apAdventures

And here we have Triassic, just down the road from Joe’s. This place is the definition of “kid in a candy store.” There are so many boulders here we couldn’t decide where to start! Too bad we only had a day.

Sooooo many boulders. Sooooo many lines. Check this one out – of the hundreds of lines documented in our guide, this was one stellar line of many that was not!

Warming up the Daisy Boulder in the Land of a Thousand Boulders

Silas playing imaginary checkers with his imaginary pet, Water Dog…(who followed us home from the Water Dog Wall boulders at Hueco Tanks about a year ago and has been our constant companion ever since)

The Gravity Boulder, which hosts…

…The Good, v4,

…The Bad, v5

…and The Ugly, v6. And yes, that is a pile of mud that this enormous boulder is balanced on. I tapped the mud with my finger for some sort of conviction that this was safe. The mud felt like rock.

The boys, wild as ever and in desperate need of a rest day. Do everyone else’s kids spend more energy the more tired they get, or is it just our’s? As Paul likes to say “it seems so against a human being’s primal instinct for survival!”

The kids aren’t the only ones that need a rest. Finishing the day off with some Bacardi Silver, v4

posted by arr

The fourth spot on our hit list is Joe’s Valley. After now having climbed there for the first time, I find it near-sacrilege that we’ve lived in the west for over a decade (with the majority of that time bouldering exclusively) and never been. It’s awesome!

We arrived late day and spent the early evening driving around, jumping out of the van and running up to the boulders we’d picked out from the guide and/or videos. Conveniently, most were right near the road so it was easy to scope everything and decide which to attack the following day. As usual we had something like 8 different areas we wanted to squeeze into one day (and we typically average 4 per day…and that’s only if they’re fairly close to one another).

The following day we of course got sucked into some goodies that took longer than planned to send. One in particular that I DIDN’T send after sacrificing two (or was that THREE??!!!) precious hours on, Kill By Number, V5. And then on our way to our planned climbs we’d of course see something else that we’d want to get on. And then the more we looked at the guide the more we wanted to get on too. So we pretty much finished up our one “Joe’s Day” with even more climbs on our wish list than when we started.

But only one climb in particular stood out that was enough to make us extend our Joe’s Valley stay another day; extending it another day such that we’re going to have no choice but to eliminate one of our other destinations later in the trip. The climb was just THAT GOOD: Vertical Ice, v6.

Early morning at our campsite at the Joe’s Valley reservoir. We were the only campers there. Beloved solitude once again.

Welcome to Joe’s Valley. Warming up at the Riverside boulders in the Left Fork.

Paul ticks off Kelly’s Arete, v5 at Riverside. One of those “not in the game plan” problems.

..and then ticks off Big Joe, v7 across the road. Another “not in the game plan” climb. See how easily we get off track? So many good boulders to climb!

Ok, so this one was on the original hit list: The classic Wills of Fire, v6. I’m going to brag about Paul just a tad here. The prior weekend’s state-wide torrential downpour pretty much obliterated Joe’s Valley. The canyon hillsides were mudslides. The edges of the road washed away in a few spots. And unfortunately, a lot of the boulders were covered in mud and sand. This one included. I took one look at it and it’s already high and slopey topout and immediately declined even attempting it. Paul however wasn’t phased. He climbed right up, sandy slopey high topout and all.

Moving on down the Left Fork to the Mine Cart boulders

My first nemesis of the trip: Kill By Number, V5. This is the thing we spent waaaay tooo long at as I fell off the grovely heel-hooky slopey topout at least a half-dozen times. Hey?! I’m a Hueco climber! I need actual topout holds okay?! (This move shown here in the pic was rad, btw)

Back at camp, where the decision has been made to spend another day just so we can climb the problem Vertical Ice, v6 since we couldn’t fit it in today

The next morning near the approach to Vertical Ice. Now, this climb wasn’t it our book. It’s a climb I saw on uTube that I just had to check out and I was able to gather enough clues on the web to get us there. It’s located way up the Right Fork, way beyond all the other areas. So far up the canyon that it actually snowed on us while we were there. Here is where we parked.

And here we are hiking in

Or shall I say, up?

A handful of boulders on the approach make for a nice warm-up

Paul snags a send of Baldwin Bash, v7, another climb I saw on uTube

And there it is, the Vertical Ice boulder. Was I not kidding that this is a beauty of a climb?!

The opening moves of Vertical Ice, v6. The striking line, the fall colors, the little snowflakes in the air, can this day be any more perfect?

