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!