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| Thanks to the farmer whose land this was. |
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| I spotted a bald eagle along this river in AK |
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| Lots of fun trails in Ozark National Forest, AK |
I was excited to see my surroundings in the morning so I quickly made breakfast and headed to where I thought the trail was. Actually, I couldn't find it so I kept going to check out the fee charging campsites I had avoided the night before. The Redding campsite also charged for day use, but I was able to avoid that by parking down a flood evacuation road and beginning my ride from there. Riding on the dirt trails was fun and it took me to a small river where I spotted a beautiful mature bald eagle about 50 meters away. At that moment I wished I had my camera, but I also cherished the fact that the sighting was exclusively for my eyes only. The flood evacuation road wasn't too long so I circled around and found a great hiking trail and took my bike on it. I had the whole park to myself and thoroughly enjoyed the forested ride over plush orange pine needles.
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| The somewhat chossy but fun boulder |
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| The forest facing side of the boulder was higher and a great crack/face climb |
It was 10:30 and time to leave. Driving back towards I40, a road sign grabbed my attention; White Rock Mountain Rd. it read. I love driving these graveled forest roads and since this seemed to be my last opportunity in the foreseeable future to explore one in the eastern part of the country, made a right and began gaining elevation. Near the summit I realized why they called it White Rock Mountain; most of the sandstone outcrops are covered in a type of white moss or lichen. Suddenly I spotted it. A roadside boulder about 25 feet high that was just begging to be climbed. I went to inspect the rock and decided that it looked fairly easy and really fun. I put my shoes on and did a few laps up and down. The rock quality wasn't great so I climbed this wilderness boulder delicately, always knocking to hear how solid each hold was. When I topped out I found a couple pairs of bolted anchors so obviously I wasn't the first person to be drawn to this highball boulder.
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| Cooking to scale to save time was great for the first 5 meals. |
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| The desolate prairies of Oklahoma and Texas |
It was 12:00 and really time to go. I wanted to be across Oklahoma and at an Amarillo, Texas rest area by bedtime. There's not much to say about Oklahoma. It's big, flat (but not as flat as Kansas), windy and sunny. The endless prairie crossing was broken only to cook up a mean batch of zucchini, onion, pepper, and olive Spanish couscous. It got me through each meal for two days before I dropped it on accident and threw away the rest. I reached the rest area in Texas well after night fall, ate my dinner, and read some more of Travels With Charlie, a John Updike novel that Aunt Marylin gave me. Its great to note the similarities between our cross country trips both in planning and execution.
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| The landscape of New Mexico was immediately more interesting than the previous two states. |
Eat breakfast, refill water, brush teeth and drive. That's the typical rest stop morning routine and this one was no different. I sped across northern Texas noting a few cattle farms that looked like the ones in the film Food Inc. (I had also seen Tyson chicken farms in Arkansas; the chicken coups were the only new buildings in miles and I wondered what conditions their modern facade hid). I drove about 4 hours and with the time zone change, reached Santa Fe in the early afternoon.
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| The Rio Grande River from the Overlook in White Rock, NM |
With some time to kill before meeting a climbers club somewhere in the area, I hung out in the public library and took advantage of nice tables and free wifi to update my blog and get some final directions to the crag. The group, called Los Mountaineers, posted on their website they would be meeting a place in White Rock, NM called the Overlook at around 4:30 on Thursday. I was there at 4 but they never showed. It was a bummer because that was a time and destination I had been aiming for since leaving Nashville. My hopes were to 1) climb 2) meet someone who would be able to climb the next couple of days and 3) to have someone invite me to stay at their place so I could avoid my first desert camp out. I wandered around the top of the crag for a while and finally saw a couple of guys who I thought might be climbers. I struck up a conversation and it turned out they were Germans who lived in Los Alamos. They invited me to surf their couch and also said they try to put me in touch with some of their climbing friends. That was great and allowed half of my hopes to come true that day. After hiking around the area a bit more and enjoying great views of the Rio Grande River snaking its way through endless mesas, I picked up some beer and headed to Rene's (the German) house for dinner.
