Thee Red Rocks on Sunday before the rain...
The damn Hoover Dam
Peacocks woke us up every morning!
Jeans fondling the sandstone
Margot grabbing some grips
Early morning at Bonnie Springs from our balconyFriday morning Gina, Margot and I headed to Vegas Baby! It was difficult to squeeze my aching body into Margot's subaru after one of the more intense Ryan Kwan Do work outs. I wined my way to Vegas. After a stop at Trader Joe's and Desert Rock Sports we headed to the Bonnie Springs motel.
Nestled at the base of the Wilson Cliffs in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Bonnie Springs is an old western town offering gun fights, a petting zoo, delicious burgers and a strange motel where peacocks yelp night and day -- assuring little sleep, well, along with the thin walls and loud, non-functioning coffee maker (30 minutes for 1 cup -- and don't call the front desk for another coffee maker because the lady is no friendly). The other downfall of Bonnie Springs is the petting zoo with sickly looking animals and a pacing, unhappy Lynx that I've always wanted free--but I forgot the bolt cutters-darn it.
Despite it's drawbacks, the motel is located at the base of the mountains, it's lovely there and, like I said the burgers are to die for. The wait staff is pretty darn nice too.
After unloading the rig we headed straight for Calico Basin to climb Physical Graffiti 5.7 -- two pitches...one of the most amazing climbs in Red Rocks...okay, there's so many there it's difficult to say, but it's a damn good one. It was Margot's first multi-pitch climb. I knew she'd do good when she wore her flip-flops to the base (I've had to short rope clients up there in my past life as a guide). Her only draw-back was in her head because she cruised the climbing. Gina was smiling the entire time. It was soo much fun. We descended near dark and had a BURGER at the springs while listening to karaoke and plotting the freeing of the lynx.
After finally deciding on Ginger Cracks, it was between that and Lotta Balls (the name which the girls said I mentioned too often), we set the alarm for 6 a.m. and went to bed. The alarm went off at 5:55 a.m. and I thought it was earlier than I set it. There was no way I could drag myself out of bed so I turned the alarm off and slid back under the covers.
We finally woke up and decided to go for Ginger Cracks anyway. We left Margot cuddled in her sleeping bag (she had a clinic at the Rendezvous at 1pm) and headed to the 13-mile loop road. We parked in Pine Creek and headed for my secret trail at the big pine tree. There were FROGS!!! I got to hear them!! My old trail was not so obvious, but we found it and headed for the cracks. When we got in front of Rose Tower I mentioned we were right next to Olive Oil. Gina put in a really big vote for Olive Oil, but said she'd do whatever. I really wanted to do Ginger Cracks and had never done it so we continued. I got us lost, we found our way, we got on a good trail, we headed uphill, we got cut up from the manzanita and scrub oak, and we headed up a very steep hill to reach the base. Did I mention that we were having a very hard time because of the intense workout we did on Thursday? Did I mention that I'd not been getting a good night's sleep since the workout on Thursday? Did I mention that the hiking in Flagstaff is fairly short compared to Red Rocks (e.g. 10 minutes vs. 2 hours)? We WERE HURTING but we kept going.
When we got to the base I got sooo excited. It was a perfect, lovely crack! I couldn't believe it. I took note of the time (NOON) and started stacking ropes. In no time we were on the route. I started and then went up the wrong side of a crack with groundfall potential. I was surprised at myself; I had gotten really scared before I decided to downclimb and move to the right hand crack. I kept having to run it out and wasn't feeling secure. I'd hardly put any gear in a route of the same grade a day earlier. I made my way up with hesitation and started pulling up the ropes. Hmmm. I was getting pumped. When Gina was on belay I noticed her moving slower and with less confidence than I'd seen the day before. When she got to the belay I asked how she was feeling and she said tired, but she was not going to bail for ANYTHING - what trooper. I said, "we need to decide now if we want to go down or have an epic". We decided NOT to have an epic. I was very disappointed, but it was my decision and I think it was the right one. Gina was hard core. We hiked down, didn't get lost and crashed at the room, which seemed dreamier than ever.
After a good amount of rest and some Trader Joe's snacking we picked up Margot who was ecstatic about her bouldering clinic. We snacked some more and headed to the Red Rock Rendezvous. The venue was closed to those who'd not registered, but luckily Margot was registered. There were 1200 peeps there!
We were too knackered to socialize for very long but I got to see some of my favorite peeps and friends HEIDI!!, Cedee!!, IVO!!, Vera & Topher and their clan, Tanya and Rachael, met Laura FRYER--very awesome woman.
Ivo ran up to me on my way out just to say hi and see how I was. As I left him with a big hug I started to cry. My life has changed so much in the past years and I am happier than I've ever been in my life, but I can still reminisce my life on the road that crew of folks. I miss them, but wouldn't change anything--except that I'd be infinitely wealthy and we could all play together more. It feels so wonderful to be welcomed and loved everytime we see each other.
Sunday gave us some lovely clouds and a little rain. We bouldered at Calico and it was more fun than I ever remember. I was feeling a little grumpy beforehand, just still tired and still hadn't had a good night's sleep. The bouldering bonded us all again and we left smiling and happy. We headed home with lovely sites, clouds, blue sky and rock everywhere.
