our day climbing.. life is good. The next climbing day was a great one for me and I got to finish up one of the most enjoyable climbs of my trip so far, "Spyro Gyro" which consisted of a giant dynamic move to the finishing hold and a tall, proud top-out. On another interesting note, Luna has only bitten one person the entire time I've owned her and that was in Kentucky nearly a year ago, of course the first person I meet on our second day at LRC is the same guy that Luna snagged! The climbing community is extremely small and we keep getting reminded of that on a day to day basis. That night our friend Laban was kind enough to put us up in his new home, show us a good time on the four wheelers, and take us to one of the cheapest, tastiest breakfast places I have been to in a long time. After a sumptuous meal we pulled out for Nashville and the home of Kristen's high school pal Mansi, who is a ninth grade math teacher. However, along the way we took a detour to visit the famous Jack Daniel's distellery in Lynchburg TN. The tour was great and informative concluding with some delicious lemonade and a strong hankering for a glass of whiskey. Once we got to Nashville we enjoyed some television, pizza, and whiskey at Mansi's lovely apartment,got some good sleep, and now we are poised to head out to Arkansas! The trip has so far been awesome, good times, good people, and fantastic southern sandstone! Off we go!

RockTown Ga...

After leaving a snowy, blustery Boone on Tuesday evening, I arrived at RockTown around midnight that evening. There seemed to be practically no one in the campground which for me is somewhat of an anomaly, however, having only been around for college breaks and on the weekends this soon made more sense. After relaxing with a cold beer Luna and I bundled up and crawled into the truck. On the upside, there is NO snow in Ga but the first few evenings were brutally cold and it was certainly difficult to sleep through the night. Daniel and Kristen pulled up to the campground as I was waking up on Wednesday and we got to go rock climbing! This was Daniel and Kristen's first time to this area and I'll have to say that they had an impressive first week at RockTown. Kristen completed many, many rock climbs during our stay sending some impressive stuff, including her first v6 boulder problem and what I understand to be her second V7 after sending "Morning Star" earlier in the trip at Rumbling Bald, NC. Daniel absolutely tore up RockTown completing nearly every climb I saw him get on within a few tries, many on his first try! This was around our third night in the area and we decided to celebrate with some beverages and woke up to a very overcast day on Saturday. As a group we decided this would be a good rest day and headed into the bustling town of LaFayette, Ga. After some Hardee's and very hot, free showers, courtesy of the LaFayette recreation department Daniel and Kristen retired to the car while I decided to try my luck at the rocks, wet or not. It ended up that Luna and I had the entire boulderfield to ourselves for the remainder of the day. It was great, I didn't realize quite how spoiled we are in Boone to be able to climb in relative peace and quiet, apart from the beta-spewing, chest thumping Bro's and Bro-ette's we encountered during busier days at the crag. My solitary day at the rocks proved to be one of my best climbing days in a long time and I completed several climbs that were on my list for this leg of the journey. Then it rained... after spending this morning reading at Hardee's for three or so hours Kristen, Daniel and I met up and are now in Chatty chillin' at a coffee shop escaping the rain. I'm looking outside at the dog and she looks rather pissed... Understandably so, however, this is definately not the fun part of the roadtrip. Three movies, 14 hours of sleeping, and damp gear are not so glamorous. Hopefully LRC for climbing on Monday and Tuesday before we make another travel decision. I hope things are going well in Boone, we miss all of you! Obviously I'm not too blog savvy but here are some assorted pictures and a video from RockTown!

Finally Departing!

After an excellent weekend in Rocky Mount to see my nephew and family, I'm about to meet Daniel and Kristen for what will be the second leg of my roadtrip in Rock Town, Ga atop beautiful Pidgeon Mountain. This whole roadtrip was finally kicked off on the tenth of January when Leigh Anna and I made an impromptu trip to Wrightsville Beach in order to start the trip on one coast and hopefully make it all the way to the other! The next post will actually be about rockclimbing, I promise. However, here are some shots from Boone, Wrightsville, and Rocky Mount. Leaving Boone has proven to be a sad and time consuming process, having no home, job, or schedule has left me a bit unsettled. Hopefully time traveling will solve this problem and I look forward to being back in North Carolina in May, but until then good people, I'm off!!!