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| A dusk scene of the Jemez Mountains heading toward Los Alamos |
Los Alamos is a small town at about 1900 meters elevation that is populated by tons of scientists. It is home to the National Laboratory, the place where the bomb and who knows what else was made. Rene and his visiting German friend were both physicists and Rene was working on his thesis at the lab. Over the course of my stay in Los Alamos, I only met one person who wasn't employed by the lab so most of the conversations were interesting and intelligent. It certainly was a very intriguing aspect of the demographics there compared to anywhere else I've been.
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 A view of the Santa Fe National Forest from the bike trail. |
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| Some of the more technical parts of the trail |
With no one to climb with on Friday, I used the Internet to find a bike trail in the Santa Fe National Forest. I read the directions many times, filled my car up with gas (one of my nightmares is running out of gas in the desert), and drove south to the forest. The forest road was extremely dusty and after I'd stop a cloud of dust would engulf my entire car. By the time I found the trail head my car was cover in dust. The trail was mostly really good and followed a double track trail through a juniper and cacti forest. The sun was warm but the air was cool and after riding for about 2 hours I'd had enough of the barren landscape.
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| Adam on a nice dihedral crack; this was my first climb in NM (5.8+) |
When I returned to my car Rene's friend, Stephanie, had emailed me detailing her plan to go climbing with a small group to Diablo Canyon the following day. I couldn't wait! With the afternoon still young I dropped by the Overlook in White Rock to see if any climbers were around. Plan B was to hike down to the Rio Grande River but I was in luck. Just as I was arriving I spotted a pair of climbers heading down the trail to the crag. I got my stuff ready and took the trail to the top of the climbs. I heard them below and poked my head over to ask if I could join. It was a couple named Adam and Natalie and they had no objections to me tagging along.
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| Natalie on the fun crack line I set up |
The rock there is basalt, which is formed from rapid cooling of lava, and I was really excited to climb a type of rock that I hadn't climbed before. It was smoother than most sandstones I'd been on and had a similar friction to unpolished limestone. The rock felt pretty solid despite a few high pitch sounds like heavy ceramic when I gave it a knock. We climbed an easy crack and then a moderate face climb next to it. I was glad to have my trad gear because after those two climbs I got to lead a nice 5.9 crack and TR another face climb next to it. They were both really cool people and invited me back for dinner as well as offering a spare room they had.
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| The same Javez mountain scene as above only in the morning. |
When I arrived at their house I could smell dinner from the front door. We hit it off well (these were my kind of people; laid back and always able to contribute to an interesting conversation) and the vegetarian enchiladas, fruit salad, and Spanish rice provided great nourishment as well as a break from the continual couscous. They too both worked at the lab, but unlink my last hosts worked in the biological labs. After dinner we soaked in their hot tub and had a few more beers before hitting the hay.
At 8:30 in the morning I went to a local Los Alamos cafe to meet Stephanie and friends. There were 8 of us and together we made a diverse group representing Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, and the Philippines. They all worked at the lab except for Stephanie and seemed to be friends through that affiliation. Three of the guys were moderate climbers and the three girls and one other guy were more beginners. I climbed mostly easy to moderate stuff there including Drunk Rednecks with Golf Clubs (5.9), Winter Warm Up (5.8 trad), and a great 5.10a/b called Class Act.
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| The high basalt walls of Diablo Canyon |
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| Winter Warm-up (5.8 trad) |
After those three climbs, we crossed to the other side of the canyon. The descent was worse than the already bad approach as it was down the steep rock slide. The canyon had a warm breeze running through it and the rocks on the opposite radiated great heat in the cool shade. I lead a huge single pitch sport route called Post Moderate (5.9). It had 17 bolts, was 165 feet and even with my 70 meters of dynamic rope I couldn't reach the bottom and we had to think up an alternative plan to lower me down (we used a rope that was set with top rope anchors beside the route I was on to lower me down all the way). We had a beer in the parking lot where I met an older couple who were headed to Shelf Road, Colorado for climbing around the same time I was. It was a great trip and although I debated staying in Los Alamos a few more days, I decided other places needed to be explored. Thanks again to Rene, Adam, Natalie, and Stephanie and friends for showing me a great time in New Mexico.
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| I'm just to the left of the plane trail high up on Post Moderate (5.9) |
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| Stephanie and friends in the Diablo Canyon parking lot after a great day of climbing |
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