I Lost My New River Gorginity

Pack my clothes. Grab face wash. Don't forget the nail clippers. Whoops, better bring the deodorant missy. Smash a towel into the bag. A sports bra is probably a good idea too. Throw it on the pile. Place approach shoes next to pile. Toss a pillow in the general direction. Receive the text 'almost here.' Mutter 'bugger' under your breath. Go into tornado mode. Fling the rain-jacket towards the door. Shove your feet into shoes. Use the bathroom before you leave. Friend is here. Open my car. Dig around for climbing gear. Realize your car reeks of sweaty climbing shoes. Make a mental note to febreeze it later. Quickly forget that mental note. Neatly arrange quickdraws on a sling. Proceed to stuff neatly arranged draws into climbing bag. Toss helmet to friend. Run inside to grab belongings. Do I have everything? Nope. Track down missing water bottle. Right where I left it. Cool. Oops, unlock the door again. Grab food from the fridge. Where did I put my keys? Oh, in my hand. Okay, in the car lets go. I'm ready to lose my New River Gorginity.

Slightly exaggerated but fairly accurate.

So guess where I went? Yeah, that's right, I was at the New River Gorge in West Virginia. I've been to The Red a few times - which is much further away - but never to The New!! Say what?! My dearest, most beloved climbing friends will be very happy to know that is no longer the case. I quickly discovered why people debate over which Gorge is better. Maybe I haven't seen enough of the New but I'm still leaning towards the Red. Given the Red is my style of climbing and I have some awesome memories of climbing with Aaron and other friends there.

See everyone, this is why I love climbing. Not only is it a full body work out, focuses your mind and energy, but I get to be in some of the most beautiful places on Earth. Surrounded by nature with your climbing buddies - nothing is better.

Anyways, the first day was hot. Not like Wisconsin or Texas hot but muggy southeast hot. I swear it was 130 degrees and 99% humidity. We went to Summersville Lake - Orange Oswald area and I got to hop on a few climbs. Such climbs were: Fabulous Groupies, Hippie Dreams, and Chunko Goes Bowling. I discovered very quickly that 9s are much harder at the New than anywhere else I've climbed! 10s aren't much better. Oh, I saw snakes. The first when was when I was emptying my bladder. I didn't think twice about yanking up my shorts and high tailing it out of there. Trust me, I was too scared to finish - I just grabbed my harness and fled. Then later when I was checking out another climb, I saw another one. It stared at me and flicked its tongue. Needless to say, I found a different route back. 

The next day was fun. We started walking to an area when the sky opened up, cried and told us we were not to go climbing. So we went back to the car, waited, and then headed to different area. This place had a big roof to keep us dry. We hopped on Totally Tammy first. When I was belaying David, the steam/fog rolled up the gorge and ate us. It was kind of cool to see. Being as smart as I am, I always fail to remember to bring my camera. I tried Totally Tammy. Let's just say the crux is the start and is sucky if you can't quite reach that crimpy side-pull. Oh how I would have loved to get my fingertips on that! After much struggle, it was smooth sailing to the top. Then we hopped on Rico Suave Arete (the best 10a in the New). I agree with the book. Sustained climbing, pull a little roof, and bloop you're at the anchors. I would gladly do that one again. Grit and Bear It (11a) was next. David lead, I attempted to clean (made it 4 of the 5 bolts!!), decided getting pulled by the rope when I wanted to go the other way wasn't worth the struggle, and let him finish the job. Can't say it was a bad day (even after the rain).

Friday morning we went on down to the Head Wall in Bubba City. Once again, I tried a 9 (Hubba Bubba) which was harder than anything else I've climbed I swear. I took an attempt at Pyro Vixen but a swing-ride made me decide a different time would be better. But hey, the New is close so I'll be going back in no time!

I also learned a few things about climbing this past week. Everytime I go climbing outside I'm thinking of climbs that I want to take Aaron to. I really only trust 3 people to belay me on lead. Telling me that 9s at the New are hard as I'm struggling through one doesn't make me feel better. I still struggle pulling roofs (grrr). Approach shoes are amazing.

Anyways, I'm finishing up some extension papers and hopefully getting them into publication soon! Besides that and inoculating corn, I just climb and read. So if any of you Wisconsinites want to get some heat in your veins, North Carolina is the place to be. hint hint: it means come visit me.

Time Zone Changes

Hey y'all! So, as promised I will fill y'all in on the second half my Aaron's and my trip. It all starts in the Pacific Time Zone near Portland, Oregon.

After being in the car for 8 hours, we stopped at Oneonta Gorge near Portland. Aaron and I assumed we were in for a nice little hike to see some waterfalls. Well, the nice little hike turned into climbing across fallen logs, a skip and a hop over some rocks, and eventually me missing the dry area and landing in the river. So I decided I didn't care about staying dry anymore and just trudged through the river. By the way, the water was super cold. After I got over the initial 'this is really cold and I am mad my shoes are wet,' we kept on. Given we didn't know that in order to see the fall, we were going to have to walk through water. No worries, we went through anyways. I gave Aaron the task of not losing our phones and keeping them dry. After awhile it got too deep for us to go through without getting completely soaked. We had to turn around but we still caught a little glimpse of the fall. As we were headed out, we saw people who were actually prepared for the journey. Next time.

