08.06.11
Posted in Climbing, Road Trip, recreation at 7:45 pm by heidihoho7
Frogs and Dinos
Every year Bela and i try to take a trip that’s just for us, not always climbing but something we both enjoy. This year we decided to head west to my favorite state for some climbing, hiking, and exploring. It just so happens that many of our friends happen to think it’s a great state as well so we have a few friends out here that we’re going to visit and hopefully meet up with to climb with… so as the weather in Chicago finally cools down from its ungodly humidity and heat and becomes bearable again, we decide to leave…. luckily i don’t feel so bad about that knowing we’ll be in the foothills and mountains soon enough.
Thursday afternoon arrives and after a few quick errands we’re finally on the road. We missed most of the traffic, but as always there’s construction everywhere… luckily we timed it well and didn’t get too delayed. As we got into Nebraska rain started coming down pretty strong as we hit a pretty big storm. The visibility got worse and worse and it got to the point where we were going at least 20-30 under the speed limit just to see the lines on the road. i may be conservative when it comes to driving in the rain, but i just dont think its worth the risk and since we weren’t under a real time constraint we ended up pulling off into a rest stop to take a break and let the storm pass.
On the way into the parking area i noticed something hopping on the road – a frog. On the way into the parking area i noticed something hopping on the road – a frog. then i noticed it wasnt just 1, they were every where! Big ones, little ones… crossing the road, hanging in the grass. They were loving the rain, we didn’t. Since it was 2am we decided to take a nap.
We woke up to dawn and got back on the road. after a few miles and just shy of colorado our stomachs reminded us that we needed some sustenance…. After a quick breakie and top off to the tank we could have gotten on our way…. but as most folks know a great road trip just isnt complete until someone rides/pets/accosts some plastic/metal animal or sculpture (mythical or extinct ones just get you extra points). So this is when we realized that the sinclair station does in fact have a miniture dinosour that is just the right height to attempt to ride 
So bela does a great impression of an old time cowboy and leaps right on up onto his back, proving that if cars magically disappeared that he’d likely be able to function and ride off into the sunset and make it look good.
After a quick ride, it was my turn and let’s just say that it wasn’t pretty. Lucky for you all bela was snapping off pics of my wonderuflly not graceful mounting of betty the brontosaur. we had a great laugh at my awkwardness as well as the few folks who drove by and saw the mid 30 year olds riding a fake dinosaur…. It was awesome.
Front Range Tempatations
The rest of the drive went quickly as we entered colorado and then had the big debate – where to go and what to do? we figured our friends ben and karleen were likely busy on a friday morning so we decided to head to my old stomping grounds… I had lived with my sister tiff back in the summer of 1997 at her apartment south of denver. so we drove by my old jobs – performance bikes and the movie theater that had the 3 story high screen… It all slowly started coming back, things looked very familair and it was fun to see if my memory worked at all. it did!! ok well most of it, i was able to get us back to the general area of the apartment but didn’t quite find it. i decided that it didn’t matter and we had to make a decision on what to do with our day.
Now bela isn’t that familiar with the area so i started explaining to him that i would start driving west toward a bouldering area just in the foothills and a mere 15 minutes away and if we didn’t like that we could head north another 15-30 minutes and hit Golden – another spot for climbing and a cool little town, or we could head north yet again another 20-30 mins and hit eldorado canyon for some more climbing and so and so on… There’s climbing in just bout every canyon/valley here and you really have your pick on where you want to go.
So we deciced to start with Golden since it was so close. I mentioned that we probably didn’t have a good guidebook seeing as how we left it at home since it was from 1995 and things had likely changed a bit since then. the Bent Gate (an awesome climbing gear shop) just so happens to be based out of golden so with a new guidebook in hand we had a plan – grab a quick lunch and check in on the kids to see if anyone could join us for some afternoon fun on the rock.
