The day after seeing Dark Knight Rises at the midnight release I was feeling uber tired at work. After all I didn't get to sleep till 4:00 am. Late in the evening when I was leaving work and planning on sleeping I got a text informing me about $5 rock climbing night starting at 10:00. Of course I was down for that so we all drove down to Momentum Rock Climbing Gym attached to REI in Sandy, UT and were met by a long line out the door. I think it's the biggest indoor gym in Utah, and it seemed that $5 night was a popular tradition among many people. I could glance in the door and see countless towering walls waiting to be scrambled all over.
After a long wait in line and signing a few waiver forms I was given a rather odorous pair of climbing shoes and admitted to the gym. It was even bigger on the inside than I thought, with places for bouldering, top roping, and lead climbing, there was little to be desired. I was using my thin, unpadded harness which still did the job OK; it just made me miss my own rope, harness, and shoes.
The climbing extravaganza went until 2am after which my hands could barely grip any holds. The rocks were getting sweaty, and I was not only sleepy, but physically tired. I think I'll have to go back and attend this monthly event often.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Canoes in Summer
A lot has happened since my last post. I have finished my first semester at LDS Business College. I have gone camping and hiking numerous times. I tried out with a wilderness therapy company for a week in escalante (which I'll have to post about), and I broke my Subaru, fixed it, broke it again, sold it, and bought a Montero. I can't wait to get my new SUV in tip top shape so i can do some off roading. This will be much more suited to the task with lots of skid plates, locking rear and center differentials, and true 4 wheel drive. I live that it has a massive sun roof, and 7 leather seats. More room for more friends.
On the trip that decided the fate of my Subaru I planned a canoe camping trip. I found a place that rents a trailer with 4 canoes on it for $50, but upon further investigation found it to be too far away. I still got the troops together and made arrangements to go camping with a couple canoes. I waited too long to reserve them, so the only place that had canoes was REI. (If you ever need canoes, don't hesitate to call them, they're really easy to work with). We loaded up all the gear, and drove down early in the morning. I finally had a chance to test out my new Yakima Roof Rack. We put one heavy canoe on my friend's Sentra, an I put the other on my roof rack next to the Diamond Back mountain bike that my younger brother graciously sent to me. The drive up to Pineview Reservoir was decently scenic. My car started to sputter over the mountains and I didn't know why.
Finally after getting turned around a bit we pulled in and set up camp. We had two tents, plenty of other random gear, and I put my hammock up in a tree. There was a lovely sandy beach to launch the canoes from. The wind was a bit of a hassle to paddle against, but the water was the perfect temperature, and the lake was actually a decent size, not some mere mill pond. I practiced portaging the canoes all on my own. I found out that the fiberglass canoes are way heavier than aluminum ones, and the wind has a way of twisting you exactly the way you don't want to go when you have a 16 foot boat over your head.
Some other friends showed up a little later, and we cooked a crazy amount of hot dogs over the fire. I felt proud of myself for starting the fire with nothing more than my flint sparker, some dry tinder, and a napkin....there may have been some WD40 in there somewhere, but no one needs to know. We went down to have another canoeing excursion. the wind died down a little bit, but in general the lake would have been a great place for sailing a small dinghy. I can't wait to get something like that. We paddled across to find a rope swing. I had a feeling that a certain area would have to have one. It just looked rope swingy. Lo and behold the rope swing was there, but it was destroyed and set for a much higher tide than we were then experiencing. We wandered around for a bit then headed back.
On the beach we played a bit of Frisbee, tag, and then just sat and talked. It was good to be in the college friend campout on the beach. It felt even better to have been the one that planned it. We all turned in for the night and I noticed that a hammock is a great invention for sleeping in. Although it was 96 degrees during the day, it got quite chilly during the night time. I was glad to have brought my sleeping bag, but I did notice that the hammock seemed to drain all the blood away from my feet making them very cold throughout the night. We all survived and are planning on going again sometime soon. I'll be sure to post in a better fashion in the future. It's good to be back.
On the trip that decided the fate of my Subaru I planned a canoe camping trip. I found a place that rents a trailer with 4 canoes on it for $50, but upon further investigation found it to be too far away. I still got the troops together and made arrangements to go camping with a couple canoes. I waited too long to reserve them, so the only place that had canoes was REI. (If you ever need canoes, don't hesitate to call them, they're really easy to work with). We loaded up all the gear, and drove down early in the morning. I finally had a chance to test out my new Yakima Roof Rack. We put one heavy canoe on my friend's Sentra, an I put the other on my roof rack next to the Diamond Back mountain bike that my younger brother graciously sent to me. The drive up to Pineview Reservoir was decently scenic. My car started to sputter over the mountains and I didn't know why.
Finally after getting turned around a bit we pulled in and set up camp. We had two tents, plenty of other random gear, and I put my hammock up in a tree. There was a lovely sandy beach to launch the canoes from. The wind was a bit of a hassle to paddle against, but the water was the perfect temperature, and the lake was actually a decent size, not some mere mill pond. I practiced portaging the canoes all on my own. I found out that the fiberglass canoes are way heavier than aluminum ones, and the wind has a way of twisting you exactly the way you don't want to go when you have a 16 foot boat over your head.
Some other friends showed up a little later, and we cooked a crazy amount of hot dogs over the fire. I felt proud of myself for starting the fire with nothing more than my flint sparker, some dry tinder, and a napkin....there may have been some WD40 in there somewhere, but no one needs to know. We went down to have another canoeing excursion. the wind died down a little bit, but in general the lake would have been a great place for sailing a small dinghy. I can't wait to get something like that. We paddled across to find a rope swing. I had a feeling that a certain area would have to have one. It just looked rope swingy. Lo and behold the rope swing was there, but it was destroyed and set for a much higher tide than we were then experiencing. We wandered around for a bit then headed back.
On the beach we played a bit of Frisbee, tag, and then just sat and talked. It was good to be in the college friend campout on the beach. It felt even better to have been the one that planned it. We all turned in for the night and I noticed that a hammock is a great invention for sleeping in. Although it was 96 degrees during the day, it got quite chilly during the night time. I was glad to have brought my sleeping bag, but I did notice that the hammock seemed to drain all the blood away from my feet making them very cold throughout the night. We all survived and are planning on going again sometime soon. I'll be sure to post in a better fashion in the future. It's good to be back.
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