Boulder II

Things are falling into place. The panic that I felt a little less than a week ago is starting to subside.

Yesterday I met with a professor, Carol, whose research I've been interested in since before I applied to CU Boulder. She was incredibly nice and we spent an hour and a half talking about her research, my background and things to come. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any extra money for another person coming in this year, but she has a lot of projects that I could start working on and apply for funding for it.

She will also put in a good word for me with the administrative lady at the EBIO department for a TA position. Hopefully that will help.

I also met one of my two roommates. I feel more and more at peace with my decision to stay in Boulder no matter what. If no TA position comes about I will stay here, so that I get residency by beginning of next year. I may already have a job here, starting the first vegan food truck in Boulder with my girl roommate. The place where I will be staying is pretty rundown. But the price and location are hard to beat. But I will have a glass sliding door to a patio! Yes!

Last night I went to the newer, fancy rock climbing gym here in Boulder. The one that Alex Johnson and Daniel Woods train at. It is as nice as you imagine - huge variety of top tope and lead walls, a great bouldering section, full gym, free yoga and cycling classes for members. Showers, towel service and anything else you'd like. And not that expensive. Same price as the one in Bozeman.

The ratings there made me feel good about my climbing - I top-roped a few 10a routes, led a 5.8 and 5.9. I haven't been so pumped from climbing in a while. Its so different from the slower pace of outdoor climbing.

Of course, compared to people I was with and the rest of the crowd there I was kind of on the bottom, but I can work my way up. I went with my CouchSurfing host and her friends and they were leading steep 12a routes. Yikes.

People in this state are ridiculously fit. When I grow up I want to be like them!

Its hot in Boulder. Mid to upper 90's. I thought I had escaped that when I left Texas!

Boulder

Dear Boulder Men, stop being so beautiful, I'm supposed to be focusing on important things.

Its not even noon and I've already had a super productive day.

This morning I paid for a shower for the first time in my life. It was hot and clean and a dragged it out for as long as I could to be worth $5. Felt glorious after 3 days of hiking.

I made it to Boulder from RMNP by 9am. On campus I got my picture taken for the student ID card (BuffOne). Then I popped in to talk to an administrative lady at the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and tried to charm my way into a TA position. Things can come up before school starts, so I have to wait for an email/call from her between now and the end of August.

Afterwards I stopped by the office of a professor whose research I'm REALLY interested in and I've been emailing quite a bit since I applied for school. At last, she was there! But busy, so we set an appointment for tomorrow. She seemed pretty excited to meet with me. This could be good.

So no bad news, but no good news either. Everything is still up in the air. I feel hopeful about things though. I think I made a good impression on the EBIO lady, explained the pickle that I'm in. And hopefully the meeting with the professor will go well tomorrow.

Catching up

Okay, gotta catch up on a few days last week.

After the day spent at the swimming hole we only had one full day of climbing left. We all headed over to the Main Wall, which was a bit of a hike from our campsite. Felt good to stretch my legs. On the way we met Steve, an older gentleman (60+) from Massachusetts who was traveling around, climbing all summer and asked to tag along with us since he didn't have a climbing partner. Sure thing!

We all got to the Main wall - Frank, Brian, Steve and I and five of Frank's co-workers/friends. In minutes we had four ropes set up on a variety of routes. I led a funky 5.7 and a difficult 5.9. Others led a couple of 5.10s, which I flailed on, top-rope, but got them done anyway! YES!

Steve was the smoothest climber I've seen in a long time. He was average height and super skinny, climbing up a tough, pocket-y 5.11 with no trouble.

Shortly after noon a thunderstorm rolled in, so we decided to wait it out. 6 of us crawled into a tiny room created by a few boulders, right by the wall. Frank and his friends all work at a Wilderness Therapy organization in Utah. I can't even imagine dealing with the kind of kids that they have to supervise.

Steve headed out in the early afternoon and we stuck around for a while more to climb. Every route was super difficult for me, but I'm pretty happy that I kept trying anyway. My fingers are STILL raw from how sharp that limestone is. The climbing at Wild Iris is way more technical than anything I've ever climbed.

We got back to camp, made dinner and then... DISASTER! We are out of beer! Or any other alcoholic beverage. This is our last night all together and we are an hour (round-trip) from town. DILEMMA. Finally, once two other girls came over to our camp we decided that it was now or never - alcohol must be acquired! So we all piled into Frank's car and drove to town.

