Ice Cave Sunrise

There is so much good ice along the north shore of Lake Superior right now, I'm sort of wishing I didn't have a day job so I could spend all day every day exploring and photographing the ice! This is another shot from yesterday morning's sunrise near Cascade River State Park. This cave wasn't very big. I basically crawled into it head first then turned on my side to make photographs of the sun rising behind the icicles. I sure love the color of the ice as the sun illuminated it from behind. What a beautiful sight!

There Are Fifty States But There Should Be Fifty-One by Lynn Thorp

In honor of my big birthday, here are 50 thank-you notes and random thoughts about Planet DC and its satellites:

1. I feel like I am really home in DC when I am at Ben’s Chili Bowl.
2. When we were buying our house in Mt. Rainier, we were also spending every night protesting the first Gulf War at the White House, so 2 year old Nicole thought we were buying the White House.
3. May 1993 – got arrested right there while handcuffed to Martin Sheen. Before he was President.
4. The pedestrian thing is okay, but I miss driving by the White House.
5. If it weren’t for one of DC’s homegrown industries, there would be no West Wing- television as an art form.
6. Thank you for MacArthur Boulevard.
7. Thank you for Fletcher’s Boat House.
8. I could drive MacArthur Boulevard with my eyes closed.
9. Newcomers can’t really understand what the Boulevard was like 30 years ago. But the spirits are very loud if you listen for them.
10. The squatters just can’t get the Marion Barry thing.
11. The Awakening belongs to DC, but at least my adopted county has it.
12. I can’t find anybody who remembers Hamilton Arms in Georgetown, but I am 95% sure it’s not a Brigadoon-type thing that I imagined.
13. The first time U2 came here they opened for the Slickee Boys. Three months later they were famous, and Slickees opened for them.
14. The first time the Clash played here, opening act Bo Didley asked me to introduce him to some girls.
15. Thank you for Garrett’s.
16. Thank you for DC rock and roll.
17. Thank you for The Raven.
18. In the days of DC Space, people were scared to go down to what is now the Gallery Place “whatever it is.”
19. Thank you for Lyn1.
20. Lots of people don’t know that the guy who wrote the piano solo for Layla is a DC guy who was in Nils Lofgren’s first band, even before Grin, and he has a bit of a sordid history. Look it up.
21. You could learn all you need to know about life at the People’s Drug Store lunch counters.
22. Sitting in DuPont circle with a coffee and a book is one of my favorite things.
23. I was taught to drive on the Beltway because there was so little traffic on it.
24. Because they grew up around here, my kids don’t see color, and they can spot b.s. a mile away.
25. Thievery Corporation could only come from DC.
26. The sign at the Wisconsin Ave. Little Tavern said “Buy ‘em [chunk of sign busted off] the Bag.”
27. My cat Kyoko and I used to share a roast beef sandwich across the street at the Georgetown Roy Rogers on pay day.
28. My sister Maude built Washington Harbor.
29. One year the Bullets won the championship, and the Kinks played. ( I thought the hollering and hoopla in the streets was for the Kinks.)
30. Sky King was jealous of me because he wanted my old friend Dan all to himself.
31. Thank you for all the local bands and the guitar heroes.
32. The best 4th of July fireworks are the ones rescheduled due to storms. Rare but priceless.
33. Piggy really did jump off Key Bridge and survive it.
34. Mom and her women friends lived above Duke Ziebert’s downtown in the last year of WWII. They would go on group dates with the few men left in town, and someone would stay behind to pocket the excessive tip for spending money for the week.
35. During WWII many women who were liberated ahead of their time came to DC and did all the jobs usually reserved for men, most of who were off in the military. These became some of our local and national heroes and paved the way.
36. My mom had an apartment at 14th and Harvard in the late 1940’s. Dad lived his teenage years at 16th and Harvard. My parents lived together at 18th and Kalorama in the 50s. They lived in McLean next to Robert Kennedy’s estate in the late 50s.
37. Thanks from a grateful nation for Chuck Brown.
38. If Congress would stop meddling with DC, it would have more enlightened laws than many.
39. My friend Dan never stopped considering NJ his home, but he loved DC as much as any native.
40. Half smokes are our thing.
41. Streets that are called “Roads” are the old farm routes used to deliver food to various parts of the area. MacArthur Blvd. was Conduit Road. There are still Canal Road, Loughboro Road, etc.
42. Baltimore has Mencken but we have Pelecanos.
43. Bistro du Coin is not a bad thing to inhabit the space of Food for Thought, karma-wise.
    
