Sleepy Seattle & Sunny California

So after our whirlwind trip from Seattle to Bellingham to Canada to Leavenworth and back, we needed to decompress and enjoy some much needed R & R.  We found the perfect place to do that at my cousin's house just outside of Seattle in Kirkland, WA. In our couple of days there, I caught up a bit with extended family through skype and phone calls, and got to spend some quality time with my cousins Steve and Hilary.

Giving a tour of the van

My cousin Hilary and I hanging out in the minivan (pre curtains)

They treated us to delicious food and beer, gave us a place to crash, and provided the tools, materials, and know-how to help us fabricate and install curtains into our minivan.  I practiced my sewing skills on Hilary's sewing machine upstairs while Max and Steve worked on installing them in the van.  

Curtains done!

On Monday morning we got up bright and early to begin our long drive (12+ hours) back to sunny California.  We stayed a night with Max's friend Luke in Davis, then drove to Lover's Leap, a climbing area close to Lake Tahoe.   We had 2 days of stellar climbing on beautiful granite, with perfect weather (a far cry from the rainy clime of the Pacific Northwest!).  We did a bunch of the area's classic climbs, including the Traveler Buttress (5.9), pictured below.  This short section is an incredibly awkwardly sized crack in which you have to jam your whole body inside to make upward progress!  

Awkward...

Here's Max showing off his stemming technique on Corrugation Corner (5.7).

After a couple days of climbing at the Leap, we decided to do something a bit different before we left the area.  We met up with our old high school buddy Jeff Smith (who lives in North Lake Tahoe now) and headed into Desolation Wilderness Area for a hike.

Hi Jeff!

We hiked up to Aloha Lake, enjoying the scenery and the icy cold water of Lake Aloha.  

Max and I in our skivvys after a dip in the lake

Jeff had to head back before dark, but Max and I spent the night up near the lake, putting our light and fast backcountry gear to the test and enjoying spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and water...

Today finds us back in San Francisco working on some gear reviews and hopefully getting out to enjoy some free music as part of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a massive music festival with an overwhelming lineup of artists.  Next stop, Yosemite!

-Dan

Running from the rain

Rain and rock climbing don’t mix well. The Pacific Northwest has kept us running from the rain for the past week.

We left Oregon’s high desert for wet wet Washington. On the way we spent a night in Portland with Dan’s friend Drew. He and his housemates were splendid hosts who took us out to the local food truck park, fed us an entire tray of brownies, and tested our humdinger prowess with a game of Cranium. We also went to Voodoo Doughnuts, a fatty Portland morning feedlot. We have been eating a ton on our non-climbing days. 

Voodoo Doughnuts

We crossed into Washington on the morning of the 20^th. Our primary mission in Washington was to visit our good friend Chris Simrell. Chris is obsessed with five things: Washington state, Seattle, rock climbing, beer, and girls. He talks about all of these with unmatched passion and is a stellar representative of northwesternmost of the lower 48.  

Chris drinking beer

Introduce Will, Chris’ friend. The four of us took off for Squamish hoping to take advantage of a two-day weather window. The British Columbia coastline is totally gorgeous. On our first day we did a bunch of classic single pitch lines while we waited for the larger walls to dry out. 

British Columbia coastline

Squamish

Chris on Crime of the Century 11c

The next day Dan and Will did more cragging while Max and Chris attempted the uber classic Grand Wall. Minimal sleep and sore bodies made the route a bit more challenging than expected. We rapped off after the Split Pillar, one of the most aesthetic single pitches of climbing I have ever done.  

Grand Wall Overview

Chris heading up pitch 2

Pitch 5- Split Pillar 10b

Coming down

While Chris and I were up on the Chief, Dan and Will enjoyed tremendously scenic seaside granite. 

Will and Dan in the Canadian sunshine

The next few days were spent chasing the sunshine. Rain ruled out the most desirable Index, so we went over the pass to the supposedly drier eastern side. Unfortunately, the rain shadow effect failed to keep us dry in the Bavarian themed mountain town of Leavenworth. A rainy night prevented us from exploring the area’s vast amount of crack climbs. We went sport climbing at an overhung area instead. We had no guidebook or previous knowledge of the cliff except for some directions scrawled on a piece of scrap paper at a gear store in Leavenworth. We found the cliff, which was loaded with fixed draws, and climbed several killer unknown routes.

Bavarian themed Leavenworth

Bavarian themed coffee

Max, pre unknown route

Max, unknown route

Dan clipping the chains, unknown route

Chris getting pumped, unknown route

-MAX

Smith Rock

Not us

We chose Smith Rock as the first destination on our trip because of its famed sport climbing. We wanted a place to climb a bunch of routes, get outrageously pumped, build up some muscle, and get our heads screwed on straight for the challenges of long multi-pitch trad climbing.  I also wanted to see some folks in spandex- Smith and spandex were becoming popular at around the same time in the 80's and the two were synonymous for a short while...

On The Road

Yesterday Oregon greeted us with a hurricane of insects. We read “welcome” but only heard the onslaught of unidentified flying objects collide with our 14-year-old windshield. “Tick, tick, thud, thud, bam, squash.” Several hours later, in Bend, we took a look at the damage. Our van was covered in a thin film of dried brown and green flying creatures. Dan and I are on the road.

A massive gas fire in San Bruno lit up the Thursday night sky for Dan’s arrival from Boston. The following day we purchased overpriced wood from the local Mill Valley Lumber Yard and built our storage/sleeping unit. Our possessions are comfortably nestled in 56 cubic feet of storage space. Our bodies fit in the 20” space between our gear and the roof.

After months of planning and preparation we’re now on the road. Last night was our first in the van. We slept brilliantly after several hours of dance clubbing with Dan’s friend Rachael and a crew from Bend. Today it’s off to Smith Rock.

Max and Dan Rock The Minivan!

Look at that beauty...

Oh yeah. 

It is less than one week out from the start of our adventure, and all the details are coming into place.  Dan flies out on Thursday, Sep. 9, and Max finished his job on the same day.  The weekend will be spent prepping our van (above) to be lived out of, building shelving and storage and then packing all of our gear inside and into our new roof box. Ideally, Sunday will mark our first Northward progress, making our way into Southern Oregon for a night at a friend's apartment (Thanks Rachel!).

Our goal for this trip is for it to last right through the end of November or the start of December, at which point we will likely part ways, Dan heading down to Mexico to do some paddling, Max to continue climbing with a group of Hampshire folks out at Red Rocks, Nevada.  Christmas will likely find us both back on the East coast and in search of jobs.

Feel free to check out this Map for a clue as to our route and a brief description of our thoughts on each spot.   I know that at this point the map just consists of a mess of dots, but if you follow the order of the list of placemarks (blue dots) on the left side of the screen, you'll be able to trace our path.  A lot of what we are doing will be flying by the seat of our pants, so dates are flexible and the route will continue to evolve; we have planned out the month of September fairly well, and haven't been able to think much beyond that. A lot depends on the arrival of Winter and how soon we are forced into the Southern locals.

Please post comments on this blog or email directly to one of us with any advice on places to check out, couches on which to crash, routes of note, or just to say hi!