Bull City Chick

I have been effectively bouncing back and forth from Virginia to North Carolina and as a result I am sick of driving. I packed almost all my belongings into my two door civic this week and now have a lot of sorting to do. Here are some photos from Durham and Cville.

East Coast Baby!

For those of you who don't know(and read my blog). Nixi and I are back East, we rolled through Kentucky a week ago, then to Durham and now on to Charlottesville. The drive back was simply delightful although a bit gloomy...we drove in and out of a massive storm for the whole week! Despite the rain Lucy and I and our foxy puppies jammed to great tunes old and new and chatted each others ears off, it sounds funny saying that because I actually don't think we could chat each other's ears off, we both enjoy talking to each other way too much! After an amazing month and a half at Smith and and road trip I know we will be friends for life. For those of you who know me well you know that a road trip is an ultimate test of whether we get along or not, Lucy passed with flying colors. I am still not used to sleeping inside and not climbing every day but time is flying faster than expected.

Now for an update on the future, I am moving into my car at the end of October and setting off again! I plan to head west, maybe stopping in CO or UT on the way. The ultimate destination will be CA unless my Fancypants is somewhere else. Aside from the vague outline I am leaving the rest of the trip up to Nixi, she did an excellent job with the last one after all.

Here are a few photos from the road trip on the way back:

Rainy but beautiful Spearfish Canyon

I can't help myself! Rocks are too tempting-Black Hills SD

Just a small bit of the beautiful sleeve Lucy drew on me.

Climbing "Goldrush" 11d-Red River Gorge KY

Stop #19 Smith Rock State Park

After living at Smith for the past month I am still not sure how to put it in words. When I first got here I was underwhelmed by the rock and the vibes of the park but after a few short days I fell in love. The campsite here is a mecca for interesting and weird people of all backgrounds and with all kinds of skills, the rocks are a 5-10 minute walk down the hill and across the river from my tent and the weather is nearly perfect(at least in the shade). Despite the crumminess of some of the Tuff I have grown to enjoy the rock and have found myself feeling thankful for the once scary nubbins. Smith is home to my first Trad lead, my first attempt at a 12c on lead, and hopefully soon my first 12a red point. I apologize for the climbing lingo but simply said these are some of the most awesome milestones of my climbing career thus far. I have played and laughed at Smith more than I have in years and as I prepare to leave I know that I will be back for more excellent crimboing.

Playing on the Silks off a high line at Steelhead Falls

The Sunset at Smith

Nixi and I on top of the Springboard doing some yoga

Jumping off the Monkey swing!

Stop #18 Boise ID and Baker City UT

I swung through Boise on my way Northwest and popped in for a Country Two Step lesson. Country Two step is much harder than it sounds but it is quite fun and I also learned Country Swing which is a blast! The crowd was mainly older and I met a man who's hobby was flying planes and chatted about climbing and traveling with many of the folks there. I concluded my evening by singing Karaoke to Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia" and hit the road to Oregon. The following day I cruised through Baker City Oregon which is an adorable little town with a cute Main Street and a great Food Coop. I stocked up and headed out on the final stretch to Smith.

Stop #17 Devils Playground-Utah

After procrastination in Wyoming and a late night decision to drive to Oregon instead of Cali I wound up lost in Devils Playground. Even though it was out of the way I was drawn there and spent hours into the middle of the night wending my way through bumpy dirt roads in the middle of nowhere/Northwestern Utah. Needless to say my headlights eventually panned across some rocks and I parked the car and almost instantly fell asleep. In the morning I woke up in the middle of Devil's Playground all by my self. It was incredibly serene. I cooked breakfast and immediately needed to put my hands on all the beautiful rock around me. Nixi and I romped around and did some great off roading until we headed to Smith in the late afternoon.

Some of the gorgeous rocks in the Playground

"Sinful Sending"- How could I help but climb naked it was the Devil's Playground after all.

"Sacrificial Atonement"- This is the scariest self portrait I've taken yet I am laying on the edge of a stone that juts out twenty some feet in the air, needless to say balance was crucial.

Stop #16 BLM Land on WY/ID border

Leaving Jackson was hard and because I felt reluctant to move West I was looking for excuses to stay in Wyoming as I began to drive Southwest towards Nevada. As I drove south I saw a beautiful fin of rock sticking up between two mountains and naturally I had to go explore it! I found bear poop, heard cougars in the night, slept for a good 12 hours, and free soloed my first off width.

Driving in, yet another off roading adventure with Matilda.

"Willful Wyoming"- Self portrait taken in a cave 200 feet up after free soloing the biggest fin in the canyon.

The obvious crack/ramp system in this photo is what I free soloed to find the cave shown above, it doesn't look too big in this photo but the first crack system was probably about 80 feet and with my  perception of height it very well could have been 100.

Stop #15: Jackson Wyoming

After a week of humming "I'm going to Jackson" in my head I couldn't help but go back to Jackson. This time around I got a much better feel for the town and it's surrounding beauty. I drove back with one of my friends I climbed with in Lander and we set up camp at the gorgeous(and free) BLM campground North of town. I couldn't have asked for a better place to live for a week. Every morning I woke up to the Tetons and every night I watched the sun set on them. They remain the most majestic mountains I have seen.

View from high up in the Tetons

Nixi after our hike up to the base of the Grand.

Buffalo across from my hammock in the morning