Spelunking, day 3

We wandered around today looking for McCarty's cave. Last time we tried to find it, we found a cave with a bat. The time before that we found a cave with a candle. What would we find today?

In order to provide some direction to our search, I wanted to try to identify the rock formations known as Eyes of the Canyon, Morning After, and Willy B.

Looking to the south from the candle cave at the Eyes, Morning After, Willy B, and Green Mountain Pinnacle

Unfortunately, just like last time, we scrambled up the gully between the Third Flatiron and the Eastern Ironing Board. Along the way we rediscovered the candle cave. I think the candle was burned down a bit more, so apparently we're not the only ones who have been there in the past 2 years.

Climber on summit of Third Flatiron

Once we realized we were atop an ironing board, near the Third Flatiron's summit (again), we decided to explore the area up there. We scrambled west along the rocks and identified the shared summit of Jaws and The Fin. Then further west to the summit of the Western Ironing Board.

The Morning After (Needle's Eye), from the south

From there we descended the gully west of that Ironing Board. It was pretty miserable. The gully was steep and overgrown. We had to turn around and head back uphill a few times to get past some drop-offs.

The narrow west face of Willy B

Once we made it down that gully we explored some nearby rocks that we later discovered were the summits of Eyes of the Canyon. From there we could see the eye of the needle in the Morning after and Willy B beyond that, so we explored each in turn before descending the gully back to the Royal Arch trail. No new caves today.

Summit of the Green Mountain Pinnacle

Spelunking, day 2 -- Bat cave!

Saturday was going to be our climbing day, but it turned into our sleeping-in day. Since we had dinner plans that night we decided to just go hiking for a few hours, maybe check out the Fourth Flatiron.


Halfway up the Royal Arch trail we found the turn-off to get to the "Eyes of the Canyon", a rock formation described in the climbing books. We headed off trail for a while. I'm not sure if we ever made it to the "Eyes". There were a ton of rock formations and caves that we explored along the way -- a continuation of the spelunking we did last November. One cave in particular had a surprise for us:



The cave was spacious. There was enough room to stand up, and there was another section higher up that you could get into. From there though, it seemed like the end. There was a skinny vertical tunnel but I couldn't see where it went. It seemed barely wide enough to squeeze through, and there wasn't any light coming from it, so I assume it didn't go anywhere.


We found a few more caves and tunnels of sorts as we hiked up the gully. It seemed like we could have kept going to the top of Green Mountain, but we were running out of time. We'll have to explore that area more someday.

Dinner with Tim and Jill that night was delicious!

Skunk Canyon

This afternoon we explored Skunk Canyon. We rode our bikes to a trailhead halfway up the NCAR hill, then hiked up the Skunk Canyon trail to meet up with the Mesa trail. There isn't an "official" trail that goes into the upper part of the canyon, it's more of a social trail that is overgrown and hard to follow in places. Probably much worse in the spring when it is full of skunk cabbage. The attraction is (what else?) some neat rocks up there. We ran into a couple who told us about some of the good soloing routes on the various slabs. Laurel and I only had sneakers so we were just exploring today. We found a cave that it looked like you could probably crawl up through and out with rock shoes, but there was another way around to the top too.

Adam's Visit

Monday:
Still snow on the ground. I was sick, probably from standing outside in Denver all day. Adam and I did a short hike at Chautauqua on trails where bears had been recently spotted. For dinner, Adam cooked some wild boar that he killed in Florida.


Tuesday:
Dan and Adam went to Mallory Cave. For dinner Adam made alligator.


Wednesday:
After work we all hiked up the First Flatiron. For dinner, there was elk stew and elk roast. We found a butcher in Boulder that sells elk. Adam wants to hunt elk next fall.


All pictures here.

Another Scouting Mission

After breakfast this morning we packed up our bags for a day of climbing. Unfortunately, as we were literally walking out the door it started raining. The skies looked like we could have rain all day or that it could clear up. Based on the forecast, we thought it best to put the climbing gear away since wet rock is not really fun to climb on. We made the wrong decision. It turned out to be a beautiful day and didn't start storming until about 4:00, so we could have gotten some good climbing in. Oh well, the rock will still be there tomorrow.

We put our hiking boots on and headed to Chautauqua. Dan had two spots he wanted to check out. The first was a piece of rock called South Amphitheater Pinnacle. There are not really routes on this piece of rather crappy rock, but it is quite high and can be seen from various areas around town. We hiked up to the Spy and scrambled along a ridge to get to it. We did find it and despite all the steep scree fields we managed to get to it. Dan climbed to the top and rode what I dubbed "the dragon head." As he was exploring the summit, Dan startled a peregrine falcon which proceed to screech at him for 15 minutes--from another rock, of course.

Since the weather was still good, we headed on to point of interest #2. This was a cave that Dan read about in the Gerry Roach book all the way in Bear Canyon. We hiked the 3+ miles over there and started scrambling around rocks called the Dinosaur Eggs. Surprisingly, we actually were able to find the cave despite Gerry's usually challenging directions and our lack of familiarity with the area. It was very cool even though there was quite a bit of poison ivy around.