Oh yes it can. My send of Vertical Ice, v6

Fueled with motivation from the morning’s alpine feats, we decide to squeeze in a few more that day before saying good bye to Joe’s. We first made a quick stop at Pimper’s Paradise, v5. The boulder was on a hillside so steep though it wasn’t very kid friendly so Paul sent first try, I tried it maybe twice and then we moved on to the Buoux Area. Paul shown here atop the four-star Buoux Problem, v3

…followed by me.

And then The Bowling Ball, v4 to finish it off

We’ll be back Joe’s Valley!

posted by arr

Our early evening arrival

Campsite for the night right next to the boulders and not another soul around for miles. Life just doesn’t get any better than this

Usually this is a dry lakebed. Not today.

The kids were infatuated with the lake. They spent the entire evening throwing rocks into it. I can just imagine all their little rocks sitting out there atop the white sand long after the lakebed dries back up.

Did I forget to mention this place is absolutely beautiful

Good morning boulders

Hello Red Monster

Good morning Cow. Now let’s climb already!!!!

Me warming up on The Cow boulder

Silas sends

Paul’s turn on The Cow, a v3 line

Now it’s time to get serious. This is the other side of the Red Monster, where all the climbs are.

Paul sending the mega classic Ju, v7. I too tried this one but only half-heartedly. With a sore back, high crux and slabby topout I wussed out and moved on.

Atop the Red Monster after his send. Yeah! First big send since his finger surgery!!! Woohoo!

All day we found ourselves saying that the holds here at Ibex aren’t quite crimps, aren’t quite slopers and aren’t quite jugs….they’re something in between all three of those things. And they took a while to feel comfortable on. This is me sending an unnamed v5 on the Warm-Up Wall. A bitty little climb that sure packs a punch.

Paul giving Meat and Potatoes, v8 a try. Too hard for today.

I find a climb that’s suits me perfect for today, Tranced Out and Dreamin, v6, with the first move being the crux. And may I just point out, I stuck this hard first move before Paul! (my short moment of glory, thank you)

…and I send it!

Silas atop yet another fine Ibex block

And before calling it a day we quickly run up some easys on The Lone Boulder as another Utah rainstorm blows in

posted by arr

A number of factors conspired against us when it came to destination #2: Zion National Park, Utah. My appointment with the chiropractor the afternoon/evening prior meant heading out of Flagstaff way later than planned. And we weren’t in the mood to drive late into the night. So instead we opted to stop at Jacob Lake, AZ just outside the entrance to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Then if we felt like it we’d head to Zion in the morning for a quick bouldering session and then on to destination #3.

Well, we didn’t feel like it. Plus it looked like it was going to storm, everywhere, which it did, all day, across all of Utah. So we instead spent the day leisurely making our way toward destination #3, amidst glorious rain and beautiful rainbows and an entertaining group of mountain bikers at a gas station having just ridden all morning and were now stuffing their faces with gas station pizza, nachos, cinnabons, soda, corndogs, you name it. “Look at those boys eating all that junkfood!” Silas says between giggles as he gawks out the van window at them.

Our campsite at Jacob Lake. Nice little campground if you’re ever passing through.

Happy boys

posted by arr

The first stop on our list is Priest Draw. Although we’ve bouldered here many, many times before, our journey routed us right through Flagstaff so why not stop, even if just for half a day? We decided to climb around and on ‘The Island’ with ambitious hopes of getting on Wife Beater, v8 as the day’s primary target.

If you can believe it (cause I still can’t!) I tweaked my back WARMING UP!!!!!!! Those that know me well are aware that I have a cranky lower back that likes to shift out of alignment every now and then over the simplest of movements. Whether I lay around in pain for a day or a week it just requires a trip to my DO for a quick manipulation to get me back up and running. Once he works his magic I’m ready to roll in 24 hours, usually less. This, unfortunately, was one of those times.

Heading back to Tucson to visit my doc was out of the question. Okay, maybe not completely out of the question but certainly not the ideal plan. So we came up with Plan B – find someone here in Flagstaff that could fix me. After much googling, we settled upon a chiropractor. Now, I’ve never been to a chiropractor but this was the only option given I was to be a walk-in on a Friday afternoon. I went in, waited an hour while the guy tended to all his scheduled patients, and then crack pop and I was done. My back felt better already.

In retrospect, what we should have done next was stay in Flagstaff another night to let my back heal some more, but what we did instead was jump in the van and start heading north to destination #2. Needless to say sitting and bumping along in the van prolonged it’s repair, but I’ve still been able to climb (and send!) in mild-to-moderate pain since.

