On the Rocks

Feeling ready to get home - or at least get going that direction - we hit the road early Saturday morning after a lovely breakfast with the friends who had hosted us. After only an hour en route, we realized that we'd be driving right past Frenchman Coulee, a large rock climbing area that Glenn had visited twice before (and wanted to visit again on this trip). Although we wanted to make good progress on the journey home, we stopped to climb just a couple sport routes near the parking lot. The weather was gorgeous and the crag was packed, but we were able to jump right onto a rope and scurry up a 5.9 and two 5.10a lines. After a pit-stop at a taco truck to refuel with quesabirria, we pushed long into the night to make it to a hotel in Bozeman. Eager to keep things moving, the next day we drove all the way to Sioux Falls without much of a break (except for when the road was blocked by a bunch of ranchers on horseback trying to wrangle a calf that had wandered across the highway - fra...

After 3 weeks on the road, we reached the west coast and touched the Pacific Ocean! We were kindly hosted by some dear friends during our week-long stay in Seattle. Thank you so much to Tarik, Max, Charlie and Colin for hosting us! We got to take peaceful walks, have a fun game night, and eat delicious homemade cookies with Tarik! Many thanks to Max for the delicious soup and lovely company. A big thank you Charlie and Colin (and Hayden!) for having us over for a meal together, conversations, and a fun game of Code Names. While we were in town, we also had a few opportunities to throw the frisbee disc around at pickup goalty and pickup mini. It's always so fun to jump into ultimate in new places and meet new people. After some rainy goalty, we enjoyed  Phở with friends Cori and Albert and others. Seattle Skyline from Gas Works Park, looking over Lake Union!  Photo of us at Gas Works Park, enjoying breakfast burritos! We even saw a seaplane land right in fro...

After our restful evening in Boise, the two of us fueled up with fancy French pastries and then took a casual drive all the way up to Wenatchee. We did stop on the way to have a hot lunch by the Columbia River - Glenn obviously felt tempted to climb the rocks by the roadside - but we kept on keepin' on, knowing that the next day would be maybe the biggest of the trip. After picking up some burritos from a Salvadorean place in downtown Wenatchee, we met up with dear friends Ethan and Marika. Our plan was to pound those burritos, pile into the car, and drive up to a trailhead just outside Leavenworth. There we'd rendezvous with Molly and Chase, close college friends of Ethan and Marika, and the six of us would find some dispersed camping. We needed to sleep just a few hours before an epic hike of the Enchantments Traverse, a 17-mile near-loop trail passing a number of peaks and lakes universally praised for their beauty. Normally, access to this area is controlled by a mega-popul...

The next stop on our way north was Boise, ID! Glenn had some work time at a rooftop coffee shop before we stopped for an assortment of pintxos (small plates like tapas) at the Basque Market. There is a large population of people from Basque who live in Boise, so there’s a heritage center and many amazing restaurants in this geographically isolated Idahoan city! Stopping at our Airbnb we had the luxury of good cleaning time with: showers, a thorough dishwashing of our campware and even a load of laundry! For our date night on the town we first zoomed to the city center on Lime scooters, which is always a thrilling little ride! We stopped at Bar Gernika, a cute Basque pub and split a bottle of Sidra which is a traditional apple cider drink found in Spain.  We split two different lamb dishes and enjoyed croquettes - potato/cheese heaven! Glenn has made Cassie Kalimoxtos (red wine + coke, a Basque classic) over the years, so we were excited to try it at a Basque establishment, and it d...

The next few days included meetings and work time for Glenn, but we also managed to get out and climb some as well. We tag-teamed an ascent of "Big Time" (5.7 sport) and linked in the 5.10a trad pitch "Diamond in the Rough" which was the highest-grade trad onsight Glenn had done to date. Afterwards his achilles was feeling pretty rough, so it was huge for Cassie to take over and lead us the rest of the way to the top (while Glenn followed barefoot!). We also appreciated the flora at Castle Rock State Park, including this beautiful juniper tree that was absolutely thriving! On the topic of appreciating nature, we also spent some time each night this week stargazing. The area is a designated Dark Sky Park, so the stars were ultra visible. We even started learning to identify new constellations: Draco, Cepheus, Cygnus, Lyra, Capricorn, Hercules, etc.! We also found Alberio, the head of the swan Cygnus, which is a binary star system exhibiting two different colors. The ...