44. Pizza and bagels are a shortcoming, I have to admit.
45. It’s too bad you can’t sleep on the beach in Dewey anymore.
46. Someone must have a photo of the old House of Wig on F Street that I can buy.
47. Adams Morgan on weekend nights is like Time Square on New Year’s Eve. Rather frightening, not my thing but worth trying out now and then.
48. The hullaballoo over snow days is a deliberate way to get a mental health day. Don’t knock it, join it.
49. Until there was widespread AC, tons of people slept in West Potomac Park.
50. Flying into National (don’t call it the other name), is awesome every single time.
51. NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. THE TIME IS COMING.

Conditions outlook...?

This morning I went out to check the state of ice here in SWPA. As expected everything that had been climbable now wasn't. All the wonderful ice from the last cold snap fell and everything currently on the wall is new build over the last 48 hrs. The current local forecast is for temps to be below freezing through Monday, then a warm up is predicted through the long term thereafter. Here's a few photos from today.

Gun Club, Pistol Whipped Wall - devastated

Gun Club, Main Wall - devastated

SCII, Overview - Very wet and devastated

SCII, Beast and Grand Central Walls - devastated and rebuilding

Ohiopyle State Park, Youghiogheny River - Up and roaring

Although I didn't take any photos, Meadow Run climbing areas have been wiped out as well, but are very quickly rebuilding. With a few cold days ahead, Monday should prove to be the best day to hit the local ice. Irishtown might have some formations up by then as well. I'd forget Krahlick, Confluence, Layton Falls or Stewarton. Happy hunting if looking for local, climbable ice this weekend... With a miracle the forecast for warm will change to cold and produce epic conditions! Unlikely....but possible

Sometimes It Doesn't Seem Like it's Worth the Effort

But you'll never know unless you try!



Monday, August 8th - - After leaving the Keweenaw Peninsula, I headed south (really, the only direction I could go from there!) and, after a few hours, entered Wisconsin. My sojourn in Pure Michigan had come to an end. A beautiful place, but honestly, I was tired of the humidity - I was hot and sticky during the day and cold and clammy at night! Some place with a little less humidity was in my forecast.



My stay in Wisconsin would be brief – one night and parts of two days traveling across the uppermost tip and along the shoreline of Lake Superior. A quick check of the map and I saw that Copper Falls State Park was just a few miles across the Wisconsin state line, southwest of the town of Ironwood. I arrived at Copper Falls early in the afternoon and secured a very nice campsite.



I had gotten some information about trails when I checked in and the lady at the desk told me about two popular hikes. One of the hikes was to an observation tower. Now, she didn't explicitly state that there was a nice view but it was somewhat implied. You know, it's an observation tower so there “has” to be a good view. She did state that there was a flight of stairs with a few steps involved along the trail as well as at the tower itself. My knees do much better on the way up stairs than they do on the way down, but, I thought I could handle what she described. After a short walk along a relatively smooth trail, uphill, I came to this:





It didn't look so bad. Wide steps and each one wasn't very high. Onward I went. This is the view looking down from the top.





And this is what awaited around the bend...





At the top of that stairway was more of the uphill path. And then, this:





I figured, what the heck, I'm there. Might as well go for it. And this is what I saw from the top of the observation tower.





