The first tumble

A new year, a new camera and a new fall. Yesterday I managed my first crash of the year at Tomewin, while riding across the top of the Macpherson Range on Glengarrie Road. It's the sort of thing that happens when you attempt to climb steep graidents on rocky dirt roads covered with a slick coating of mud. Very little damage was done, although my left hip is a little stiff today, and the surroundings in the Garden of Eden provided more than enough compensation.

Evidently Martin and I hadn't had enough flooded creek crossings from the day before, as we first headed toward Urliup. Much to my surprise (especially as the lost bet cost me an inner tube), only one causeway was under. Another surprise in the early stages was just how quickly the wildflowers have taken over Urliup after the flood. It's not an area known for them, but the freakish downpour may have created just the right conditions.

A punishing climb to the summit of Tomewin followed -- the punishing nature of the climb owing as much to the muggy conditions as the gradient. It was followed by the now obligatory detour along the Garden of Eden Road, before returning to the Eastern side of the range for the ridgetop ride across the top. The muddy conditions made for difficult going, and I had several near misses before "the crash". Nevertheless, I found the motivation to continue as we watched some rain approach.
The rain held off until we descended the switchbacks of the Zig-zag road, before creating a slick surface for the final descent into Bilambil (how convenient). Martin managed to pick up a flat on the way to the bakery and a welcome food stop (that still leaves me in front 3-1 however) -- a large piece of glass was responsible, and he'll probably need to replace the tyre. The final stretch through the last 30-odd km of suburbia was uninspiring, but at least a tailwind made it pass quickly. In the end we both agreed that it was one of the hardest 100km rides we've had in a while, but every minute was worth the effort.

Winter, dry, both or none?

Obviously, the dry tooling route I did on the CIC cascades under the Ben Nevis north face last week was going to provoke a bit of debate. In my mind it’s perfectly suited to climbing in this style and it’s no threat to the traditional Scottish winter routes because it’s so clearly different from them. It did make me wince when I saw UKclimbing.com include a Scottish winter grade in their headline reporting the route. I didn’t give it a Scottish grade for a good reason! I should have seen that coming I guess, although it was hard to foresee that a casual comment by me comparing it to a similar piece of climbing terrain with a winter grade would mean folk would then take this one as a winter route. A bit like saying an E8 trad route has 7c+ climbing - it’s still different from a bolted 7c+! This seemed to fuel a bit of debate about how it related to the traditional winter climbing game. To me, it’s totally clear the route is a tooling route, not a Scottish winter route. Clear and simple.

Some folk argued that maybe it should be left alone in case it dilutes the Scottish winter conditions ethic. I personally don’t agree with this. My feeling is that a one size fits all ethic for anything climbed is unnecessarily simplistic. It’s a shame not to climb that crack just because it doesn’t get rimed up. It’s an excellent climb.
More so than any other climbing discipline, Scottish winter climbing seems to be awful scared of losing what we have. Of course it’s special and worth defending. Perhaps because I like going for the steepest routes I’ve spent more than my fair share of days walking in and turning on my heel because the project is not white enough. It’s natural to resist any changes (even if they are only additions) to the status quo, but not always good. Balanced against the fear of losing what we have must be a fear of losing what we could have. To me, the diversity of British climbing has always been it’s greatest asset. A strict and narrow focus on what can be climbed with tools is a strength in upholding a strong ethic, but a weakness in undermining the diversity of climbs that can be done. I just don’t see that the threat to the Scottish conditions ethic is real. Rather than diminished over the years I have been a climber, I feel it has strengthened. The ethic is so strong, it has room to accept some ‘outliers’. However, that is of course just an opinion of one and may be outweighed by those of others, which is no problem. If other folk thought the tooling route was a good idea, very few have come out and said so.



Winter condition or not? What do you think?



