Monkey Face -Pioneer Route - 11/9/2008

My buddy Chris was up this past weekend, and we took advantage of a late season weather window to cruise up the "Pioneer Route" on Monkey Face. All in all the climb went smoothly in three pitches. Chris lead the bolt ladder pitch, which was sweet revenge for him with some "upgraded" (inside joke) daisy chains. I got the panic point pitch, which is a few moves of sweet overhanging 5.7 with a LOT of air under your feet. We didn't get any pictures of the free moves, but a few of the others came out good! :)


The day's objective


Chris leading up the bolt ladder... The rope on the left gives a feel for how overhanging the route is.


Hanging out in the Monkey's mouth


Chris on top


Me on top


Another unfinished one ticked off the list


The 180ish' freehanging rappel... Possibly the neatest part of the trip


Looking back on the hike out

Jeff Park, a nice birthday trip! :) 10/11/2008

Mel and I hiked into the Jefferson Park wilderness this weekend to celebrate my birthday... The mountain had a fresh shot of snow (first of the year) and although that made for cold and wet feet, the color and lighting on Saturday was awesome. Anyway, I just wanted to warn you, if you don't like "reflection" photos, you should stop reading now!

Redwoods and Coast - 9/20/2008

Mel and I decided to explore the N. California Coast Redwoods region this past weekend. Well, it was a lot of driving for just two days (but hey, isn't that the blog point?), but it was worth it to explore this area. The redwoods are awesome, and we could have probably spent a lot longer just hiking around in the miles of intact groves. The beach deserved a lot of attention though... Northern California and Southern Oregon beaches are among the most amazing that I've come across... Talk about rugged!



Makes you feel small


Here's one of the bigger ones we came across...


Can you spot the ditch that's actually registered as a historic site?


Hahahahahahahaaaa


Fern Canyon


Whoa... Elk at the beach. What a neat idea!


Some hippies had commandeered a Weyerhaeuser crew bus and defaced it with a "Stumps Don't Lie" sticker... Lame, but par for the course in Arcata!


"Do I have something in my hair?"


Sweet Nissan ad


Lost Rocks region of N. California... Hmmm... How do we get down?


Mel, looking cleaner than usual for day 3 of these trips.


D-d-d- double vision! :)


Back in Oregon... This place was sweet.


Again


Again!


Who could resist some beach bouldering in this setting!


Again


Again


Again


Cocktail anyone?


Arch Rock... Cool.

Camping on the Willamette - 9/14/2008

Wanted to throw up a couple pictures from a trip Mel, Amy, Aaron and I took down the Willamette river here in Oregon. It was a pretty fun trip complete with full moon paddling, a couple near flips in the dark (Rosco!), camping, and a pound of bacon.


Camping on a little sandbar/island


Chillin!


Just when you thought our dog couldn't get any cuter...