And this is the view in another direction... I think you get the idea!





I'm sure that in the fall this would be absolutely gorgeous. Maybe even in the winter or the spring when there are no leaves on the trees. Maybe then you could actually see the surrounding countryside. But in the summer? Not so much.



Not all walks or hikes are going to give you spectacular views. But each one does give you an appreciation for nature and this amazing world in which we live. It's not the destination that matters, but the journey itself, and what happens along the way. So I tell myself when these things happen, which thankfully, hasn't been too often.



I took it slow and easy on the way down. Yeah, the knees were hurting some by the time I got back to the bottom. But once back on level ground the pain eased up and I continued on to another little hike.

Seminole Canyon State Park

After leaving Padre Island, I headed west on Texas Route 44 connecting to U.S 83 west of Encinal. From there it was north to Uvalde, which has a very nice public library with excellent wifi, where I was able to schedule those posts on Padre Island. The next morning it was west on U.S. 90 with Big Bend National Park as the next destination. I was tempted to stop at one of the camping areas in the Amistad National Recreation Area just west of Del Rio but the campgrounds I saw weren't all that appealing so I continued on a little ways to Seminole Canyon State Park near Comstock.

The campground was on the top of a very large hill. The sites were quite nice, with a covered picnic table, which provided some protection from the sun but none whatsoever from the wind!

Arriving at Seminole Canyon in the early evening of February 19th, it was too late in the day to hike the trail to the canyon, a six mile roundtrip, but it wasn't too late to catch a wonderful sunset!

The North Rim

Early on the morning of May 31st I headed south from Kanab, Utah to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon arriving there less than two hours later. I also gained an hour of time because Arizona is the only state in the lower 48 that does not change to Daylight Savings Time.

The first hour of the drive was through the desert but as you gain elevation, the terrain changes to one of high meadows and forests of tall pine trees with aspen mixed in. It was so pretty and so different from the approach to the South Rim!

My first stop was the campground. Once again, at the registration station the “Campground Full” sign was posted and once again I asked and once again I got lucky! I could have one of the few available sites for the night. After putting my “tag” on the site post I went to the visitors center then went for a walk along the Bright Angel Point Trail (less than half a mile in length) and a portion of the adjoining Transept Trail, which takes you to the campground. I didn't take many pictures because of the lighting conditions (southerly sun and hazy blue skies).

Looking towards the South Rim. This was taken later in the evening on my second walk along the Bright Angel Point Trail.

That afternoon, I drove along the scenic road to Point Imperial, Vista Encantada, and Cape Royal. It was a beautiful drive. I stopped at all the view points and walked the short trails. Unlike the South Rim, there were very few people. Even though the campground was full and the Lodge had no vacancies, the crowds of the South Rim were nonexistent.

Along the Point Imperial Trail. Elevation 8803 feet. The highest point on the North Rim. On a clear day you can see the Vermillion Cliffs off in distance to the northeast.

Along the Cape Royal Trail.

The view from Cape Royal. Freya Peak is in the foreground with a little bit of the Colorado River in the distance off to the left. Taken with the 7x zoom fully extended. Apparently (according to a sign at Cape Royal) this is the only place on the North Rim where the Colorado River can be seen. At this point the river is 70 miles below Lees Ferry - the site from which all points on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon are measured.

Fashion Friday. Maximum Style.

Remember Al ? He's been hanging around a bit. Sometimes he needs encouragement. Frey offers a few words.Separation Anxiety starts at the little hobbit hole, so I crawled in for a fresh perspective.Al clowned it up of course.







Do you like either of these shots? Or does the perspective screw with you too much?I like both, but I couldn't decide which works better.You decide. Post a comment. Be firm, but kind.









I could look at Al all day, but over at our sister site Red Phoenix Style the girls have styled up another runway show. This time for the first anniversary ofBrisbane's most wanted hairPanic Hair.jjobrienclimbing sent Sandra Phoenix along to bring back the look.





