Took a 5-day climbing trip around July 4th holiday with friends - two of them only stayed for a weekend and Emily and I stayed for longer.
Emily's crag dog, Reily, imagined the Fins was his farm and climbers were his sheeps.... he barked at whoever in his sight - he was doing his job! (Emily: you're fired!)
I need to step up my camping meal game. Emily was so well-prepared making delicious healthy dinner. Meantime I was eating dry food or can food.
The Fins- it's the area that you won't find on Google Map. People come here only for climbing. I came to the lower part (Mortal Earth) last year. This time we came to the Head Wall and Discovery Wall.
Head wall- the first wall you'll see when you approach from the top.
Only 4WD can access upper part - it was a steep gravel road. It was pretty chilly at night and in the morning.
I slept in my van and would grab my sleeping pad out of the van lying down under the sun in the morning.
I currently work at Klymit as a designer and upgraded my sleep outside game. I used to use yoga mat which is bigger and heavier. Klymit sleeping pad is super lightweight and can be deflated in a sec. During those night I was sleeping in Klymit 20 sleeping bag which was a bit overkill (I was sweating haha...)
I used Klymit Splash 25 to carry rope and gears - it's actually not designed for climbing; it's for canyoneering. So it is not easy to stuff the rope in and take it out (I still think it's much more than 25L...)
Thanks to Emily, I got a chance to top-tope some hard routes 11a/b, 12a and even 13a. I've only climbed for almost a year now (onsight level- easy 10s) so those are really hard for me! (Emily: grab the right hand-hold there! Me: It's not a hold for me...)
It was really inspiring to see all the good climbers here projecting 12s or 13s.
My attempt of 13a... only did a few moves and gave up
After 4 days of being dirt-bag, we were tired and sore like old ladies. So we decided to check out the Craters Of The Moon National Monument & Preserve.
It's a place looks like the moon surface, lots of lava, very bare. It was also much hotter than the Fins. Pets are not allowed at most of the trails so we didn't hike much or stay long.
Those caves are still worth checking out if you have a headlamp or flashlight. They are not big but they let you taste a bit sense of adventure.
In this trip most of the time we were just chilling and enjoying the nature. Watching the sunset and the sky became blue and pink before it got dark. I only wish I could live that like everyday.