Karleen had to work, but ben was available but had some errands to run so we had an hour or so to fill. i had vaguely remembered my friend steve mentioning a whitewater park in the foothills and thought maybe it was in golden so i convinced bela tthat we should explore the area in town. There are some nice parks and great walkways along the river right in town and we parked when i saw some whitewater boats and got a bit excited.
We’d found the clear creek whitewater park!! While the park is manmade, it is quite natural and has some nice features. Including some nice surf waves and play spots with some really great places to hang out and watch. i noticed 2 gals just socializing along the river and ended up asking them about renting boats becuase i may just be able to convince bela to let me go out for a few hours to play in the water – its just too tempting! luckily there is an outfitter in town and i should be able to rent when the time comes (we’ll see!)
So by that point it was time to meet up with ben and we headed off toward golden cliff’s north table. Both bela and i had been there before and remembered the hike up being horrible, not to mention the late afternoon sun on a nice warm day… It didn’t seem the best choice but we really didn’t care at that point, we just wanted to get on some rock. So we prepped our gear and in no time ben pulled in and we were off up the steep climb to the rocks.
Despite the heat the hike wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected, and we found the area we were looking for fairly quickly. there were 2 nice 5.7s in a small alcove that was almost in shade so we decided to do both of those and then see what else looked good.
The first two climbs went really well with bela leading them both and they both ended up completely in the shade so we didn’t have to sweat the whole day. The rock was great – fun holds, ledges and moves. ben even pulled off a superb chaco toe crack move in addition to climbing the 2nd one totally barefoot (he brought his super tight shoes that no longer fit…) We finished the day with bela leading a beautiful 10c that had some tricky moves. I made an attempt (halfway wasn’t too shabby!) and then Ben finished cleaning up.
We worked our way back to Superior where B&K live where we got some dinner and waited for K to get off of work. After catching up with everyone we realized that we were all exhausted and that it was time for bed….
We declared our first day in Colorado to be quite a success… tempation at its finest. Tomorrow’s plan – tennis, relaxation and maybe some bouldering 
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09.24.09
Posted in Road Trip, friends, photo, recreation, travel, vacation at 10:50 pm by heidihoho7
Ridgeway & Resting
Thursday morning i went out with John and Randy for a sunrise shoot just outside of Ridgeway, we got some pretty fall color with mountains in the background. While out with the boys I started to realize that I wasn’t feeling so great, and we opted to skip out on breakfast at True Grit to make our way back to the cabins. Once there i decided that i’d take the rest of the day off – i took a wonderfully long nap and bela and i laid low while the rest of the crew went off to Jimmy and Wendell’s for a tex-mex dinner. (and i believe there was fishing at Buddy’s as well as we had fish in the freezer that night)
Have you seen the Muffler Man?
Friday I was feeling better so bela and i decided to go geocaching. Neely and Jen went out with a local friend to go horseback riding and andy wanted to get a bike ride in. As it happened our first geocache happened to have the same name as the place andy wanted to start his biking. So as andy got his bike ready, we found our first cache in the area literally 50′ away. We made plans to meet up in a few hours and parted ways to our own adventures.
Our next cache was at the water reservoir near town. We made a quick side trek to the viewpoint – supposedly we could see all four states and i think we did see most of them… we enjoyed the view and moved on to find the cache fairly quickly right off the main road. The next cache ended up being behind a cemetery that had the coolest little outhouse. we didn’t go inside but i did take a few pics. Our final cache of the day was one of the best caches we’ve ever found – the muffler man. This was one of the craziest spots we’d ever been – this guy creates people and scenes out of old muffler and car parts. We were just mesmerized by all the scenarios he thought up – and then factor in there are goats all over and following us around. The goats helped us find the cache that was hidden right in the middle of it all. We wandered around and took pics of our favorite muffler concoctions.
We were about out of time so we headed back to town to meet up with Andy for a light lunch at the local coffee shop. Back at the cabin we enjoyed a quiet afternoon and it was decided to have a yummy final dinner of our fine local ingredients: freshly caught fish from Buddy’s pond and a puffball mushroom found in the neighbor’s field, in addition to some yummy garlic potatoes. Since the gals had been cooking most of the week, the boys were put in charge of cooking.