Mama’s broken back doesn’t ruin Silas’ day at the boulders. He finds an existing teepee and makes it home.

posted by arr

This October 2nd will mark TEN YEARS of marriage for Paul and I. Although ten years does kind of sound like a long time, to me it feels as though Paul and I have been together much longer. I reason that it’s probably because we’ve done a lot since we first met – a lot of climbing trips, moving out to Arizona together, a house, even more climbing trips, and now kids. We’ve really packed it in over the last decade. So ten years of marriage isn’t so mind-blowing to me right now. What IS mind-blowing to me though is the fact that Silas was born half-way through that ten year duration. That’s the fact I’m trying to come to grips with. My baby Silas whom I can clear as day picture as a newborn in my arms just yesterday is somehow turning five years old this October! Ten years with Paul I get. Five years with Silas I’m still shaking my head over in disbelief. I’m only just starting to understand the phrase “they grow up so fast.”

Paul and I decided this year’s anniversary we needed to do something adventurous. Not only because it was our 10th, but primarily because since we had the kids we haven’t really done much for our anniversaries, other than maybe toast with a glass of wine. I know, LAME! Here’s a recap of anniversaries past:

1st anniversary: Yosemite. We hiked to the top of North Dome and ate our wedding cake on top, with a magnificent view of Half Dome. (After our wedding in upstate NY my mom had saved the topper of our cake in the freezer, then shipped it to us in Arizona in dry ice a year later and we packed it in the cooler and took it with us to Yosemite, then hiked it to the top –a travelin’ little piece of cake that was!).

2nd anniversary: Grand Canyon. Having recently gotten psyched on long-distance trail running and completed Imogene Pass Run in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado for the first time just a few weeks prior, we decided it’d be fun to run across the Grand Canyon and back. It was both fun…AND HARD! And we loved it.

3rd anniversary: Long’s Peak. Hiking/running it, not climbing it. Hiking proved to be almost as epic as climbing might have been though because I got altitude sickness and we had to turn back below the summit. Still a great time though and we redeemed ourselves with some Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) bouldering the next day.

4th anniversary: Bishop. This anniversary was spent in the midst of our dreamy six month Colorado-Pittsburgh-Rocklands-Marathon New York-Bishop-Yosemite trip. Basically the entire six months was a big anniversary celebration that year. 

5th anniversary: Mt. Lemmon hike two weeks prior to Silas’ grand arrival. I was ready to pop! I remember doing a short little hike and then eating a cookie at the Cookie Cabin that I immediately went and upchucked in their bathroom.

6th anniversary: Can’t remember. My webposts around this time don’t even give me a clue so chances are we did the whole “cheers with a glass of wine” deal.

7th anniversary: I was pregnant in my first trimester with Ivan. If I had to guess I was probably vomiting most of that day. (Pregnancy was not good to me with either child).
8th anniversary: These were sad times as Morgie had passed away. ‘Nuff said about that.

9th anniversary: Feeling that we owed it to ourselves to do something (anything!) for our anniversary that year we arranged for our dear friend Linda to babysit the kids while we went out on the town. Unfortunately Linda fell ill and had to cancel last minute. So we instead gobbled down the homemade mac & cheese I had made special for the kids and the four of us were all in bed by 8pm.

So in classic apAdventures-style, we’re gonna go big this year. For our 10 years of blissful marriage we’re going to boulder at 10 blissful bouldering locations throughout Arizona, Utah and Colorado over the course of 17 days. Stay tuned. We hope to be able to do some posts along the way.

posted by ARR

posted by arr

There are few toys that have stood the test of time like Legos have. I’m positive I’m not the first to say that (hello, Lego Movie). In fact now that I think about it, Legos might be the only toy common between my childhood toys and my boys’ current collection. …only because this is a house full of boys and thus we have no Barbies. Maybe we should get some! Or maybe not. Cause Legos are just way more fun than Barbies. I have no desire what-so-ever to sit down and play house and dress-up with my kids and a bunch of Barbies. But Legos?! Heck yeah. Thank goodness I had boys.

That’s not to say had I given birth to girls we’d be doing the same thing of course. 😉

posted by arr

Note: Despite the wetness on Ivan’s shorts that would appear to be pee but claimed as a monsoon mud puddle splash, it’s official that the boy is now potty trained! Woo! No more diapers in this house!!!!!

posted by arr

posted by arr