In our excitement we completely forgot that we were low on water. So the next morning, after staying up pretty late we realized that we only had a couple of liters to last us all day.

Late next morning we moseyed over to the closest crag to get just a little bit more climbing in. I led a really fun 5.8 that required stemming between 2-3 walls. There was a group of women climbing next to us, ridiculously. I have never heard a more polite and supportive group of people, in a nauseating way. "Nice clip!", "Those quickdraws are sooooooo pretty", "omg you are climbing so well today". BARF.

Brian and I concluded that they must be a support-group of some sorts. No normal human beings talk like that.

We walked over to our second climb and BAM! Thunder. Back to camp, where Frank quickly set up a tarp and good thing he did because it started hailing like crazy. The three of us huddled together under the tarp. The temperature dropped at least 30 degrees in less than 30 minutes. Crazy!

About ten minutes passed and the storm was not letting down. I was freezing so I made a run for the safety and warmth of my tent and the guys ran to Frank's car, which was already packed so it didn't have space for one more. Curled up in my tent I was warm at last and took an hour-long nap while it continued to hail. Finally, we came out of hiding. The ground was soaked (yay for wildfire safety!) and covered with a inch-thick layer of snow/hail. Climbing for the rest of the day was out of question, we had no water left and nothing to do in camp. So Brian and I decided to pack up as well and head back to Lander, where we could camp at the city park.

I hate packing up a wet tent.

Now the challenge was to make it out to the main road. My badass 4-wheel drive Subaru had no problems, but Frank's VW Rabbit couldn't quite hop its way out of muddy ruts. We spent almost an hour pushing his car out and putting down small rocks behind and in front of his tires to give more traction. Once on the main road we said our goodbyes and headed into Lander.

The City Park in Lander allows free camping for up to 3 nights. AWESOME. I wish every city would do that. It was 80 and sunny once again by the time we made it to town. We set up our tents on the lush grass and walked around downtown before passing out early in the evening, exhausted.

The next morning I was woken up at 6am by a Zumba class starting in the park. I guess camping there has its disadvantages after all. Being woken up by Latin-inspired techno music is hardly my favorite. Brian was woken up by a park worker driving right passed his tent in a Gator, dragging a hose behind him.

We got coffee and started on our 5-hr, most boring drive through Southeast Wyoming to Ft. Collins, CO. I swear, as soon as we crossed the Colorado border the scenery became interesting!

Well shit.

Shocked, enraged, lost.... those are just some adjectives that describe how I felt when reading an e-mail from my Grad School advisor informing me that the funding for the project I was supposed to work on did not go through. Now if I want to go to CU Boulder I need to cough up $30,000 and that's just for tuition. And I'm supposed to sign a lease next week!

Taking out a loan for that much money is silly. Not for a Master's degree, not when I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with it.

The only hope would be finding a TA position with a different department. I've been on the waitlist for that since May. I probably won't find out for sure until next month.

What to do now? Try and find a shitty job in Boulder, or Bozeman, or elsewhere?

And yesterday started out pretty well! We went to the Horsetooth Reservoir, just 10 minutes outside of Ft.Collins to go for a swim. And swim I did. Alone. My friend stayed behind, sitting in the shade by the car, reading. So I called my best friend, thousands of miles away, so that I wouldn't feel so lonely.

After saying goodbye to Brian I headed West out of town, to Rocky Mountain National Park! I will be hiking here for the next few days before heading to Boulder. The drive here was incredible. This area of Colorado is just stupid pretty. Steep, rugged mountains everywhere! And I may possibly live just an hour drive from here.

I found a sweet Forest Service campsite just 10 miles outside the park, set up my tent and headed over to the nearest Visitor's Center to get some info on the hikes I wanted to do. That's when I checked my e-mail and got the bad news.

Oh, and I started out yesterday morning by giving a reference for one of my crew members from Texas. I felt like such an adult! And by the end of the day I was reduced to sobbing in my tent like a little kid. Damnit!

This morning I went for a 14-mile roundtrip hike to Lawn Lake. Luckily, I started pretty early in the morning and missed the thunderstorm that rolled in less than an hour after I hiked back to my car. It was a beautiful hike along Roaring River. Saw about seven marmots. This place should be called Rocky Marmot National Park!