Things were just heating up when all of a sudden Jen asks if we’d seen Figgy (1 of her doggies). None of us had, and after John had been taunting us all week with the “better watch out or the coyotes will get them!” we were a little anxious to find Figgy. After an initial check around the cabin with no doggie, things started getting a little crazy. Everyone goes out to search – Bela opted to make sure the cabin didn’t burn down and watched the food and I took over with Fiona (Jen’s youngest), while she assured me she knew where Figgy was, as we kept wandering around the cabin looking and yelling for the doggie. Luckily Jen found Figgy a mile or two down the road on some private property and the search party was called off. Dinner was started up again and we all enjoyed our dinner with relief and a bit of sadness knowing we’d be heading out the next day.
Rock Art and Fine Dining
Saturday morning we finished our packing and got on our way to Albuquerque, waving goodbye to the family and wonderful cabins in the mountains. The drive went by fairy quickly, even with all 4 doggies. I have to admit i liked having the wee doggies – they seemed kind of kittie like sitting on our laps. We convinced andy and neely to make the side trip to Petraglyph Nat’l Monument – we weren’t supposed to have doggies so the kids dropped us off so we could do a quick look see. We enjoyed a quick trip around Boca Negra Canyon, which literally borders the city. There were some cool glyphs and some obvious graffiti but overall quite cool to see all of the rock art with a complete view of the city and mountains in the background.
We all opted to take an afternoon nap (actually i think andy may have gone for a ride/run but he’s crazy and we already know that) after checking in to our hotels. The doggies even had their own bed! The kids picked us up and we were on our way to a wonderful dinner at a little french place the urban spoon suggested. While enjoying the excellent food we also were entertained by the kids coming in for their homecoming dinners. We had great fun guessing who was with who and why they dressed the way they did – Neely did not approve of the hat at the dinner table! We found it pretty cool that our waiter was born in chicago but had lived in texas for a while but was now in ABQ – what are the odds of that!? Just another sign of a great trip we think!
We flew home on sunday morning while the kids finished their long drive to Austin. Overall a wonderful trip with great friends as always!
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09.22.09
Posted in Road Trip, friends, recreation, travel, vacation at 10:37 pm by heidihoho7
Off to Utah
Tuesday morning we got up early and made our way to Moab, Utah – the outdoor mecca of .. well everything outdoorsy! We opted to find a hotel first and as luck would have it they had a computer with a printer in the lobby. With the weather being wonderfully comfortable in the high 60s and low 70s we had to change some of our plans a bit. We had planned to do some canyoning in nearby Arches NP but many of them had wet portions and we were not dressed for that. With our new routes in hand we made our way into Arches. After the obligatory stop at the visitor center (yes i had to get my stamp) we stopped fairly quickly and parked at the Park Avenue Trailhead to begin our first adventure – “U-Turn”.
This canyoning route took us up onto the mesa which required some scrambling and included all of our vertical rise in one fell swoop. The boys of course scampered up like they were walking on flat land, while Neely and i shared a bit of sense and took our time. The hot morning sun started beating down on us and we all stripped down to bare essentials – ok so i had leg warmers at one point – whatever it was easier than taking my shoes off! We had spectacular views from the top of the mesa. We could see for miles and got some great views that most visitors to the park will never get.
The boys were leading us and found our path to the first rappel. We had to cross a small path with drops on each side and even scramble up a bit more before we came to a canyon. We all got our gear on and rapped down – Neely even did it no handed ! just kidding – we thought we’d give her parent’s a small heart attack just for fun and it was only like 10′ from the lip of the cliff – she would have lived
We continue exploring the area quickly come to our 2nd rappel, which is an open space rappel so it was kind of fun…. you pop over the lip and just swing!
