Days 28-33: Six Days in the Red

Miguel's Pizza

After another good night's rest in the Pathfinder, I woke up in a Lexington parking lot excited about the days to come at the Red River Gorge.  Before I made the hour long trip, I stopped by a bakery and farmers' market to stock up on some food.  The veggies at the market were small and perfect for preparing dishes for just one.  By around lunch time, I had already arrived at my base camp for the next six days; Miguel's Pizza and Rock Shop.

Miguel's is a special place for climbers or perhaps better put, the place for climbers.  Not only do they sell pizza and climbing supplies, they also allow climbers to camp and use their facilities for only $2 a night.  I paid for 3 nights, set up my tent in a field behind the shop and took a drive over to the nearest crag, Roadside, to check out the rock. 



Miguel's is busy at night with most
campers making their own food.



Roadside's easy to moderate climbs and minimal approach make it a popular crag and it was no problem finding people to climb with.  The first people I met to climb with were a group of guys from Michigan.  They had already put up some draws on a route called Dragonslayer (5.10d), and offered to give me a belay.  I didn't get through the climb cleanly and took a number of good whippers at the crux, but it was a good taste of what RRG climbing embodies; steep, pockety, sandstone pumpfests.  I got on the climb one more time before heading back to Miguel's for dinner and realizing how out of climbing shape I was. 

Miguel's was packed with climbers drinking beers, cooking up dinner and swapping stories of heroic ascents of the day.  It was among this energized gathering of climbers that I met Mike and Andrew, two college friends from Kansas University.  We shared a table and stories as we cooked up our dinners and by the time we were finished they were kind enough to invite me to climb with them the next day. 



A fun and relaxed climb on One
Armed Bandit (5.9)

 Muir Valley is an area of RRG with dozens of crags for climbers of all levels.  It happens to be on private land the but the owners are friendly and allow climbers access to the hundreds of routes, given they follow a few rules and sign a waiver.  Both Mike and Andrew had been to RRG a few time before so they had a good idea of which crags they liked and what climbs they had their eyes on.  It was obvious from the beginning that they were both pretty strong climbers as they easily sent a couple of 5.10s for warm up.  I was happy to be climbing with people above my level and to have someone put the quickdraws up on the route for my flash attempts.  We climbed a couple of 5.11s and then they let me pick an easier climb that I could just enjoy and relax climbing.  I picked one called One Armed Bandit (5.9) and we all climbed it before heading over to a super overhung crag called Midnight Surf to finish up the day. 



Natural Bridge of sandstone



This guy had a classic jacket



The next day I didn't have anyone to climb with so I cleaned up my bike and took a hike through a state park called Natural Bridge.  It turned out to be quite an impressive natural bridge and the walk up there felt easy without a pack of gear on my back.  There were lots of tourists on the trail and along the way I spotted an old guy wearing a funny jacket reading "Big Bone Baptist" and snapped a good shot of him.  I returned to the car by 3 o'clock and despite half my body telling me to rest, I headed back to Roadside crag to try to get in a climb.  I met two Notre Dame students as they were heading to another crag and they invited me along.  We climbed a wild route called Breakfast Burrito (5.10d) and checked out some other super hard climbs including a project Chris Sharma has that looks insanely difficult. 




Armadillo (5.10d)

 That night I met Jason and Lee, who invited me to climb with them the next day.  It sounded like they were climbing more around my level than a lot of people at Miguel's and I liked their 'just have fun' approach to climbing.  We went to a crag across the street from Roadside called The Zoo and had the whole place to ourselves all day.  We started on some slabby climbs which required some balancey moves while seeking out small holds.  Later on, we moved down the wall for some overhanging routes with lots of jugs.  Lee had a great DSLR with some fantastic lenses so we took turns anchoring at the top of the climbs to shoot each other as we climbed up.  I took a quite a few falls as the day went on and my forearms wore out, but overall it was a great day of climbing. 



Lots of tents in the fields behind
Miguel's.

 When we returned to Miguel's we treated ourselves to some of their famous pizza.  They have a huge list of ingredients to choose from so you can totally customize your pizza.  Throughout the night more and more people kept rolling in.  It was Friday and some university was having holiday and by the next morning, the field had doubled with tents. 



The Walmartification
of Trad (5.8)

 On Saturday, Jason, Lee, and some of their friends and I headed to some other crags in the Pendergrass area.  We took an alternative road to the parking lot that had us four wheeling through Kentucky forests and streams.  I started with a nice looking and easy trad line before moving on to some more sport lines in the 5.10 to 5.11 range at the Volunteer wall.  The weather was like it had been all week, 70s and sunny and the colors in the forest were bright and warm.   



Miguel's fire in full swing; what
an amazing place and community

 On the way back to Miguel's we stopped at the beer trailer (the county Miguel's is in is dry) to get some drinks for the night.  They make a fire every night but on that night there was a great crowd.  The nights actually got pretty cold and so the cardboard fueled fire was a great place to hang out at after dinner.  It was also a great place to meet people and hear about all the crazy things these climbing 'dirt bags' are up too.  In fact, I met quite a few people who were on the road like me or had been living out of their car for much longer.  There were people from all over the country and world, many of whom were staying at the Red for months at a time.  It truly is a world class climbing destination. 

Great pocketed sandstone
climbing on steep walls
Fifth Bolt Faith (5.10c)



What a crack!  Roadside
Attraction (5.7)



My final day at the Red was a bit more laid back; no 5.11s.  We went back to the Muir Valley and did all the climbs on Tectonic Wall including 'Gettin Lucky in Kentucky' (5.10b) and Fifth Bolt Faith (5.10c).  Finally, another Jason that was with us was interested in doing some trad climbing.  I had had my eye on an easy 5.7 classic called Roadside Attraction.  It was said to be the best 5.7 in Kentucky and after climbing it I would have to agree.  The moves were crack climbing at its best, with hand jams and laybacking up a solid, well edged dihedral. 

After a couple more Miguel slices, I was on the road headed back to Asheville for some real rest.  Thanks to Jason, Lee, Mike, Andrew and all the others I climbed with at the Red.  And on a final note, if you're a climber and haven't been to the RRG, put it on your list of things to do before you die.  You won't regret it!