New and experienced climbers over 50 # 25

“You can create a new topic if there is more to say”.  Of COURSE there’s more to say! We haven’t heard everything there is to hear about Lori’s tomatoes!!!

Thanks, Carl!

Me and my partner saw a beautiful big rattlesnake yesterday on the dirt road approach to a crag at Castle Rock State Park here in Almo Idaho. He didn't rattle at us, just snaked off in that snakey way into the adjacent sage bush. I've never seen that coloration before - mostly a beautiful tan. Western Diamondback I think. 

New routing yesterday: tall trees, river, birds, grabby textures, a rumbling sky, genuine friends, the good stuff.

Phyl, yeah there's some rattlesnakes, but even more big gopher snakes. And Castle is where we usually see them, although not every trip over. 

Geez, I turn my back for a few days, you people crank it out, and lock the thread, lol!

So I skimmed.

Food, obesity, what shoes to get, dirtbags, crags, some poor fool who loves basalt. That's my local local climbing, columnar basalt, and it is So Hard. Plus bolted ages ago, so it's really difficult for me. Easiest stuff is not beginner (or short old lady) friendly at all.

Going feral?

Yeah, that's me, and Guy, Phyl, and quite a few others can attest to it. I combed my hair this morning. First shot at that project since the 5th. 

COR was a terrifically great trip, even with rather epic weather. First night, very high wind. Pretty much tstorms daily. But, tstorms that dumped deluge rain, and lasted for hours. I'm a western and mountain girl, and I have never seen it like that. The same big system meant rain every day in Boise (and many other places), so the yard is lush, but I'll need to rent goats to get it subdued before I head back to COR in a couple weeks, lol!

City is totally saturated with water. Running water everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Trails a mess, road beat to shit.....

But everyone managed anyway, and quite a bit of climbing got done. The rock is totally fine, no need to wait for dry, which is almost instantly anyway. Most of us did get soaked through and/or pummeled with hail trying to hustle back out though. 

For myself?

It was a wonderful, people filled trip. Just amazing. Meeting some of you I have wanted to meet for years now, meeting up again with people I met years ago....and all the friendships in between. It really was amazing the number of climbers with histories who were in the park. MPers were only part of that. Other big meetups of people, plus a whole bunch of FA peeps too. My guestimate is about 8,000 years of experience there, lol!

Maybe more later. We left a day early, since everything was momentarily dry (mostly). It really sucks breaking down and packing wet stuff.

But, I've not pulled anything at all out of the car yet. Coffee was first (barrista visit), and ran through the car wash. Silver car was entirely brown, no discernable license plate, etc. 

The back to real world list is long. And tedious. And still surreal. It's always surreal, coming back from COR. It isn't wilderness at all, but so far removed from cityness. I bask there, in the quiet. In the setting. In the weather. The small town I love dearly and it's people. The annual crop of kittens at the store (5 this year). 

But Boise is home too. And my little kitten was soooo happy I showed up again!

She's an old lady too, now. 14ish at the least, dunno how old for real. We are both finally enjoying a life we never had earlier, against all odds. 

And are very grateful.

Best, Helen

Edit to add, and Carl, a guy from Australia, too! He only had 2 days, wished he had more once he realized what COR was. But he hit some classic stuff. Touring all the parks and climbing too. 

I'm so glad you all had a good time!  Helen, I hope you also have pictures.?  How great that you were able to meet and connect with climbers from everywhere.  Will await further stories and pictures after you have had more coffee and a little time to regroup.    

I woke up happy this morning.  I mean, just happy head to toe.     I was out roaming yesterday in a nearly empty Park.  Those people who were here all had their maps out, scratching their heads, trying to figure out where to go/hike.  Normally I would help out.  I just wanted to hike and be left alone. 

