When taking a dog for a drive, there is no way for the dog to comprehend that you have control of the vehicle. There is no way he can realize that you turning the wheel or pushing a pedal makes the car move. He must think that both of you walk out to this adventure box, you have your seat, he has his, and you wisk off to a mystery location – sometimes parks, sometimes the vet; You just roll the dice and go on adventures together.
~ unknown
Elsewhere, this is 4a481. — slipbox
I left this quote on my desk when I left for Colorado. …and what a challenge it was!
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In Jurassic Park there’s a route called The Edge of Time (5.9R ***) which is on the cover of the guide book.
Simply an unbelievable piece of rock carved into a literal prow.
My attmept was sketchy. I spent a while projecting the 5.9 crux (which is way above my climbing grade.) Eventually, I punted and move left to East of Eden (5.9 *) and worked my way up, and then back over to finish the arete. (Sadly, no photos of me un the upper part of the Edge.)
Mike’s run up was a straight shot as he put up the top rope for the rest of us.
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When you’ve had a ton of fun, and it’s still fun to pack to go home!
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I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
~ George Washington
Elsewhere, this is 3a19. — slipbox
A short walk up from Lily Lake is a hidden ravene with sport climbing routes galore. (There are bolts drilled into the rock making it easy to clip in for protection.)
The first rock on the left is, well, “Left Hand Rock” and is home to Dark Days (5.8), which simply runs straight up a seamingly featureless curved slope. The next rock up is Dinosaur’s Foot, with the aptly named Index Toe (5.8) and Middle Toe (5.9—).
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To get to the “Jurassic Park” climbing,area, we parked at Lily Lake. Spectacular walk around the lake to get to the climbing approach.
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It’s been many years since I was camping, but this campground was superlative.
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If we’d had any more fun, we’d have been arrested.
Mike drove up from Denver, and we headed up to Oskar Blues brew pub. We ordered two flights of their beer samples — ten delicious beers — and a kick *ss burger with arugula and a touch of honey. Da-YAM! …Mike knows how how to pick ’em.
Back story: Mike and I were in St. Martin back in 2001, and Mike introduced me to cigars — Cuban cigars to be exact. So I pulled up Yelp! and found Jonnie’s Cigars in downtown Boulder. We spent an hour or two working our way through two big, fat stogies, and several doubles (Glenmorangie and Stranahan’s) while people watching from the patio.
From there, we found our way to Pizzeria du Lupo. Mike ordered his favorite appetizer, and I suggested we send Summer a photo… “no! wait! dont tell her I ordered our favorite… ” <snap>
We rolled out of there, stuffed to the gills. And Mike says, “there’s one other place…”
What is this i dont even . . .
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The local gear shop in Estes Park suggested a couple spots to do some top-roping nearby before heading into Rocky Mountain National Park.
We spent several hours climbing 20 foot routes up this “little” rock next to Mary’s Lake. I think I did 7 or 8 routes practicing footwork and technique with Mike either lecturing on details, or scrambling up to show me examples.
…unfortunately, neither of us took pictures of the climbing. Good practice, but not very photogenic.
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