Royal Arch Hiking and Scrambling

We thought it might be too cold to climb today so instead we biked to Chautauqua with our rock shoes. We ventured off the Royal Arch trail in a few spots to explore some rock formations and catch a glimpse of the area where we were spelunking last weekend. At Sentinal Pass we stopped to scramble around the big boulders there. Calling them big is an understatement -- some were mini-flatirons!

Getting a little higher up allowed us to see the extent of rock that exists between the 3rd and 4th Flatirons. This mountain has enough rock to keep us busy for a looong time, even if we were to only do one climb on each rock! There were a few pinnacles high up on the hillside that were particularly appealing.

Eventually we made it to the Royal Arch. Since we had our rock shoes with us I thought it'd be fun to scramble up to the top. See me in the picture below?

Hiking in Wild Basin, RMNP

Today we drove up to the southern part of Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked in the Wild Basin area. There was snow on the ground even at the trailhead, but once we got hiking it wasn't too cold. We hiked along the North St. Vrain Creek and then the Ouzel Creek, passing a few partially-frozen waterfalls on the way.

There were also a few boulders worth scrambling up and we could see Mt. Meeker for most of the trip (see photo below). At one point we passed by a cave that looked like it went pretty far back but couldn't scramble in too far due to a 10' drop.

Towards the end of the trail we had to decide whether to head to Ouzel Lake or Bluebird Lake. The day was getting late, the weather was getting cloudier, and it looked like there could be some snow coming, so we headed to Ouzel which was closer.

On the way back we passed by a few campsites. Could be a nice place to stay someday when it's warmer.

See all pictures.

Election night

Last night after watching Senator McCain and President-elect Obama speak I biked down to Pearl Street to see what was going on. Big celebration. People were dancing in the streets (yes, literally).

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.

The Week in Review

We did get to see Obama speak. Perhaps I should rephrase that, we heard Obama speak from massive speakers. It was very difficult to SEE him because there were 50,000 people there. It was still neat, though, to be part of something that big and exciting.

On Monday and Wednesday I did some substitute teaching. Yup, I was a sub. Monday went well--it was a half day with some middle school orchestra kids. They were a lot of fun and well behaved. On Wednesday I was at Boulder High School for the afternoon. That, as you could imagine, was a different story. The Concert Choir was a rowdy bunch but I survived and no one got hurt or sent to the office (can you even do that in high school? I'm not sure).

What else did we do this week? Hmmm... Monday night we saw "Burn After Reading" with Brad Pitt. It really wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. Thursday we went to an avalanche safety seminar at REI. It was very interesting and now we know what to look for come the snowy season.

Friday night we did a long bike ride into the canyon. On the way back I almost hit a duck. Then we hit Pearl Street for dinner. It was really fun watching everyone in costumes walking around. Unfortunately, we didn't stay late enough for the Naked Pumpkin Run that started at 10:45. Maybe next year...

Quiet Weekend

Unfortunately, my knee is still pretty nasty. The gravel I feel on really took two big chunks of skin out and these spots are taking a long time to heal. So, this weekend has been very quiet. Yesterday we took an hour walk in the plains (no elevation gain because stairs and hills are hard for me) near the Heatherwood area. The little mini-hike had beautiful views of the snow-covered rockies with colorful deciduous trees in the foreground.

After returning home we decided to walk to Target to get Dan some new sneakers. On the way back we stopped in the parking lot of the Whole Pets Store to observe a Halloween pet party. About 25 dogs were dressed up in costumes being paraded around by their owners--often in costumes themselves. It was quite a show. We grabbed hot dogs of the grill and just watched the show.

Dan had to work in the afternoon and I was confined to the couch to rest my knee. To pass the time I tried my hand at watercoloring painting the beautiful scenes we had witnessed earlier in the day. I figure my attempts were about as good as a 10-year-old could do. Let's just say that this is not a viable career change option for me!