After we climbed out of the cave we noticed a little hole in the base of the rock, described in the book as so: "Small people with large imaginations are best suited for entering a peculiar passage a few feet west of Bear Cave." Getting in and out of this mini-cave was interesting. The cave was larger than expected on the inside.


As we hiked back there was quite a bit of thunder and a curtain of cloud off to the east. It was very surreal looking and if we still had battery left in the camera we would have taken a picture.

Mallory Cave

Today we finally hiked to Mallory Cave. We have been meaning to for some time but kept getting sidetracked by other fun things to do.

The trail to the cave was a steep hike, especially at the end! Once we got back down we took this picture of two women scrambling up.

Spelunking, day 1

Today we searched for the McCarty Cave.

These were not the cave we were looking for:



One of the caves was very cool. It was big and had a few arches and windows:



I climbed out one of the windows and up into a higher vestibule. There was a mostly melted candle set in a depression:



See all pictures from today.

See pictures from yesterday -- we hiked the Niwot Ridge.

Fern Canyon, Nebel Horn, Bear Peak

After recovering a bit from the race, we headed out for a "short" hike in Fern Canyon. I think it's named that because there is exactly one fern on the trail. This steep trail goes up to the summit of Bear Peak. Along the way we scoped out a little cave/tunnel formed by some gigantic boulders.

Further up the trail we scrambled up to the Nebel Horn -- the rock ridge/summit that Adam and I gave up on Thursday. (I found a class 3 approach to the summit but it wouldn't have been good to do on Thursday, so in hindsight, even though the trail was very close, it was good that we turned back.)

The Nebel Horn is really neat! There's a giant hueco on top the size of a 10-person jacuzzi. From the top I could see some climbers on a nearby rock. And if you look closely in the picture above, you'll find Laurel hanging out at the base of the Nebel Horn (zoom in).

From the Nebel Horn up to the Bear Peak summit the trail got even steeper and wilder. It felt like one of the 14ers we've done. We were both winded by the time we reached the summit. I think this is one of the best hikes we've done around Boulder -- excellent views, scrambling, and hiking.

We ate some granola bars at the summit and started the hike back down -- the way up took around 3 hours and we had about 2 hours of daylight to get back down. By the time we got back to NCAR it was just starting to get dark. (BTW, the pink building dead-center in this photo is NCAR, where we started!)

(all pics from this hike)

Day 37, Missouri has nice state parks

Gallery

Woke up early and went for a 2.5 mile run. Packed up, cleaned up, and went to Graceland. There are a lot of people who are crazy about Elvis. We are not, but it was still interesting. I never knew he was drafted into the army or was such a philanthropist or that his parents lived in Graceland too.





The house was left as last decorated in fabulous 70's style -- lots of mirrors; shag carpet on the floor, walls, ceiling; velvet; gaudy figurines. There was lots of memorabilia and gold/platinum records on display. Elvis had a racquetball court built behind his Graceland mansion, now it's full of records.





Left Tennessee, drove into Mississippi for a few minutes, then back into Arkansas so we could get to Missouri. Our first stop was Trail of Tears State Park situated alongside the Mississippi River. The park commemorated the Cherokee march through the area.

We hiked the Sheppard Point Trail which was strenuous for about 2 miles. There were bluffs overlooking the river -- much wider here than in Minneapolis.

Back on the road and headed to Pevely to scope out some potential sport climbing. There were not any "No Trespassing" signs explicitly posted on the trail we took... the limestone quarry we found looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie (Limestone Quarry of DOOM!), or perhaps the Mines of Moria. Just a little scary! There were bolts leading up one of the columns, so we were in the right place. This cave was huge -- the ceiling was 30-50 feet up, supported by 20' square columns that hadn't been blasted away. This went back for 400 feet. The Rock and Road atlas suggested you could drag race 18-wheelers in there -- quite accurate! (That little blip in the photo below the middle "garage door bay" is Laurel.)



The access seemed questionable so we took off for Babler State Park to set up camp. So far we have a great impression of MO state parks. Tomorrow we'll check out St. Loius.

Day 36, can't climb in Arkansas

Gallery

Packed up camp, hit the road east, trying to get out of OK as fast as possible. The drive was so boring, we played "church poker". Similar to Tom's game of "cow poker", you get a point for passing a church on your side of the road, double your points for passing an LDS church, and lose all your points for passing an adult bookstore.

Dan got some funny looks at a gas station in Oklahoma, probably looked out of place not wearing any camouflage.

We're in Waffle House country. That's one good thing about this area. It's obvious we're in the South after talking with a few locals.

Into Arkansas. The roads are hilly and treeful, which is a change from sunflowers, corn, wheat, and cows.



Heading to Petit Jean State Park for some hiking and hopefully climbing too.

OK, no luck on the climbing. The people at the visitor center seemed like they had never heard the words "rock climbing". There were signs at the trailheads though that said no climbing or rappelling allowed.



