The Arches National Park

The thing we will remember most about camping at The Arches is the intense heat and trying to find shade at our campsite in the high desert. The best time to do anything here is in the early morning or late in the evening. Regardless, this park as some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises we have ever seen. We camped in the Devils Garden. Pictured on the left is Gabe at Delicate Arch and on the right is a sunrise in the park.

Climbing in Colorado National Monument

On, July 23, 2011,Gabe and I climbed Independence Monument in Colorado. The weather was hot and dry and it took us a while to adjust to it. The climb was 5 pitches on Otto's Route 5.8 difficulty. The sandstone offered plenty of friction and quite frankly spoiled us when compared to climbing at Devils Lake. The first 4 pitches were in the shade and the rest of the time we were in the sun. There was no hiding from the sun after that point. We were getting baked and not looking forward to the 2 mile hike out. The climb, however, was great and the view at the top was wonderful. Well worth the trip/effort.

Ice Climbing in Wyalusing

Gabe and I went down to stay at my brother Paul's house in Prairie du Chien last night (1.29.11). We wanted to go ice climbing in Wyalusing Sunday and we had not seen Paul in a while so it all worked out well.

The weather was nice (high 20's). We parked off the road next to the quarry and hiked North on the railroad tracks until we saw the climbs. The main route was being lead by a couple of guys from N.Dakota so we kept walking until we found some shorter climbs with nice ice about .5 miles down the tracks. Access was good so we set up a top rope and did some laps on the short but fun route. It was very clear we were not in climbing shape. Paul came with us to get some exercise hiking.

Gabe is in the photo on the left and Paul is in the photo on the right.

Good time had by all.

Spelunking at Pop's Cave

The Outdoor Adventure Club from Logan traveled to Pop's Cave (Bosstown, WI)to do some spelunking. Gabe and I went along also to do some exploring.

In case you are not familiar with the term, "Spelunking" is the touristic visitation of wild caves and "caving" is the exploration of natural caverns in the earth. Our group may have been tourists, but we had a great time exploring the cave.

It was a nice hike up to the cave as we had to park over a mile away. The weather was beautiful even though we spent 2 hours underground without seeing the sunshine. We all had headlamps and helmets. Most of the kids brought a change of cloths as it was wet and muddy.

You don't realize the depth of darkness until you turn off your light in a cave. Your eyes never adjust because no additional light is coming in.

We all enjoyed the experience and Gabe and I will look to come back sometime with a few of his friends. On the right is Gabe and I at the mouth of the cave. On the left, is Gabe in the cave. Everything appears light because the flash illuminates the subject.

Family Climb

We have what is becoming a yearly outing for our family to go climbing at Devils Lake. My sister Lori, Jimmy (future brother-in-law), Paul, Beth and Gabe all attended. We tried to talk our 74 year old mother into climbing, but she insisted on taking care of our dog. There was probably more laughing and conversation than climbing going on, but everyone did at least one climb.

Jimmy (The Rookie Mountaineer) did a very nice job his first time climbing. I set the Grotto which is a nice chimney climb and he almost made it to the top on his first try. Paul, Lori and Beth had all climbed last year and commented that it was easier this year because they had some experience and knew what to expect. Lori had a bad knee which she was trying to save for an upcoming marathon. I think she was disappointed in not being able to climb more as she really enjoys it.

We finished up at around 2:00. Paul and I headed up to the top to take down the sets while Gabe led everyone else down to the parking lot. It started to rain and we ended up helping a family with two small children down the CCC trail as the rocks were getting slippery and the parents had their hands full.

After climbing we went to Hooties to have some food and beverages.

Pictured on the left is Lori and Jimmy. On the right is Gabe.

End of Summer Day at DL

Gabe wanted to bring his friend Tristan rock climbing before the summer ended. Tristan has climbed with us before but had never done a rappel. We hiked up the CCC to the Guillotine and set up a releasable rappel on a short route for Tristan. I wanted to give Tristan a progression of rappels at low heights before trying a taller rappel. We then moved up the CCC to Anemia which has a nice belay ledge to do a top managed climb from and set a higher rappel for Tristan and Gabe to rappel and climb. Both Tristan and Gabe did a great job climbing today. They celebrated by jumping in the lake on the South Shore to cool off after we were done.

Pictured on the left are Gabe and Tristan. On the right is Tristan on rappel.

Kayaking

Gabe, Beth and I decided to try out some canoeing and kayaking at Buckhorn State Park today. Buckhorn is only about 1.5 hours from LaCrosse so the drive went quickly. We took a paddle tour to scout out some of the backpacking sites in the park. I think we found a couple of sites that we will camp at sometime in the near future. The water was calm with a light breeze and we took our time to pull up on beaches and check out sites. We had never been in Buckhorn before, but it is a beautiful park.

Later in the day we drove to Necedah to scout out the climbing areas for a trip later this fall. The bugs were thick as we got into the woods below the climbs so we made it a fast scouting trip.

In the photos you see Gabe at the top, then myself on the left and Gabe helping Beth with he boat on the right.