Sunday morning we went for another walk in the plains. This time we were walking around the Walden pond and marsh area. It was considerably colder and windier than yesterday, but still pretty. Right now Dan is working on his bike at Community Cycles and then the plan is to drive up to Fort Collins to try to see Obama speak. Right now he's in Denver and they estimate the crowd is about 80,000 people. Hopefully, it will be a little less crazy north of here. When I saw Michelle speak three weeks ago here in town there was quite a turn out. I don't remember how many people they estimated, but it was in the thousands.

The Jump move

Yes, people really jump! Scary. Can't imagine doing that with rope attached and a 10 pound rack.

A Little Bike Ride

On Sunday the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we decided to take advantage of it and go for a long bike ride (in a couple of weeks I don't think we'll want to get on bikes much!). There is an area west of the Flatirons/Green Mountain called Walker Ranch that we wanted to check out. On a hike in Eldorado a few weeks ago we ran into the Walker Loop Trail and it looked like a lot of fun. So, this was the day to check it out!

We hopped on our bikes and headed for the hills...literally. To reach Walker Ranch we needed to bike 4 miles to Chautauqua Park, then another 4.5 miles to the summit of Flagstaff Mountain, then another 3 miles to the trail head of Walker Ranch. Chautauqua was no big deal--about 25 minutes most of week was up a decent hill. Flagstaff proved a bit more difficult. The 4.5 miles is up a mountain, so we gained a good 2,000 feet over the next 35 minutes or so. Reaching the Summit Road (a spur that gets you to some hiking trails, an outdoor amphitheater, and some great views) we thought we were done with the elevation gain. Haa! The next part was even more treacherous. The road was so steep (>7.5 degrees) pedaling in the lowest gear was really, really hard. We both fought thoughts of getting off and walking, but we didn't! The next parking area, Stevens Gulch, offered great views and a chance to stretch. The road kept heading up until we got behind Green Mountain. Then we finally enjoyed a couple of downhills before the final descent to Walker Ranch.


Now, if you're a regular reader of the blog, you know we've done some mountain biking out here. Most of it has been a lot of fun. Sure, there's been a few technical spots where Dan attempts to ride and I just walk my bike, but it's been quite doable. Walker Ranch was not all that doable. I swear, someone needed to mark this trail as difficult and the others as easy or novice. The majority of this seven-mile loop was insane. It was steep (both going up and down), it was rocky, there were sharp turns and switchbacks, and there was even about 1,000 feet where EVERYONE (even the REALLY good people) had to carry their bikes because there were stairs cut into the side of the cliff. Let me tell you, walking your bike up steep hills is not a lot of fun, carrying your bike down a cliff is even less fun. All in all the 7 miles took us almost 3 hours to complete. Crazy!

After a snack, we were ready for the ride home, or so I thought. We were headed down the long, loose-gravel driveway back to the road and I slid off my bike. Yup, I was going too fast, tried to slow down, and then ended up in the middle of the road on all fours. I gouged a good chunk of skin out of my knee and arm and thought I needed stitches. Very fortunately, a ranger was passing by a few minutes after the accident. He had a first aid kit (ours was at home in the climbing packs...stupid us!) and a nice big pick up. Though I could have ridden home (it would have been a long and rather painful ordeal) the ranger offered us a ride. Thankfully, I didn't need stitches but I still did a number on my left limbs. After a few days of R&R I'm sure I'll be fine for next weekend's adventures. I better be!

2nd and Sunset

Laurel and I did two big climbs today. First up was a route on the Second Flatiron called Freeway. It was an interesting climb, especially when we got to the part the guidebook author describes as:

Jumping may be the easiest way to overcome the gap. Jumping, while not a recommended climbing technique, seems innocent and safe enough at this notch.

Well we got to that point and wasted almost an hour deciding how to get down, because jumping looked like a sure way to twist an ankle halfway up this 800 foot climb. There was no easy way to downclimb (this was supposed to be a Class 4 climb), so instead of the jump move we did an interesting 10 foot rappel. The picture shows where the jump is supposed to happen -- from that piece of rock sticking out on to the slab.

On the climb we were met by 3 guys free soloing. It probably only took them an hour or less to do the whole climb unroped. We did the climb roped in 6 pitches, in about 6 hours.