A further interesting twist came when the other new route I wrote about (The Snotter) was questioned for not being in winter condition. I must say that took me seriously by surprise. I’ve done plenty of mixed routes that were on the borderline, but it didn’t enter my head that this one wasn’t in good condition. Simon Richardson wrote a particularly below the belt post on his blog which is here. For some reason he didn’t mention my name in it, and is was a little weird that he wrote such strong words and then reported another new route of mine in the very next post. Anyway, the reason it took me so by surprise was the focus on the section of overhanging wall to get between the ice grooves below and the hanging icicle above. I deliberately went on the route because the recent sunny conditions has been good for helping the grooves below the icicles to become iced. In the 55 metre crux pitch, around 47 metres was climbed on water ice, with 6 metres crossing a grossly overhanging wall underneath the roof to get to the icicle. The 30 metres of grooves below the roof were climbed on ice, initially stepped iced slabby ledges, then a thin ice smeared rib and groove, apart from a few hooks on the right of the ice. Once on the icicle, there was a long section (15 metres at least) before the angle even started to lie back.The downside of this mix of conditions was that the overhanging wall itself was pretty dry. My thinking was that this is par for the course for this type of route. The sun helps more ice form, but at the expense of the rime. My interpretation (which may be ‘wrong’ if such a judgement can truly be made) of Scottish winter conditions is that basically the route must be wintery in appearance. If it was nearly all dry mixed with a little ice, it would be outside that definition and I would have come back another time. But the reality was the pitch was nearly all ice with a short section of dry rock.
A central view in my own new route climbing has always been that I don’t want it to be at the expense of anyone else, even if I don’t agree with their position or motives. Clearly, some folk feel that way. So I have taken away my blog post about the routes and recommend that folk forget about them, if that is what they want to do. They still exist of course, in my memory as great days out and two of the most fun climbs I’ve done in a while. Nothing more ultimately matters. Anyone else is welcome to climb them as first ascents if they feel those ascents are more worthy.

Canyonlands National Park

If you like the canyon country but the thought of the insane crowds at the Grand Canyon turns your stomach, then Canyonlands National Park is for you! Featuring canyon vistas no less impressive than those of the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands is a heavenly park. Near Moab, Utah the park is easily accessible by car. However, if you want to fully appreciate this park (something I have yet to do) you need to spend at least a few days here and explore the park away from the main road. Canyonlands is a vast park with many things to see, but it takes time to see them and appreciate them. On my next trip to the southwest I hope to spend at least a few days here.

Above: These 2 images are actually from Dead Horse Point State Park, a short detour along the same road that brings you into Canyonlands. Dead Horse Point is a beautiful place with impressive canyon views to both the east and the west, making it a fantastic location for either sunrise or sunset shooting.

(Above and below: A sampling of some of the views available from the main park road.)

Last Leg

We lost our last White Leghorn yesterday. At just over three years old, she was our longest-lived chicken, and the last hen from the original flock. She never came back to roost at night, and was presumably a meal for a predator with babies to feed.
I looked up every synonym for sad, but couldn't find a word to explain the feeling I had when I opened an egg carton and saw her white eggs still in there.

Catbox stuffing, in better days.

Now I Am Four!

Hi Pals. Please visit Miley's sister, Maggie, who has been dealt a bad blow at 8 months old. We're also sending out a bazillion golden vibes to Phantom and Clive. It's my very belated 4th Birthday! And Happy 4-month Barkday to Avalon too! We had a little celebration recently, even though (ahem... cough, cough) my Vet pronounced my official day of birth as July 1st. So... Mom is embarrassingly late in putting together a little celebration... We had a grrreat time anyway though, as you will see. (Note from Mom: We promised a Splashdogs post, but there were no photographers there this year and I just couldn't snap any pix or take movies while working with Sam and Avalon - but both had a ball there and so did Shanti! We really wanted to do our Sammie birthday post today! Have included a couple of splash pix at the end of this post - from last year!) Now... back to the important things! The first thing we did was play out on the patio, which was fun enough, except Mom totally insulted me! I certainly had an answer for her! Watch this little movie!
Then we did some wrastling before dinner - I always win - like my fighting stance from the floor?

Then I got to go to McInnis Park for a pre-party kong fest - that was pawesome! Avalon's starting to return her mini-kongball too! Then we left to get supper; well... one of my fave parts of the day! Finally, the party got going! Here are a bunch of pix that will show you all about it!

And finally... that heavenly, yummy Yoghund - Avalon and I just lapped and lapped at our bowls - seemed like it disappeared in seconds. Did you see the flavors? Apple with Cheddar, and Papaya with Peanut Butter. Oh that was tasty all right!

And to cool off those of you who are sizzling in various parts of the globe, here's a couple of pictures of me jumping from last year! Have a great weekend and see ya at the Hop!

Big Bend Day 1 - Hike 2 - Ernst Tinaja Trail

Our 2nd Hike is 1 mile round trip but we must travel 4.5 miles down a primitiveback road 4WD only

the trail starts through a dried creek bed

then goes into the Canyon

There are fascinating layers of buff, yellow, gray and reddish-brown limestone and shale about 450 feet thick.





The Tinaja is spanish for Jug. The water level in the Tinaja fluctuates. Local faulting ha produced a spring at this spot. Deer, javelina and a mountain lion have been found drowned at this spot.





Can you find Gary in this picture?Holes have been created by the faulting



Again, another good hike comes to an end. Off to find the next adventure!

Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n

More Later,

Melissa and Gary

Moving to Hunting Island State Park

Sunday, 9 DECEMBER
Hunting Island State Park — SOUTH CAROLINA
TEMPS: LO 57F / HI 75F (14C / 24C)

No unorthodox wake up calls today. I guess even the recruits get a breather on Sunday morning :-D

We were up around 6:00a, which might seem early to most of our readers. We’re used to getting up between 4:00-5:00a, so we consider this sleeping in ;-) Knowing that our move to Hunting Island State Park (HISP) was going to be short drive of 24 miles (38 km), we took it easy and didn’t get going until the official check out time of 11:00a. We set out under blue skies and plenty of sunshine, keeping fingers crossed that the weather would hold for the rest of the day so that we could enjoy a little beach-sitting in the afternoon.

An easy drive takes us from Parris Island MCRD to HISP.

On the way here, I decided to play around with the Microsoft Streets and Trips software we purchased before we got on the road. We bought the version that comes with an antenna and a thumb-drive GPS device that plugs into a USB port. What fun! With tracking turned on, I was able to watch the coach make its way to our new temporary home at HISP. Now I have my very own 17” GPS to double check what the Garmin trucker’s GPS tells Mui to do; and I can even monitor his speed ;-)

Very useful … and fun too!

We arrived at HISP shortly after noon (about two hours before the official check-in time). Seeing as how the campground is pretty empty this time of the year, no one blinked an eye at our early arrival. The volunteer at the gate simply checked us off the list on her clipboard and welcomed us to the park.

After unhooking the toad, we left the Phaeton in the holding area and drove over to our reserved site for another look-see. The roads at the park are fairly narrow and the grounds are heavily treed, so we wanted to figure out the best approach before taking the Phaeton to the site. Smart move on our part — but for a different reason.

During our recon trip to HISP on Friday, we had checked out the sites and made a list of the ones that looked good to us. We then made reservations for #110 on the 50A loop, because it had a great privacy factor. Well, it turns out that this site has a slight grade towards the rear that had gone unnoticed during our recon. If our levelers were functioning, it would not have been a problem. Since they aren’t, we decided to switch to one of the other sites on our list — #36 in the 30A loop. Luckily, we figured all of this out before we took the Phaeton to the first site, so the switch required just a simple conversation with the attendant at the camp store.

In the campground map above, the site marked with a thumbs down is #110; the site circled in red
(in the green loop) is #36. [map courtesy of the Hunting Island State Park website.]

The sites at this campground are water and electric only, and many of them are simply huge. Our site is $27/night + tax — and oh so worth it! The area on the driver’s side of #36 is non-camping space and we have palm trees on that side that provide a natural privacy screen. While our site is a back-in, the neighboring one on the passenger side is parallel to the road. Should someone come into that site, they would be facing us, but there is so much space between us that we don’t see that as an issue.

#36 is a grand site; we are looking forward to enjoying our stay here.

The one possible downside to this site is that the entrance road into the campground and the camp store are behind us. That could make the site unattractive during the busy season, but we don’t think it will be a problem for our 9-day stay this time around. The advantage to being near the camp store is that we have blazing fast wi-fi; and it’s free. From what we were told, the signal does not reach far, so the load on it is limited to a few campsites and the picnic tables placed next to the building for anyone who wants to bring their laptops there. Our mi-fi shows 3G service, but the trees create enough interference so as to make it unusable. That means we won’t have VOIP phone service, but we can stay in touch with family via email, so that’s not a real problem for us.

Our rooftop satellite could not lock on to a signal, but that is not unusual for such a highly treed area. We’re getting plenty of channels with the antenna, though, so we’re good to go. At some point, Mui will test his tripod satellite gear, but we had better things to do than to mess with that this afternoon.

Top left photo shows the empty space on the driver’s side; no camping there.
top right photo is a view of our site from the neighboring one (#34).

By the time we were settled in the site, which proved to be level enough that we didn’t need to resort to leveling blocks under the tires, it was past 1:00p. After taking time out for a quick bite to eat, we set up our screen shelter for maximum privacy. Then it was time to check out the beach.

Looking down the beach to the left; looking down the beach to the right.

The sun was mostly hidden behind clouds by the time we went out there around 3:00p, but that did not deter us from enjoying the mostly deserted beach. I think there were three people fishing, and a family of four at the far end; that was it. I took a book to read, but as usually happens, I was caught in a trance as the waves gently crashed ashore and the reading went by the wayside. That’s OK; the pelicans diving into the water a short distance from shore were plenty entertaining … when I was able to pull my gaze away from the waves.

This ring-billed gull is also mesmerized by the gentle waves.

Left: a ring-billed gull coming in for a landing adds interest to the pale rainbow in the distance.
Right: Mui tests the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean; too cold to swim today!

What a great way to wrap up our afternoon! So far, we’re loving HISP and look forward to exploring the beach and the trails in the upcoming days.