The lake was beautiful and made all of my worries melt away, even if for some time.

This park is super busy. The hike that I did is not one of the most popular, yet I saw a ton of people, especially on the way back. Tons of Colorado cars in the parking lot. People trail-running. Which makes me think that since its the weekend people from the Front Range area just come here to hike and trail-run. Unlike say Yellowstone or the Tetons, which are big "destination" parks.

I took a drive on the main road that gets up to around 12,000 ft, but it was so cloudy and stormy that I didn't get to see much. Except gorgeous elk with big racks! Yes!

I realize I haven't written about the few days leading up to this. Stay tuned, I will write more.

Wyoming II

The next day I woke up around 6:30 am, as usual. Started coffee and made myself oatmeal. Frank didn't get up until at least an hour later and proceeded to make an amazing eggs and bacon breakfast. Show off! He made our backcountry-esque morning routine look bad.

We climbed all day. I led anything 5.9 and under and the guys led a couple of 10s and 11s. I top-roped my first outdoor 10b! It took a little flailing, but I got it done.

The next day we climbed in the morning and then headed to Sinks Canyon to cool off in the local swimming hole. To get there we had to hike 1.5 miles along a pretty big creek. After some uphill walking we finally got to our destination - a pretty large pool of water that had a natural slide leading to it! So awesome!

The guys ran up and went down the slide right away, but I was being a chicken since the water was so cold. Eventually I figured I'm only at a place like this once so I better take advantage of it. So down I went. It was so much fun that as soon as I got out and ran up and went down again. It was about 25 ft from the water, with the last 6 ft or so free falling.

There were quite a few people there, for how far of a hike it is. Mostly high school kids. After about an hour Frank's co-workers showed up as well. There were 5 of them climbing in the same area as us. They brought a big watermelon, which they proceeded to chop open with a machete. Baseball style. One person threw it and another girl chopped it in half. Pretty damn funny.

The breeze was pretty chilly so we headed back down into town and re-supplied on water and groceries. Glorious day.

Wyoming I

On our second day in Jackson, WY the weather poo-pooed our plans. We were supposed to drive and possibly hike through the majestic Grand Teton National Park, with its beautiful vistas. Instead we ended up driving through the park with think clouds blocking any real view of the rugged peaks. It rained, which was great - there were multiple wildfires going on in the area so the moisture was much needed.

Brian has never seen the park so we drove North from Jackson and made our way to the geysers of Yellowstone. Very little wildlife. Comparing to my previous trip through the area just a couple of weeks prior this was definitely pretty disappointing. But we made the most of it!

Our next destination, according to plan, was going to be the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't looking promising - steady rain for a few days. The two of us would also have to carry about 80 lbs of camping and climbing gear each, for an 8 mile approach that went over a high pass. The name of which is Jackass Pass. Love it. My lack of trad climbing experience was another reason that we hesitated and ultimately scrapped the idea of going into that area. But I will be back there to backpack some day.

After getting some much-needed rest for these two days in Jackson we headed out to our next destination - Wild Iris climbing area near Lander, WY. We arrived in Lander in early afternoon, after driving through some stunning areas West of the Tetons. Amazing how quickly the geology and the climate changes in these states - we drove through lush green forests and an hour later we were driving through less-than-scenic semi-desert.

Lander is a great, if small town. We stopped by the Wild Iris Mountain Sports, the local gear shop to get the guide, and some local info. One of the dudes at the shop told us about a sweet swimming spot in the area. We filled up on water (from a spigot right outside the shop) and headed over to set up camp. Another awesome thing about this area - free camping. We drove the 30 minutes uphill from Lander and set up a simple campsite about 400 ft from one of the major climbing walls. YES.

Before heading back to town to get groceries and meet up with one of Brian's friends we walked over to the climbing wall to check out what we were in for. Limestone. Small pockets. Yikes. This was no super-grippy granite like in City of Rocks. You actually had to think about where to put your feet here. I led a couple of 5.8s, while we chatted with a group of older climbers from Colorado. I ended up getting their contact info because they like to go ice climbing in the winter and I am dying to try it.

Back in town we went to a local bar that serves Lander Brewing Company's beer. Yum - good food and great beer. We met up with Frank, Brian's old co-worker and friend who drove to climb with us for a few days from Salt Lake City. We came back to our campsite pretty late and passed out after a few more beers.