Our hope was to head over to the Sunset Flatironette next, since it is somewhat behind the Second Flatiron. We weren't sure if there would be enough daylight to finish the "Chase the Sun" climb (it was almost 4pm), but it looked like there were good escape points along the way if we needed one, so we gave it a shot. This climb follows a ridge for 600 feet and had some 30' runouts. It was an interesting climb, but parts of it felt tougher than the 5.4 rating -- there was lots of lichen and loose rock in places, as this is not a very frequently-climbed rock.

Before we started we decided that at 6:30 we would bail so we weren't climbing in the dark -- but around 5:30 we were nearing the end of the climb so we just wrapped it up. By the time we got our sneakers on and started to hike it was very dark. It was about an hour hike back down to our packs at the base of the Second Flatiron and then to the car. Definitely worth it though -- the sunset was beautiful (see all pics).

In all, we climbed 10 pitches today, covering about 1400 feet of climbing. We left the car a bit after 8am and returned a bit after 8pm.


When we got to the parking lot, there were a few news crews and park rangers. During our "Chase the Sun" climb we had seen a rescue team off behind the South Block of the Second Flatiron. Apparently someone had fallen and died "between the 2nd and 3rd Flatirons" but given the location of the rescue/recovery team it appeared to us to be closer to the 2nd. Could have been one of the freesoloers we saw. So far no details, but it sounds like the person didn't have any safety equipment.

Snowy Nederland

As expected, Boulder didn't see any snow. But, we decided we would go chase it because, you know, there's nothing like freezing temps in and white stuff in October. We didn't need to go too far to find some. By the time we got to Boulder Falls in the canyon (about 8 miles from town) there was snow on the branches of the evergreens. Once we got to Nederland there was a dusting on the ground. We drove a bit west and south of town to the Eldora Ski Area where we parked at an elevation of 9,200ft. Our hope was to hike the Jenny Creek Trail to Guinn Mountain at 11,200ft. We did get more snow as we ascended the trail and at times there was enough to try out our snowshoes. However, once we put them on, we would quickly take them off again as parts of the trail were rocky and windswept which meant minimal snow.

The base of the trail was well marked, but when we were supposed to turn off the resort access road was not marked, so we hiked the road all the way to the top of the mountain--lots of steep switchbacks. After about 2 hours the road finally petered out and became a trail that followed a gas pipeline. After about a mile out of the ski resort the trail got very narrow and led us through some dense, snow covered pines. Here Dan saw some moose tracks (that's right, there was a big sign that warned us that many moose frequented the area). Eventually we made it to the summit of what we thought was Guinn Mountain. The visibility was so poor at this point (maybe 350ft) it was hard to tell. But, according to the GPS we were there. We promptly turned around and what took us 3.5 hours to ascend took 2 hours to descend. Needless to say after 5.5 hours of hiking in the snow we were cold, tired, and sore especially since the snow shoes were on our backs more than our feet! We got back into town and stopped at Sherpa's Restaurant for dinner.

Flagstaff Mountain and Viewpoint Trails

It misted and rained all day. Laurel says this is the 7th day we haven't seen any sun since we moved here. Didn't stop us though, we parked by the Amphitheater and hiked up and around Flagstaff Mountain. There were some neat rocks that we'll go back to boulder on someday. We also found a decent sized cave (50-100 sqft?) that had some neat problems on the ceiling -- looked hard!

Laurel got snowshoes, we may try them out tomorrow. Boulder shouldn't get much snow but up in the mountains I bet there's plenty already.

Numbers

Map of our bike ride

9.5	miles biking on roads and paved paths to get to the Marshall Mesa trailhead
10.5	miles of mountain biking on dirt and rocky trails
4.0	miles to the Eldorado Canyon Visitor Center
7.0	miles hiking (round trip)
11.0	miles to bike home
42.0	miles Total

Sundays

We got up today, had a leisurely breakfast, went to church, then to a greasy diner for lunch, and then sat on the couch and watched football for the afternoon.