So much hair, so much colour.All the fabulous jewels are available online from Red Phoenix Emporium or in store at The Tribune.





Climbers, you can celebrate with me as my first jewellery design for Red Phoenix, the Omiyagiwas ordered by an unknowncustomer in New York. Yay for international jewellery sales!





What? You want more Al? OK just one more.



Welcome to our newest follower Bjorn Lyngwa

How do you put that slash through the "o" ?

Lightning Warning

There were signs warning that lighting up on the Crest could and is very dangerous. They warned that it is advisable to leave when there is lightning. But there was none that day while we were there.

I/O Merino and jjobrienclimbing&style

Climbers, you know I love wool. So I felt an instant affiliation when I got the chance to shoot some promos for South Aussie company I/O Merino.

This is the first of several posts we'll be doing for io. It's good looking gear, and the Principal Style Editors at jjobrienclimbing&style are psyched to be involved.




Look out for the mens collection too.











Remember my Strictly No Synthetics tour of Tibet and Everest base?

Silk, Cashmere and Merino. Love the stuff.








The promotional photographic team at jjobrienclimbing&style, after some deliberation, decided the best approach for this job was to put one of theses merino tops on an awesome climber, get her on a classic steep route, put her through her paces, and take a sheepload of photos. And they did.













Issy cranking hard on a hot 35 degree October day. Climber and top still working at peak performance.











Issy twists and stretches, like only she can, but that merino keeps up with every move.

Neither climbing nor style was ever in danger of compromise.









"The I/O Sport Crop Top is a snug sports bra that wil feel luxurious against your skin whilst keeping your chest warm. It is designed with flat seams and no scratch tags so that it will hug your body and feel fantastic all day". $39.95





Stop press: Justfor being loyal and stylishfollowers of jjobrienclimbing, you can use the discount code iom30 and get 30% off when shopping online. Click the icon to go to the store.










Turns out wool is good for climbing. Who knew?










Look out for the logo. jjobrienclimbing endorses it. You should too.






& jjobrienclimbing

Snowshoeing Reservation River

It seems the flurry of snow storms that we were getting throughout December have stopped. The temps have dropped a little bit but are still quite tolerable. In fact, its perfect weather for snowshoeing! Over the past couple of days I've been snowshoeing along Reservation River, which runs nearly parallel to the western boundary of the Grand Portage Reservation. Its not a very big river valley, but is nonetheless very beautiful and is a great place to spend some time exploring.




One of the neat things about this area is that its littered with game trails on both sides of the river. One can scarcely walk more than 100 feet without a deer or rabbit trail crossing your path. The chickadees and woodpeckers also seem to love the Reservation River valley. I made a path that follows the eastern bank of the river for a while, then drops down into the valley and goes out onto the river itself. The trail then follows right on top of the river for a ways before climbing back up the hill onto the ridge on the eastern bank and looping back around to the first part of the trail. Its great fun and one of my favorite places to snowshoe!

Jemez Pueblo

A photo of the visitors center, and one of the places where the Jemez Indians sometimes sell fry bread that they bake on the spot.

And it was all yellow

My favorite color may well be yellow. I try to tell myself that it is a turquoise-ish shade of blue, but when I step back and look at the colors that dominate my home, it seems to be a golden hue. I think that I once read that yellow is predominately the favorite color of people with mental issues.....so I have been reluctant to adopt it as my own!

But I'm accepting it for now! This first weekend of spring was a weekend of bright, sunlit yellow and I am happy.

The equinox began with 30 stems of daffodils which I bought for a mere $5. Possibly the best $5 I have ever spent.
My golden-themed weekend continued during a kayaking excursion on the Wambaw River Saturday when a Sulfur butterfly landed on my hand. It was a very "Snow White" moment.
Ahhhhhh, Spring. Thank you for returning. I was worried you had abandoned us.