City of Rocks II

Two exhausting days of climbing. But so amazing.

There wasn't a lot of bolted routes, but I got to lead the few moderate routes that were there - a multi-pitch 5.7 and another 5.8. The rest was all Brian leading amazing trad routes.

The rating on a lot of the routes is really bizarre. The older routes, from the 60's and 70's, the "classics", are way harder than the rating. A 5.7 will feel like 5.9. The newer routes are definitely easier. A lot of the routes didn't have an option to rappel down, so we had to walk down from the rock, which is way sketchier than climbing.

The temperature during the day was pretty brutal, but there is so much variety to choose from so we were able to find shady walls. The highlight was a route called the Skyline on the Morning Glory Spire.  It was a "classic" 5.8, super exposed, on a windy day, with some hard moves, but it felt amazing to make it to the top and check out the view.

We met a ton of people, most of whom were from somewhere one of us has lived or will soon be living at - Burlington, Boston, Boulder and etc. I love climbing communities just for that - everyone is friendly and loves to chat.

After two days of non-stop climbing our time at City of Rocks was done. Yesterday morning we got up early, packed up camp and actually organized things in my car. You can almost see out of the back window! Before we left Idaho for good I really wanted to try this particular bolted 5.9 route. The start of it was a super tough 5.10 slab move that I could not get no matter how much I tried. Frustrating. But I left my mark on the route - I scrapped my knee on the rock so bad it bled. I really hope people are creeped out when they see it. Brian tried it as well but wasn't motivated enough to pull through and continue. It wasn't even 9 am and we were both completely exhausted.

So we drove to Jackson, WY and went cliff jumping into Snake River with some of Brian's friends. Awesome! So great to be back in this town.

City of Rocks I

Boise was not at all what I expected. I've only driven through the state once, and it was the tiny, 60-mile stretch through Northern forests. So when I drove through the semi-desert of Eastern and Southern  Idaho I was a bit surprised. The city itself is hidden in a valley, surrounded by somewhat tall mountains.

It reminded me a lot of Salt Lake City, but less industrial.

I arrived hours before my friend was getting there so I caught up on the interwebs at a cute, local coffee shop and then got an oil change for my poor little car. As of today I have gone 3,800 miles since I left Austin on June 1st. I originally estimated that I was going to drive about 5,000 miles this whole summer. Clearly, I was way off since the climbing trip just started and there is still the road trip with my parents. Lets hope my little Subbie survives the summer!

While getting the oil change I had a phone date with a potential roommate in Boulder. The house (or apartment in a house, rather) is in a perfect location, just a couple of blocks from downtown and a couple more blocks to campus. The girl seems really great and we have a ton in common. The price for the room can't be beat either. Way below the ridiculous Boulder prices. And I get access to a patio right from my room! I felt so much weight lifted once I seemingly figured out my housing situation, the search was getting super frustrating.

Once my friend Brian got into town we went out for dinner with his whole rafting-trip group. 16 people in total. We were staying at a friend's house in North End of Boise, the liberal pocket of the city, apparently. The area was beautiful, with tree-lined streets and neat, cute houses all around.

The group that went on this rafting trip was surprisingly diverse, particularly in age. A lot of people were older, 50+. People from all over the country - NYC, Vermont, Alaska, San Francisco and etc. So great!

The next morning we bought groceries, stopped at REI for supplies (camp fuel, chalk, bug nets for the Winds and etc.), got GIGANTIC breakfast burritos at Los Betos mexican restaurant (open 24/7) and checked out Payette Brewing Co.

By about 1 pm we were all packed up and ready to go. I'm surprised all of the gear and food actually fit into my baby car. We drove East for about 3.5 hours and arrived at City of Rocks National Reserve by late afternoon. Our campsite, thanks to Brian, was incredible. We were camped literally across the road from a major climbing wall, right near bathrooms and one of only 3 water sources in the whole area. Sweet! And to make things even better we have our own neat boulder/big rock at the campsite, which ended up being a great spot to sleep as well. The top of the boulder had these 2 big cavities in it that were perfect for a person to lie down in and be sheltered from the wind.

Thanks to the long summer days here we were able to get a good climb in before the day was over. Brian led an easy trad climb up Bath Rock, which was the formation right across the street from us. City of Rocks is all just huge, old granite formations that pop out of the hills. The rock itself is super grippy and made for amazing climbing.