Ha! Just kidding! That's what OTHER people do on Sundays...not us, we're crazy! We left the house at 9:30 this morning on our bikes. Our destination was the mountain biking trails of South Boulder. We arrived at the Marshall Mesa Trail around 10:30 and biked all over the mesa and then south of Eldorado on the Community Ditch Trail and Dowdy Draw Trail. We circled back to Marshall Mesa and then crossed the road to head to Eldorado State Park. Once at the park, we ditched our bikes and hit the trail on foot. We hiked the 3.5 mile Eldorado Canyon Trail out and back, occasionally coming across some rain. The trail ended at the Walker Ranch Loop and South Boulder Creek. The creek was beautiful and very fast moving. Hopefully next weekend we'll have a chance to do the loop and see more of the creek.

After the three and a half hour hike we got back on our bikes and headed home. When we walked in the door, it was 6:00, 8.5 hours after we left. What a weekend!

Climbing in Boulder

On Saturday we parked at Chautauqua and hiked up to the base of the First Flatiron. From there we hung a right and set up to climb the First Flatironette, a 300-foot slab in front of the bottom corner of the First Flatiron. We climbed along the ridge of the triangular shaped rock for the longest route--3 and a half pitches. The descent is a walk off and around--you walk off the back and then way around the adjacent rock (The Spy) and back to the base. We scoped out our start of the First Flatiron last summer and the Spy.

The weather seemed like it was holding so we decided to give the Spy a try. This rock is unique in that most of it is only about 5 feet wide. It's a very cool 2-pitch climb with some good exposure and views! As we were starting the second pitch it began to rain a bit. Dan let the pitch with some slippery rock, but by the time I followed the rock was dry again. After our walk off we hiked all the way back to the car. When the day was said and done we had been out and about for nine hours.

East Boulder Trail

Pics from our sunset hike on the East Boulder Trail on Monday:

Another amphitheater day

We climbed at the amphitheater again today. First climb was the South Face of the Second Pinnacle, which we were thunder-boomed off of last weekend. This time we made it to the top in two pitches -- some tricky route finding involved. We rapped off the back and walked back around inside the amphitheater to climb The Inset (5.6). The weather wasn't making up its mind so this shorter climb was a good choice. By the time we both completed the climb the clouds had mostly moved on, so we chanced another climb, this one up the Third Pinnacle. We didn't have the guide book with us, so we just headed up a crack leading to a nasty overhanging roof. Luckily we made it around the roof. At the top of the climb we realized there was an easy walk-off on the backside, so we took that back to the trail and called it a day.

14er

(click pic to see more)

Today we got up early to hike Gray's Peak. It's a 14er. We planned on taking a 6.5 mile (round-trip) trail, but the road to the trailhead required a higher-clearance vehicle than our Echo. So our hike started 3 miles from the trailhead. Somehow by the end of the day we had hiked 14 miles -- new meaning to "14er".

The way up started easy, but once we got to some snow it became pretty slick and slowed us down. There were clouds overhead but nothing too scary, so we kept going. Closer to the summit we heard some thunder but it was coming from the east, so we kept going. By the time we summited Gray's Peak there were thunderclouds on both sides of the mountain, although at quite a distance and moving slowly. It was surprising that at 14,270 feet there wasn't the slightest breeze. We stayed up there for about 10 minutes and headed back down -- decided to skip summiting Torrey's Peak due to the weather.

The return trip was a blast -- lots of glissading made for a quick descent. It was actually slower and more difficult where there wasn't snow on the trail. At one point there were graupel flurries but nothing substantial.

The weather turned for the better so we decided to recon the start of another hike/climb we had read about. It climbs the Kelso ridge for 1800 vertical feet, starting at a saddle between Torrey's and Kelso Peaks. The guidebook suggested a rope and some rock hardware (and an ice axe if there is snow), so we forwent the expedition for today, but it looks like it's going to be a great way to summit Torrey's Peak next summer.

My morning bike ride

Click here. And yes, I did come back down. I just didn't feel like double clicking down Flagstaff Mountain. There are a lot of switchbacks!!!