From Tensleep, Wyoming we had a driving day to our next climbing destination in Almo, Idaho. We passed on the way through the Wind River Canyon, which was spectacular; it was awe-inspiring to think about the natural forces of water, pressure, and time carving out such a magnificent landscape. The rock in the canyon is some of the oldest in the world, dating back 2.5 billion years. For context, Devil’s Lake quartzite is 1.6 billion years old! It's humbling that we get to appreciate all this natural beauty in our short time here on earth. Some of the trees were gloriously golden amidst the evergreens - Cassie thinks the golden trees were aspen. On our way to Almo we saw a Culver’s in Utah of all places, and of course we had to try one of their pumpkin desserts. Al (the car) heroically carried us through more than 20 miles of unpaved roads and open range land, where we had to keep an eye out for cows on the road. Supposedly we also had to watch out for antelope running at 55mph! Thank...

After a very good night's rest, Glenn took a chilly outdoor shower at the Lodge while Cassie made us a delicious breakfast based on the dessert she had planned for Glenn's birthday - berry compote with granola and cool whip! The fruit fueled us for the drive down to Ten Sleep, a small town where we'd spend the next few days. We treated ourselves to food truck dinner that first night, Cassie took her own (much warmer) shower, and we set up camp at the Ten Sleep Brewing Co., since they had some tasty beers and useful amenities (like WiFi for the meetings Glenn would have during the days). Our week was fairly restful: Glenn got to do work while Cassie hammocked, read her book, and enjoyed some much-needed relaxation. We also got to watch the vice presidential debate - which was less relaxing, but also important. We even got to do a bit of sport climbing around the work days, and Cassie especially appreciated the chance to clip bolts and do some leading. The rock here is mostly...

Monday was Glenn's birthday! Happy Birthday Glenn!!! We celebrated by having a full day climbing Bear Lodge/ Devil's Tower National Monument. Glenn has been looking forward to this particular adventure for months, and carefully preparing so we had the skills, gear, and knowledge to accomplish this feat!  We chose to climb the tower via the Durrance route which is the easiest route to the summit, but not at all a gimme. Our alarms went off in the morning and the stars were still brightly shining, so we checked the weather, geared up, and made our way to the base of the tower. When climbing big routes like this one, you climb sections of the wall one at a time, termed "pitches," to get higher or progress onwards. As we started the first pitch, dawn was breaking and the view was beautiful:  Glenn led us up the whole tower: placing trad "traditional" gear to protect us and route finding. Cassie would belay Glenn from the anchor below until he was safely at the n...

We have been enjoying not setting wakeup alarms for the mornings as much as possible, which feels very restorative. With all the adventuring, we decided to have a big refueling breakfast of potatoes and eggs at the campground. (Thank you Jerry for lending us your wonderful and very helpful camp stove!) We then packed up and said goodbye to the beautiful, peaceful Rushmore campground where you can smell the trees!   Back at Custer State Park we hiked Little Devil’s Tower, where we tested out our hiking shoes, thinking about hiking the Enchantments with friends in a couple weeks! We thought about going to Elks Peak too, but Cassie felt the 10mile trek would be a lot for our rest day right before Devil’s tower.  Before heading out of Custer we took a dip in Sylvan Lake, which was mighty! cold! Glenn felt about the water how Cassie feels about crack climbing. There’s discomfort and some pain in both activities but you get used to it with time! (Or so the other person says 😂) In a...

We had a bright and early morning to get to Custer State Park for a guided day of climbing at the Cathedral Spires. This place was gorgeous and reminded us of the magnificence and other-worldly-ness of Joshua Tree. Our guide Chris led us up Spire 2 where we had a great view of the park and Black Elk Peak (the tallest place east of the Rockies)! We also hit up nearby crack and off-width climbs to practice skills we’d need at Devil’s tower in a couple days. We also learned a no hands knee-lock to rest! (look ma - no hands!)   Glenn was cruising, feeling confident and strong in all these climbs! Woo! Cassie was doing well too but felt tired out from working on all the newish skills, so the team decided to chill the rest of the day. :) So we enjoyed sour beers at the outdoor shop, perused the wares, and picked up supplies to keep the adventures rolling!