We landed on a fairly flat area that just had to be explored for a while. Now the whole time during this adventure, we’d all been commenting on the “balanced rock” which the route description had called Wile E Coyote Rock which we assumed was one in the same… only once we were walking towards it (after about 5-6 different mentions during the day til that point) Andy finally realizes what we’re talking about – we weren’t really sure what he thought we were referring to the whole time but it was like a bulb went off and he went off running towards it. sketchy bouldering followed as well as all of us taking our turns standing underneath it. no comment on getting down from the precarious stance (NEELY) haha! the boys had their fun as we were working our way back to our 3rd rappel. Andy spontaneously attempted head stands, while bela really took the grand prize by doing multiple hand stands on a rock outcropping. (oddly i wasn’t too freaked out, even with the drop-off 10 ft away)
One of my fave pics was on our return walk when andy’s hat flew off and i happened to catch it mid flight!
so our last rappel was the longest of the day at 75′ and i got to be the first one down, which was kind of exciting as the boys tend to take charge a lot. we enjoyed the short hike to the car at the trailhead and truly enjoyed the fact that we got to see a few of the features up close and personal. A great intro to canyoning – 2 hrs short and sweet!
After a yummy lunch and a few quick stops at the local climbing shop and hotel for a quick nap – we were on our way again. this time I’d put my request in to hike to Delicate Arch – one of the most famous arches of the park or possibly anywhere. Andy decided that he needed to get a good bike in so we parted ways at the trailhead and he went off for some real mountain biking fun. We had plenty of time before sunset and I wanted to see the petraglyphs near the trailhead. I’d only read a quick description and had all of us looking around in the brush trying to find them. We finally gave up and wandered upon a big sign just a 100 yards down the trail pointing the way to the glyphs. After the side trek to see them we started the 1 1/2 mile trek to the arch. It was mostly uphill but luckily included many pretty views and cairns to lead the way. There were quite a few people doing the hike as well but many of them were coming down (and miss sunset?!). We got to the top and basked in the view – getting the “i’m in an arch” picture and making many of the photographers anxious. Now being a photographer i can kind of understand some of the anxiousness but come on people – do you really need to freak out every time? Ok so the people camped out at the base of the arch were mildly annoying but they stayed in the shadows so it could have been worse. I decided to camp out to get ready for the nice light right before sunset and I was glad I did – many more people kept coming and ideal spots got more precarious as it got closer and closer.
We were entertained though – there was 1 woman who just had to keep checking to see where the sun was – this included her leaning very carelesly to keep peeking around the corner – 1 time almost falling – we held our breath on that one. There was this other couple as well- the woman kept forcing the man to pose for pictures with the arch in the background. What was awesome about it is that she made him do it at least 3-4 times and each time he wouldn’t smile at all – even the 1 time they did a timer and took a pic togther he wouldn’t smile then either.. we started making jokes regarding smiley man, maybe you had to be there But the best part was that we were just watching the sunlight on the arch and in 1 moment the shadow was gone – which is also when Andy popped up and joined us! He’d finished his bike ride and thought just maybe he could make it in time. He had people cheering for him, some saying “you can make it, hurry!” or some who never thought he would, but he ran and ran (and didn’t kill himself)… we think he just missed the sweet light but he did get to see it with a cool twilight sky and got a pic under it with neely – so we all thought it was well worth it and were so happy when he surprised us We finished the night with a dinner in town followed quickly but all of us passing out almost immediately back at the hotel.
Medieval Canyon Rules
Wednesday morning we chose another canyoning route that promised to be dry with a few longer rappels. The Medieval Canyon route started up at the Sand Flats where many of the mountain bikers go for the classic slick rock. We opted to leave the car at the “put in” (beginning) and left Andy’s bike at the “take out” for our shuttle back to the car. We weren’t entirely sure where the hiking began but apparently all of the drainages lead to the same general area .
