Mineral Wells State Park, Tx

Next stop was Mineral Wells Lake State Park.  Another hidden gem.

They had some nice hiking trails around the edge of the lake and a small climbing area in Penitentiary Hollow.

This rock was very crumbly, as a result there are no bolts for sport route nor places that will hold trad gear.  They set anchors along the top of the crag into solid rock, this was typically 7-10 feet back from the edge  of the climb.  To keep from wearing our rope out we set web across the ground and over the edge. 

The routes are short because they run along this small canyon.

One of the areas is a split off of the rest and requires that you climb un-belayed to the top to set the top rope.  Barbara rises to the challenge then rappels down.

I even get a couple of climbs along with another species who hangs around on the rock.

 

We enjoyed our short stay here.

 



Lake Mackenzie Park, Texas

Having dawdled while helping Joseph move we are running out of time so are taking a little more direct route than originally planned to Austin.  One of the things we enjoy about this life style is the flexibility we have in choosing our routes.

So Rider-Planet .com listed this little area as an organized OHV place.  It is run by the local water authority.  It made a nice en-route stop. 

We crossed our very first 13% grade hill.  I was pushing the temps in both the transmission and the engine when we got to the top, it was only a mile long. 

The lake was down to 35% of capacity.  There was a sign banning the towing of persons behind a boat, indefinitely. Because of the lack of use in the last couple of years they have not had the revenue to keep the place up, as a result it is a little long in the tooth, as it were. But it was still a nice place to camp and ride motorcycles.

One of the nicer things they did here was a silhouette tribute to the Cowboy.  This is particularly nice at sunset.  So I parked one of our iron horses next to the monument.

I had a ripping good time on the trails, Barbara found them somewhat challenging.  She gave me a kitchen pass to go play with my toys by myself, I took advantage of it. Only bad part was cutting it a little too close to a prickly pear cactus and having to remove a half dozen thorns from my shins. 

Barbara did pony up and rode several of the trails, but she wasn't as thrilled with it as I was. .

Sandia Park, NM

Just outside of Albuquerque, NM is Sandia Mountain,  10,000+ feet. It is next to the Sandia Indian Reservation and Casino.  We drove up to Sandia Park, a little park at the top of the mountain that has some hiking trails. 

Once you get on top you can look down over the city of Albuquerque.

From the Sandia Casino you can ride a tram to the top of the mountain and go to their restaurant or hike on the trails.

As we travel around we often see the works of the CCC.  Here is a cabin that has stood for over 70 years in a very inhospitable place. It has a concrete ceiling if you want to climb up for a better view.

It was chilly but the puppies enjoyed the hike anyway. 

Looking Glass, Moab, Utah

We headed south of Moab to the Looking Glass Rock.  This climb was a 3 pitch sport climb followed by a 150' rappel. 

In the guide book it says to take an ascender with you in case you fall off of the route, sheer drop on both sides with no hand holds.  A fall of this route, even though it is an easy climb, would be a challenge in self rescue. 

I led the first pitch, the hardest part was the first ten feet, after that an easy scramble. Barbara followed then led the second pitch.

The only hard part was on the second pitch, there was about ten feet of absolutely smooth sandstone, no holds at all, it had loose sand on it, make it a little slick.  This was scary because you only have smearing technique to keep you on the rock 125' from the floor.  Of course it was encouraging when a group of twenty something's came racing by us just scrambled on up.

Not knowing what the anchors would like I carried plenty of inexpensive gear that we could leave behind.  It turns out someone had set up an excellent set of rappel chains, so it was an easy set up.  Here is Barbara gearing up for the Rappel.

It was my knots so I took the first rappel hoping to get some really good shots of Barbara as she came down, but she forgot her auto block, a little rope that would keep her from a runway rappel should she slip.  As a result I set up a fireman's belay at the base of the rope. Wasn't necessary, but it is safer.  So I only get underneath shots which doesn't really capture the size of this rappel.

Hurrah Pass, Moab, Utah

After leaving Salt Lake City and helping Joseph get moved in we started towards Texas and our winter job.  First stop was Moab, we are beginning to think that we really like this place, plenty of motorcycle riding and rock climbing, not to mention white water rafting the Colorado River. 

Today's little adventure was a motorcycle ride through Chicken Corners to Hurrah Pass. It is chilly and threating rain. 

At this junction I nearly took Barbara down the Kane Creek trail.  It is rated very difficult, would not have been a pretty picture, fortunately we looked again at the signs and headed up the correct way.

We just love the vistas of this area.

We finally make the pass.

And then of course we have to take a group picture.

Joseph moves to Seattle

Joseph got a huge promotion with Microsoft, so he moved from Orlando, Florida to Seattle, Washington.  He asked that I give him a hand in setting up his new apartment.  So we met up in Salt Lake City, Utah and then drove from there.  Mocha and Bandit helped plan the trip.

He chose an apartment in the Riverpark community.  Kind of a neat place, has lots of restaurants nearby and a grocery store within a block.

It's a pretty building.

It is a one bedroom apartment, split level design with a huge loft.  The bedroom was small, so he turned the loft into a bedroom (great view out the big windows) and turned the bedroom into a cave for guests.  Here is Joseph in the kitchen, taken from the loft.

There is a pretty little park on the back side of the property that connects to hundreds of miles of bike trails in the area.

We arrived right as the fall leaves were changing.

His move money had enough in it so he could purchase a 3-D TV, so we just had to give it a try.

He is 95% settled in so we rode over to his new workplace.  Microsoft, Joseph has arrived.

Rock Canyon - Provo, UT

While in the Salt Lake City/Provo area we did a little climbing.  We had been in this area last time we came through here so very comfortable going back. 

After doing a couple of short routes we decided to do an all day 3 pitch climb.  5.3, 5.5, 5.7. 

The fist pitch was a traditional climb, no anchors, but it is an easy 5.3 climb.  Barbara led this route and managed to set two Camelot's as protection.  At the top she found a nice anchor to set a top rope belay for me to climb it.

The second pitch was a bit trickier at 5.5, however it was a sport route with bolts set pretty close together.  This route was designed as a lead climber instruction route. 

Barbara led. She again set up a belay from the anchors on top.  Something we are fairly new at. She sets a really nice anchor and looks pretty pleased with herself.  We do need to work on our rope management.

The third pitch was a 5.7 sport, however there was an easy 5.3 up the side so you set a top rope anchor.  Barbara feeling pretty good about todays climbing started up.

When she got to the top she found "Open Cold Shut" anchors.  We are pretty nervous about these things.  We have a couple of quick draws with small ends that fit well over the anchors, this alleviates the problem of the rope slipping/flipping off while on the climb or rappelling.

Barbara was having trouble getting the quick draws set, so I scrambled up and completed the set.  We rapped down, Barbara made the climb I wasn't feeling it. 

To get home we rapped down the second pitch and then chose a better set of rappel anchors on a different route.  The question of the days was: "Is the rope long enough to reach the bottom?"  Didn't know for sure because we didn't climb up the route we were descending.  So Barbara simply leans over the edge and asks the climbers on the route next to us if our rope was down, it was.  So down we went.

We had so much fun doing this that when Joseph (our son) came through we dragged him up it also.

Kids and there phones....

I was feeling pretty good about the routes from the other day so led. I had the camera on my belt so here is a shot from an anchor.

Already knowing the way makes the route back pretty easy.  Joseph heading home.