Day 3 and 4: The Gunks' Rocks Rock!

Alex and I stoked after a climb

I set off from the farm on a perfect fall day and headed towards New Paltz, NY; home of the Gunks.  Driving through the Catskill mountains, the smell of fall was a great reminder of a season that I'd lived without for the past seven years.  One of the best climbing destinations on the East coast, the Gunks offers thousands of trad routes, easy access, and even free camping (well kind of free, just to climb there is 15 bucks a day!).   I was a bit apprehensive about meeting partners there, but actually had no problems at all.

The first guy I met, Alex, was working on a bouldering project and when I asked him if he wanted to climb he told me he didn't have a harness.  "Not a problem!" I said as I had an extra harness in the car.  He only had time for one climb and he apparently had had his eye on a 5.10 route called Retribution that was nearby.  Usually that would be more than a warm up climb for me, but since he was ready to lead it, how could I complain.  He was a totally stoked dude and great to climb with, so thanks for the climb Alex.

Horsemen 5.5

Retribution 5.10

Later in the afternoon, I meet another group of boulderers and worked on some of the projects with them.  Still wanted to rope up and climb some more I asked if anyone was interested.  A girl named Elisa took me up and we climbed a really aesthetic crack line called Horseman.

With dusk quickly approaching after the last climb, I quickly set up my tent near the ranger's office at the bare bones climbers sites and worked on dinner.  I made an excellent pesto, tomato, and cheese sandwich and pesto potatoes.  Thanks Elaine and Robert for the pesto and potatoes.  

Super exposed hundreds of feet off the deck on CCK 5.7+

When I woke up the weather was just as perfect as the previous day.  As I made my way up the Trapps trail, I met Bruce, a Gunks local with over 20 years of climbing the area.  We started with a wicked 3 pitch climb called Shockley's Ceiling.  After that, we headed down to do a great, very exposed climb called Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope (CCK).  I was awesome to hang out with a local like Bruce and get all the inside info on the Gunks and have a chance to climb some of the classics at this world class crag.  To get to the Gunks I drove 316 miles.

Thanks Bruce!