Car Cookin' - Hometown Leftovers

Well I had some free time today in between lunchtime frisbee and evening climbing, so I've whipped together a new car cooking episode. It's not my favorite episode, but good to get me back into the creative process and thinking about something good to do next!

Woah! Home??

Tim wouldn't stop getting on the steepest climbs. And on this one he dragged me up after to clean his draws... on my rest day! (It was a pretty sweet climb...)

Justin takes a nap in his hammock, gets up, and sends Witness The Citrus [5.11c].

You ask a group of climbers to get together for a photo and this happens. Another great year in Kentucky!

Quick stop in CT to see Skeete and meet Stella (Sorry Murph, I'll see you soon!)

Made it home in time to check in on my Dad's golf tournament fundraiser and see Kayla. He raised over $3,200!

The rest of the week in Kentucky was amazing and my body is officially fried! An overnight drive with some car sleeping in NJ has brought me back home and boy does it feel good. This 6 month trip was the longest I've spent away from home. I'm looking forward to seeing as many people as possible and catching up. But let's do it soon, because in exactly 1 month I'll be heading back out to explore the Pacific Northwest for an unknown length of time. Despite needing to recover, I ended up climbing at Farley with Katie Koti today. We had a great session. I sure missed my local crag. Regarding tomorrow, the question becomes: Do I clean out my car/bedroom or do I make another car cooking video?

Utah To Kentucky

Somewhere nearish Vail, CO.

View from my hike with Sebastian and his Mom in Evergreen, CO.

That rain was coming down and coming for us!

Brewery tour at Great Divide in Denver, CO

John working on a new 5.10 at the Chocolate Factory.

Lundy finishing up Enkidu (5.11c), a project for both of us. Very fun climbing.

A beautiful Kentucky morning and a great time for a dip in the hot tub.

Alie cruising up an awesome 5.9 at Miller Fork.

The most important part of every climbing day has been setting up all of the hammocks. For this crag, trad gear was helpful in getting a shady and cool spot for recovery.

Dinner with this guy. After 6 months away from home, it was very nice seeing each other and catching up.

Hammock belaying is by far the most comfortable way to belay. Justin is climbing through the crux of a very fun mixed route in Muir Valley. I was focused on a picture more than belaying.

Well! I made my way out of Utah. Met up with Ariel in Boulder to catch up and check out her new apartment. After, I met Sebastian and the rest of his Burning Man camp in Denver to start planning this year's trip in August. There were many other people in Colorado that I wanted to see but unfortunately I had to get to Kentucky quickly. On the way there, I stopped at Jeff's, my former manager's house to meet him in person and catch up. I worked for him for at least a year and never had the opportunity to meet since he worked from home in Kansas. It was great to make it work and catch up. Then on to Kentucky! In hopes of surprising friends and climbing awesome rock. There was moderate surprise, but somehow word gets around easily. Either way, it was superbly amazing seeing friends again, catching up, and climbing some rock. Conveniently, my Dad had a business trip in Lexington, an hour and a half away, so I was able to meet him for dinner and catch up as well. This trip was the first time I ever felt homesick and seeing friends and family again has made me feel so good. I'm excited for the rest of the week climbing in the Red River Gorge as well as going home after to see even more people!

Oh My Arches

Gazing

Having a terrible time!

Pinyon Pine? Juniper? I dunno!

Landscape arch, yo. Longest one in the park. And I broke some rules and disregarded safety in order to get this more unique view of the arch. Also, check out that rain cloud in the distance.

Delicate arch. But again I kind of went off the path to get a different angle of the arch. See all the tiny people on the other side? A timelapse would have been cool.

I think this day had the best lighting out of any of my trips to National Parks.

North Window Arch.

Double Arch. This beautiful work of stone and weather just left me speechless.

The smaller arch was an absolute perfect window for watching the sunset.

Another angle of the Double Arch

Sunset Parties.

Wow... just wow. Ever since my friend Jen gave me Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire 7 years ago, I have been yearning to visit Arches National Park. I am so happy I finally did. In just a 1-day visit to the park, I took more pictures than I took in my entire 2 month trip in South America. I must have hiked/ran/climbed 18 miles around the park. The lighting was incredible all day and the park had limitless possibilities for exploration. I cannot wait to come back for a longer visit.

Zion!

The most important part of hiking in any popular park is to find the spots where you won't run into another single person. Rock scrambling up a narrow canyon was the trick here.

Thank you NPS for trusting people to not fall off the "trail"!

So sensual, so curvy.

I like big buttresses and I cannot lie.

From Observation Point. Angel's Landing can be seen in the valley. There's people on the top, but you can't see them. They're very small.

I was told by one guy that I had the best campsite in the park. Level ground and big boulders to play on. The boulders attracted many groups of children. I was happy to rig one of my old climbing ropes to help them climb to the top. 

Another stop in Zion National Park. I'm not sure if there's a more beautiful spot in all of the United States. If you haven't been yet, I highly recommend putting it into your calendar now. Can't wait to be back here in June for some canyoneering!

Utah

Utah is real purdy!

DSLR Dump

  

  

Now that I'm reunited with my laptop, I can go through all of the photos from my camera. Here are some of my favorites from my journey through South America.