Hanging with the ladies is super fun, but it's also great to be home with my men. I shore do miss them when I'm away.
Nestled at the base of the Wilson Cliffs in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Bonnie Springs is an old western town offering gun fights, a petting zoo, delicious burgers and a strange motel where peacocks yelp night and day -- assuring little sleep, well, along with the thin walls and loud, non-functioning coffee maker (30 minutes for 1 cup -- and don't call the front desk for another coffee maker because the lady is no friendly). The other downfall of Bonnie Springs is the petting zoo with sickly looking animals and a pacing, unhappy Lynx that I've always wanted free--but I forgot the bolt cutters-darn it.
Despite it's drawbacks, the motel is located at the base of the mountains, it's lovely there and, like I said the burgers are to die for. The wait staff is pretty darn nice too.
After unloading the rig we headed straight for Calico Basin to climb Physical Graffiti 5.7 -- two pitches...one of the most amazing climbs in Red Rocks...okay, there's so many there it's difficult to say, but it's a damn good one. It was Margot's first multi-pitch climb. I knew she'd do good when she wore her flip-flops to the base (I've had to short rope clients up there in my past life as a guide). Her only draw-back was in her head because she cruised the climbing. Gina was smiling the entire time. It was soo much fun. We descended near dark and had a BURGER at the springs while listening to karaoke and plotting the freeing of the lynx.
After finally deciding on Ginger Cracks, it was between that and Lotta Balls (the name which the girls said I mentioned too often), we set the alarm for 6 a.m. and went to bed. The alarm went off at 5:55 a.m. and I thought it was earlier than I set it. There was no way I could drag myself out of bed so I turned the alarm off and slid back under the covers.
We finally woke up and decided to go for Ginger Cracks anyway. We left Margot cuddled in her sleeping bag (she had a clinic at the Rendezvous at 1pm) and headed to the 13-mile loop road. We parked in Pine Creek and headed for my secret trail at the big pine tree. There were FROGS!!! I got to hear them!! My old trail was not so obvious, but we found it and headed for the cracks. When we got in front of Rose Tower I mentioned we were right next to Olive Oil. Gina put in a really big vote for Olive Oil, but said she'd do whatever. I really wanted to do Ginger Cracks and had never done it so we continued. I got us lost, we found our way, we got on a good trail, we headed uphill, we got cut up from the manzanita and scrub oak, and we headed up a very steep hill to reach the base. Did I mention that we were having a very hard time because of the intense workout we did on Thursday? Did I mention that I'd not been getting a good night's sleep since the workout on Thursday? Did I mention that the hiking in Flagstaff is fairly short compared to Red Rocks (e.g. 10 minutes vs. 2 hours)? We WERE HURTING but we kept going.
When we got to the base I got sooo excited. It was a perfect, lovely crack! I couldn't believe it. I took note of the time (NOON) and started stacking ropes. In no time we were on the route. I started and then went up the wrong side of a crack with groundfall potential. I was surprised at myself; I had gotten really scared before I decided to downclimb and move to the right hand crack. I kept having to run it out and wasn't feeling secure. I'd hardly put any gear in a route of the same grade a day earlier. I made my way up with hesitation and started pulling up the ropes. Hmmm. I was getting pumped. When Gina was on belay I noticed her moving slower and with less confidence than I'd seen the day before. When she got to the belay I asked how she was feeling and she said tired, but she was not going to bail for ANYTHING - what trooper. I said, "we need to decide now if we want to go down or have an epic". We decided NOT to have an epic. I was very disappointed, but it was my decision and I think it was the right one. Gina was hard core. We hiked down, didn't get lost and crashed at the room, which seemed dreamier than ever.
After a good amount of rest and some Trader Joe's snacking we picked up Margot who was ecstatic about her bouldering clinic. We snacked some more and headed to the Red Rock Rendezvous. The venue was closed to those who'd not registered, but luckily Margot was registered. There were 1200 peeps there!
We were too knackered to socialize for very long but I got to see some of my favorite peeps and friends HEIDI!!, Cedee!!, IVO!!, Vera & Topher and their clan, Tanya and Rachael, met Laura FRYER--very awesome woman.
Ivo ran up to me on my way out just to say hi and see how I was. As I left him with a big hug I started to cry. My life has changed so much in the past years and I am happier than I've ever been in my life, but I can still reminisce my life on the road that crew of folks. I miss them, but wouldn't change anything--except that I'd be infinitely wealthy and we could all play together more. It feels so wonderful to be welcomed and loved everytime we see each other.
Sunday gave us some lovely clouds and a little rain. We bouldered at Calico and it was more fun than I ever remember. I was feeling a little grumpy beforehand, just still tired and still hadn't had a good night's sleep. The bouldering bonded us all again and we left smiling and happy. We headed home with lovely sites, clouds, blue sky and rock everywhere.
Hanging with the ladies is super fun, but it's also great to be home with my men. I shore do miss them when I'm away.