We follow a series of canyons and most included small scrambles or small jumps to get around any puddles or brush (Neely had an awesome jump!). We come upon a slot with a steep rise on each side and we weren’t sure we could scramble up them – so bela started doing this crab crawl between the too walls and Neely and I followed suit. It was kind of fun, but as we found out shortly thereafter really not needed as Andy just hiked on up and took pics of us from the one wall top. Shortly after we come upon a cliff on one side and a slot with a dropoff into a pool of water. We didn’t think we needed to swim anything but we also weren’t sure just how deep this pool was or if there was any way to make it up or around. So Andy is well… Andy and he decided to scramble on down to see if he could determine the depth – let’s just say 1 whole leg was a bit soggy and we ended up scrambling (the most precarious scrambling we’d done so far) and ended up finding a rappell down into another canyon bottom that seemed passable and led us to a view of the pool and cliffs that we opted to go around.
Just a short hike further we come to our first major rappel into Medieval Chamber, a 100′ rappel into a slot canyon with 2 levels. The boys set up our ropes and Bela decides to head down first. We can’t see much from the top except a pool of water at the bottom, but we got updates from Bela as he made his way down. He yells up for clarification (is there another rappel? No, keep going! slosh slosh, whoah, hmmmmm, cool!, slosh slosh). Neely and I had heard all that sloshing around and Bela would only tell us that it wasn’t THAT wet. We both opted to go shoeless. I took the camera down with me and got views of the 2 pools of stagnant water, and the awesome view in general. I made my way down the first section and this is where the first sloshing came into play. The ropes led right into the pool – no way around it. I think all of us attempted some kind of pendulum to try to get to the opening to the second drop. The boys made valiant attempts, but still all of us ended up getting wet working our way over to the lip for the 2nd drop. Neely made some of the awesomest sounds during this section – hilarious laughing and squeaking – i don’t think i got all of it on video but i did catch some of her excited squeaks.
The 2nd section also went straight into a pool of water, but luckily Bela helped us gals not get too deep once we landed. Once down we could take in the sights – a small slot canyon leading out the back while the chamber itself was dark and cool- quite the opposite from the desert on top and out the back. Now none of us are rappel fans, but we all agreed that that had to be one of the coolest rappels ever. We could almost understand why people might only go rappeling if they were all like that – but of course we know that they aren’t all that awesome
So we literally walk out the slot into the sunshine and within just a few moments we’re at the top of Morning Glory Arch (which we’re told is really a bridge). We didn’t argue as we went to explore and walked on top of the arch and all around to scope out our rappel. We’d hoped to have 2 ropes so we could do a simul-rappel off the arch (one person on each side of the arch rappelling at the same time) but we didn’t so the boys set up our rappel from the side which meant we got a really cool view looking over at the arch.
While we were checking things out Andy’s hat blew off yet again, but this time went all the way down to the canyon floor – 100′ down. We hadn’t realized but there were hikers down there that had come from the Negro Bill Trailhead (where we’d left the bike) – they were quite confused when a hat came floating down! They yelled up to us and were concerned about how we’d get the hat back – but once our rope came down they figured out what was going on and were a tad bit jealous. We didn’t blame them as this was one cool rappel as well. Once you get over the lip it’s about a 90′+ drop in open space, we all took our time coming down to enjoy the view. Once down we retrieved Andy’s hat and rinsed our hands in a small natural spring that came out of the canyon wall (the ropes were a bit messy having just been in the water and mud from the chamber). Andy decided that since he had to the shuttle back to the car still that he’d get a head start and run the 2 miles back to the bike and power book it back to the car. We took our time knowing it might take him a little while, and enjoyed the hike back to the trailhead. We lost official count but we believe we crossed that creek at least 5-6 times and the trail seemed to be in every direction – a little confusing but quite green despite the desert setting. We decided to continue hiking along the road in the hopes of saving a little time on the shuttle run. Andy made great time and even hit the slickrock a little on the way back to the car – it seemed wrong not to!
Bela and I convinced Andy and Neely to try to do a geocache or two in the area as we started to head home- so we ended up doing a quickie one in town. I’m sure there are some cool ones in the area, maybe next time we’ll get some off the beaten path. We spent the afternoon driving back to CO, already reminiscing about our excellent canyoning adventures.
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