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)

Boulder Half Marathon

Start of the 2008 Boulder Half Marathon; Laurel crosses the starting line about two and a half minutes into the video:



And this is what Laurel looks like after running a half marathon:


She finished in approx. 2:18, 11 minutes faster than her training times! Here's her official results. Click pic for more.

Gregory Canyon climbing

We're working our way through Roach's guidebook... did a few more climbs Saturday in the Amphitheater. We've climbed 13 of the 25 climbs (not counting variations) in the main Amphitheater area. The last climb we attempted was a 2 or 3 pitch route up the Second Pinnacle. I was at the top of the first pitch setting up an anchor when we heard horrible thunder coming from all directions. Scary and unexpected. I was almost a full rope-length out, so lowering was not possible and rappelling was not a good option. Instead, I downclimbed the pitch, removing pro as I went. Good thing it was only a 5.2! As we hiked out it was just starting to sprinkle.

Some pics from the week

Click pic for more...

Other Adventures with Adam

Well, after Bierstadt Adam was still ready for more Colorado adventure despite his mantra of the week, "You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

On Thursday Adam and Dan headed out to Bear Canyon in hopes of seeing some bears (crazy, huh)? Our alligator hunter wanted to see if he could take a bear down with the same knife with which he took down an eleven and a half foot, 500lb gator. Fortunately for the bears (and my brother and husband!) none crossed their path. However, they did spend the entire day hiking and scrambling around Nebel Horn and other areas OFF the main trail. Because of all the scrambling they did, Adam got very interested in rock climbing. More on that in a bit...

Thursday night we got ready for CU's Blackout Game. After dressing in the darkest clothes we had, we hopped on our bikes for Folsom Field. With 53,000 fans (many of them drunk college students) we cheered the Buffs on to victory. We FINALLY got to see Ralphie, the CU buffalo!


On Friday Adam and I checked out Lucile's for breakfast. It was excellent Cajun cooking recommended by a friend of our father's. I then took Adam on a mini-tour up to Gold Hill to see what a small mountain town looks like. As I headed to work for a professional development afternoon meeting, Adam hit Boulder Creek and caught a few small fish. In the later afternoon we all met at the Amphitheater for some climbing.

Adam toproped a 5.2 60-foot climb on the West Bench--his first outdoor climb ever! After a second successful attempt, I suggested we try something a little more exciting. So, Dan led a fourth class rather exposed climb up to the top of the East Bench. With some encouragement, Adam summited and waited patiently for me to clean. He then was the first to rappel back down into the Amphitheater. We managed to get back to the car with our headlamps safely.

After a quick shower, we all headed to the Red Lion for dinner. This restaurant specializes in "Wild Game and Continental Specialties." Needless to say, I got the vegetarian entree while Adam and Dan ordered elk and quail. Everyone's meal was delicious!

Mount Bierstadt

On Monday night my brother, Adam (a.k.a. the alligator hunter), arrive in Colorado. Since Dan and I both had to work, Adam went off on his own exploring. With fishing pole in hand, he ended up catching some small trout in a mountain lake in the shadows of Longs Peak and Mount Meeker...4 miles off the road an hour from Boulder. He made it up to 11,500ft on this first day here!

Today he and I decided to tackle an even bigger project. We drove an hour and a half southwest of Boulder to attempt a 14er. Despite construction on the approach road, we hit the trail at 9:30. After 3.5 hours of strenuous hiking Adam summited his first Colorado peak. The skies began to look scary so we quickly started our decent. The way down was cold, a bit windy, and snowy--it actually hailed for a little bit.

The good news is I got Adam back to Boulder in one piece and that he survived to tell about his mountaineering experience!

Gregory Canyon weekend

Yesterday we climbed at the Gregory Canyon Amphitheater. Gorgeous weather all day. First we summited T-Zero a few times -- a smaller rock (50') hiding behind the big pine tree in this first photo. Good climbs, and since there were no fixed anchors at the top we lead-downclimbed a 4th class route each time to get off -- a little too exposed to do unroped. Laurel led two routes up to the summit and I did two as well.