It's hot and humid. We hiked some short trails and saw cliffs, caves, a waterfall, and turtle rocks. Did I mention it's humid? The dry heat of the west was much more tolerable. Now we're driving through backwoods Arkansas to get a different view on the way back to the highway.

Tried another place to climb but we were discouraged by the park staff who said it would be too hot, warned us that our dog would die, and needed us to fill out a form explicitly stating which trails/routes we would be hiking/climbing. Said "screw this" and went to Bill Clinton's library / gift palace in Little Rock. It was an interesting place and an excuse to see some of the capital city.



Once again hit the road, this time for Memphis. Checked into an RV park, set up camp, and headed out to Beale St. to B.B. King's Blues Cafe. Very touristy but it was fun. Listened to some good music, had some good BBQ. Saw W.C. Handy's historic house nearby (father of the blues).



Tomorrow we go see Elvis, who lives right next door. That's right, we're camping 100 feet from Graceland. Does it get much better?

(8/5: holy crap, it'll cost us $50 just to get into Graceland! maybe we'll skip it.)

Day 4, Dunes and Chicago

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Laurel woke up and went for a run that took her up Mt. Randall, an enormous and steep sand dune (Dan tried it later in the day). Dan slept in a little until the hellions at the next campsite woke him up.



We picked up camp and had breakfast on the beach. Dan went swimming in the ocean lake. Cold! We climbed the 240' sand dune next to the parking lot and did some hiking through the dunes behind it.





We changed our clothes and hit the road, stopping at another fruit stand for replenishments. Drove forever to get to Bear Cave in Buchanan. It wasn't really worth it, but we saw a bat and a cool waterfall.





Drove to Indiana (new timezone), had lunch at a picnic table at a rest stop. Indiana is apparently the "crossroads of America" and we can back up that claim as we saw many license plates (even Saskatchewan). We'll see more of Indiana on the drive back in 5 weeks.



Into Illinois. Drove through Chicago traffic and construction (ugh) and then through Skokie to Evanstan, the home of Northwestern Univ. Checked into a Best Western hotel and got ready for a night on the town.

We took the El to the Sears tower and had stuffed pizza at Giordano's. It was OK but I like pie better than cake. From the top of the tower we saw the swarms of people ready to watch the fireworks.



We also saw Soldier Field (Da Bears!) and the John Hancock tower (just another tall black skyscraper).





We walked through the theater district (and all over) trying to find our way to Navy Pier. Never quite made it but got into good position to watch the fireworks. Laurel was nervous about the crowd and getting back home so I jinxed us by saying it couldn't be any worse than New Year's in New Orleans in 2000.

We saw some impressive fireworks and then headed roughly 10 blocks towards the El stop. Saw bucket drummers (video) on the way. The Chicago Transit Authority seemed well organized and ready to move the masses (video), but as we were at the station waiting for the train, the trains on the tracks stopped moving. 20 minutes later all the lights went out in the cars and we found out they had lost power. Not just this station, the whole city's El system!



After waiting another 20 minutes for the power to come back (a worker said she hadn't seen this happen in 17 years) we decided to head out in the rain to find a bus ("Tank, I need an exit!").



Dan figured out the bus system and we headed North for a slow ride home. It was pouring rain when we needed to switch buses so we hailed a taxi instead and finally got home before 2 AM.

Day 2, eh?

Gallery

We packed up, ate our KOA pancakes, and left. First stop was Devil's Hole State Park. On the hike down to the river we saw a neat limestone cave.



Down at the shores of the Niagara we got a good look at the Power Vista.



There are some pretty good rapids down there. Did some trail running towards the falls to get to the giant whirlpool at the bend in the river.



Headed back up to Whirlpool state park to get a bird's eye view of the whirlpool, but the up-close view was better. The whirlpool boats and whirlpool skycar looked lame. It was much more fun jumping from rock to rock down by the river.

Up top I saw a woodchuck. Had lunch at picnic table. It was nice to sit after hiking and running for 2.5 hours.



Took the Rainbow Bridge into Canada.



Rode a double decker bus from the falls parking lot to the Journey Behind the Falls. The "Journey" was kinda lame compared to last night -- lots of waiting, not as exciting and not as wet. But we did get behind the falls which was neat. There was supposed to be a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer to take pictures with but we saw no Mountie.



We watched the Imax movie about the legends of the falls (no Brad Pitt) then walked around the Clifton Hill area. Much busier than I remember it being 15 years ago.



We'd had enough of the falls so around 6pm we left. We drove along Lake Erie, saw some cute cottages on the shore. It's a big lake. We tried to check out Rock Point Prov. Park, but they wanted 11 buckaroos just to drive in. So we headed back to the road and had dinner at Kim's Fire Pit. It's just a trailer on the side of the road but it was tasty.

Laurel says she's seen lots of hairy cows but I haven't seen any yet. I guess they're keeping warm.

It's Canada Day, eh?

Tomorrow we're going to some Peelee Island or something and then into Michigan. Maybe some rock climbing.