Oneonta Gorge!

We grabbed food at an El Savadorian restaurant and made our way to Peter & Alissa's. We were greeted with big hugs and a beer. Now, if I would have been on top of my game, I would have thought to bring a few Spotted Cow. Needless to say, I did not. We spent the night catching up, Aaron getting invited to their wedding, and settling into Portland living for a few days. The next day Aaron and I went climbing at Broughton Bluffs which is right outside Portland. It started raining, my wrist injury started acting up, so we decided to go check out a climbing gym in Portland. Unfortunately, it is no TRC :(

View of Portland from the Pittock Mansion

We ate dinner downtown, and relaxed in a park asking each other philosophical questions. The next day we explored Portland. Alissa and Peter gave us a nice long list of things to do. We walked up and down 21st Street (similar to State Street), saw a bunch of things I couldn't afford on my oh-so-highpaying-stipend. Then we went to see Pittock Mansion. We didn't go inside but we walked around the grounds, saw an amazing view of downtown, and hiked one of the trails nearby. We ate at the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, had a few beers, and went to go see the X-Men movie. I have never seen an X-Men movie before but now I want to go see all of them.

Pittock Mansion. It's crazy how this isn't even that big of a house in nowadays standards!

In the morning, we took off for Olympic National Park. We hiked the Third Beach Trail and an extra hike to get to a secluded beach. The first hike was super easy and obviously very well maintained. The second trail...umm...not so much. It was a mudfest of ropes to help you stay in place (or stop you from sliding down the hill), some sketchy stairs that were broken, and mud puddles to conquer. On the way to the secluded beach, I tried my best to stay out of the worst of the mud so my shoes wouldn't get wet. Well, that didn't work so well. Of course, Aaron had nice waterproof boots so he tromped right on through as I danced across logs, stones and blazing my own trail. It was awesome.

Third Beach.

So we got to the beach, set up camp, started a fire, and made dinner. By the way, the beach was beautiful. As we were sitting there, I noticed the ocean sounded louder. Yes, I know that sounds stupid considering I was sitting on the beach, but the ocean sounded louder, okay? We looked around a bit and discovered that the tide had risen a fair amount already. The path we hiked in on was now covered by water. This is the start of the story of TIDEPOCALYPSE. Please pardon my ignorance, but I didn't grow up near an ocean so the concept of tides rising that much seemed silly. By this time, the tide had risen probably 3 feet or so. We didn't think it would come in much more than 6 and we were high enough so we figured we were safe. We judged that by the "drop lines" of sea plants, rocks, and whatever else the tide washes up. So we continued enjoying our fire and wine. The tide kept rising. Eventually I drew a line in the sand and said, "If the waves touch here, we should probably find a higher spot to  sleep." Well, the wave did touch that line and almost got our tent wet. As Aaron went to go in search of a higher flat area, I picked up some of our stuff and moved it further up the beach. Not too long later, we moved the tent onto some rocks to prevent it from getting wet. I rescued our backpacks and sleeping bags from getting wet and Aaron went to go find a new way out. Then the tide put out our fire so we knew it was time to get out of there. It was dark, I didn't have a headlamp, we threw everything into bags, and made our way out. We found a decent spot to camp a little ways up the trail and pitched the tent. By now, the tide had taken over our private beach. Damn you tides. That's the end of TIDEPOCALYPSE.

Our private beach pre-TIDEPOCALYPSE

Nothing is better than being with the ones you love; especially when the ones you love also love being outside.

 So the next day, we hiked out and made our way to Seattle. After breakfast in Forks, Washington (which by the way, is where the Twilight books take place as I discovered), driving for a few hours, catching a ferry, we finally made it to downtown Seattle to where Aaron was going to be staying the summer. We got our stuff into his place and made a plan for the rest of my time there with him. He took me out to Annapurna - a Nepali/Tibetan restaurant - for my birthday dinner. Then we went to REI to get my birthday gift of a headlamp (which was very much needed in other circumstances) and two of the lightest quickdraws I have ever touched in my life. Family, if you don't know what a quickdraw is, just google search it :)  Then we took a ride of the Seattle Big Wheel at sunset. Let's just say that my 22nd birthday was my favorite one so far.

Seattle Big Wheel

The next day, Aaron and I had the day together in Seattle. We went to a beach on the sound and just made a day of being together before he started work. More delicious food, more beautiful sights, and more reasons for me to stay in Seattle. The next day Aaron had to start at Amazon so I had the day to myself. I organized his stuff to make it feel like home, pitched the tent in the room to dry it out, and read my book. We went out for dinner and listened to the audiobook. I sadly began to pack my bags and prepare to leave in the morning. My last morning in Seattle started off with me making sure I knew how to get to the airport. After breakfast, Aaron and I were faced with the lovely notion that I was leaving for Raleigh even though I much preferred to stay right were I was. Goodbyes are the worst :(   I made my way to the light-rail with some help of random people and others headed to the airport. Blah blah blah I made it back to Raleigh. Ugh, I fell in love with Seattle and left my heart back in the Pacific Time Zone.

View of  Downtown from Aaron's place. Oh how I will miss Seattle. One more year.

View of the Space Needle from the Big Wheel