After tackling the easier routes on T-Zero, we headed up for the 1st Pinnacle summit, but this time we climbed the right route (vs. last time)! Amazing what a good guidebook can do for you... This next pic is the start of the East Face Dihedral, which we took to get to the top of the East Bench, then from there it's a step across the top of the chimney onto the east face of the 1st Pinnacle. You can see the bottom of the chimney at the top of the photo.

Now yesterday's weather was great, but today it was overcast and foggy. Didn't stop us from going back for more -- the rock was the only thing around that was dry, lucky us! These pics are all from today, so no blue skies to show. See the low clouds? So it was a bit chilly but we managed to do a couple of routes, Laurel led the first one and I led the next two. We've ticked off a few of the routes marked "Classic" in Roach's guidebook already... our plan is to hit them all (100s), starting at the beginning.

This afternoon I'm tuning up the bikes while Laurel goes on an interview. As I'm working I see this creepy spider checking me out. It's a jumping spider.

Our Friday Evening Bike Ride

Included a stop to pick up Chinese for dinner!

Map

My Thursday After Work Trail Run

Map

My Latest New Career

Wired Berries

Click on the Fitness tab.

Triathalonish?

Bike, hike, boulder, hike, bike was our progression this morning. After playing on the rocks at Sanitas Laurel took me up into Sunshine Canyon and then across to Fourmile Canyon. Steep! Fun going down too :) 14.5 miles on the bike, 1200' elevation gain.

evening bike ride

It was cold and hazy tonight, but we went for a ride anyway. And that's it.

Big F'n gator!

That's my brother!

Backpacking

Matt, Laurel, and I backpacked in the Lost Creek Wilderness this weekend. We started at the Twin Eagles trailhead near Jefferson, CO and headed north for 7 miles towards McCurdy Park Tower. After some 2,500 ft elevation gain we set up camp by the creek.

The three of us brought our rock shoes in case there were any bouldering opportunities. Once camp was set up Saturday afternoon we decided to hit the McCurdy Park Tower. On the hike in we hadn't seen any trail going to the tower and nothing was marked on our topo, so we just started walking up the hill through the woods towards the giant.

This rock isn't climbed very often due to the 6-mile approach -- not your typical roadside crag with cleaned rock and nice landings. The bouldering seemed a bit sketch so we instead decided to scramble up the scree to the left of the tower. It was steep and some of the rocks were loose so it took some time. The views from above were fantastic. Once in the shade the rock was very cold -- and so were we -- so we turned around to get back to camp before sunset.

Back at camp we put on another layer and started dinner. We sat by the fire for a while before turning in. The night was very cold and I don't think any of us slept very well. In the morning we discovered ice and frost on the tents (and everything else of course). [Mental note: camping at nearly 11,000 ft in September is cold. Don't repeat.]


We had breakfast, packed up camp, and hit the trail a little after 8am. The hike back had a fast pace to keep us warm; by 11am we were back on the bridge by the trailhead. Very successful first backpacking trip for us -- many thanks to Ryan for suggesting this area!

Summary: 0 bears, 0 people (except a few by the trailhead), 0 ^oC, 1 small snake, 2 blue grouse, 1 million grasshoppers, lots of horse poo, and 2 wolverine poos (maybe). See all pics. See route on Google Maps.

Day 3 of the long weekend

Dan started the day with an early-morning bike ride. Matt came up from Colo. Springs around 9am for a day of climbing. We tried going to the Boulderado (again) but ended up at Coney Island instead. Found a sport route that looked like it would go and each had a few turns climbing it. Later we found out the route was called Runaway. A website graded it 5.8 but we only did the lower part which was probably 5.7. It didn't look like there'd be any other routes for us on this rock, so we set out to find the real Boulderado. It's a popular crag but there was one route open for us, and it was a good one (Idle Hands, 5.6). We each got a few runs up it before the clouds turned sour. It may not have rained but the sky sure didn't look good! Overall a good day of climbing. (More pics)

There was a neat caterpillar at Coney Island. In the spring it will become a silkworm moth.