I'm enjoying all the posts about what makes climbing fun and an adventure for so many here.  I do love camping.  I keep thinking I should head back up North to be with my family and go climb in Truckee.  Or SugarLoaf.  I just don't want to.  When Dallas opined that there are two kinds of people--nomads and castle builders--I was certain I was the nomad.  But what I've discovered is I'm a castle builder... I like wandering in my own back yard.  Also, I've been fixated on climbing, pure and simple.  I don't want to have to travel to climb.  

I've been thinking about Freeblast (6th pitch).  Has  anyone here climbed that slab pitch in Yosemite?  What do we have here in Josh that could be a similar climbing experience (minus the height)? I think I know of one piece of rock that might work --  White Room on Tumbling Rainbow.  I haven't gotten close enough to see if it's truly as solid and smooth as it appears.  I know Freeblast is an 11+.  White Room is 9+.  That's ok.  Does Joshua Tree have a Freeeblast-lite? 

All the talk about crumbly granite here... I'm just amazed at how different all these formations are.  LIttle Hunk, (Zzzzz) has slick, slippery and solid granite. imo.  King Dome is totally different climbing. RFYL is perfect rock. Turtle Rock is my favorite granite.      

Like that Aerosmith song "I don't want to miss a thing".  I like to go sit on the end of the buttress of Bikini Whale... just to 'be'.  It's a great thinking perch.

Tony is doing his own rewilding in Chicago and I just have to let him run free.  I feel guilty that I have not insisted he bring a muscle car to park in our driveway.  I know he plans to have 'real' Chicago pizza and a 'real' hotdog, or dozen.  He has explained to me many times that a real hotdog never has ketchup, they are small, and have precise toppings.  Never saukraut. Only yellow mustard, onions, relish. In addition, the ones he likes are in a poppy seed bun.  Gene and Jude's is the place to get these.

One of my climbing partners was certain that I was in danger, meeting Tony 'on the internet' and heading out to physically meet him 4 years ago (yesterday!).  She thought he likely was a serial killer.  She, and my family, were genuinely concerned for my safety.  (His family was concerned for his sanity. A California girl?  Kale? Rock Climbing?)  I talked to my friend recently, and she was still pretty sure he was just waiting for the opportunity to kill me.   "He's just playing his long game."    

Tomatoes.

 I was able to lead the green roof route in the gym (that I posted a video of a week or so ago) again. This time it was super easy, had energy for three chin-ups un the finishing jugs. I was very confident and planned it well. I was thinking as I drove to work ‘there is no reason not to lead it’. I’ve been listening to The Vertical Mind audio book and considering illogical and logical fears.
Also made great progress on a grade 23 (5.11d). Feeling quite strong at the moment.

Winter solstice next Wednesday, which gives me hope that I’ll make it through winter without self harming.  

Good work Carl.

To all the Vegans and Vegetarians out there!  Thanks in advance.

How do you make sure you get enough Vitamin B12 plus Omega-3 and Omege-6 fatty acids from your diet?
I am trying to figure out non seafood sources for B12 and Omega-3 in particular. I also like to consider alternatives to eggs, walnuts, almonds, and peanuts.
For variety and when I am in the company of family members who have high seafood allergy, iodine in particular. My diet mostly consist of foods high in unsaturated fatty oils, lots of dark leafy greens, and fiber :) 

I eat liver once in a while but I almost always insist on preapring it myself. For prepared liveer, I really like liver pate and foie gras but it must be at least 5 years since I last had either.

S. Neohwrote:

To all the Vegans and Vegetarians out there!  Thanks in advance.

How do you make sure you get enough Vitamin B12 plus Omega-3 and Omege-6 fatty acids from your diet?
I am trying to figure out non seafood sources for B12 and Omega-3 in particular. I also like to consider alternatives to eggs, walnuts, almonds, and peanuts.

For Omega-6 and Omega-3: Hemp, flax, chia and salba.

Vitamin B12: Miso, nutritional yeast, chlorella, kombucha.

I’ve found Brendan Brazier’s “Thrive” series of books indispensable in figuring out a high energy plant-based diet. Lots of information and some great recipes as well. His company, Vega, has a good Omega oil blend, but you can make this yourself.

I keep saying “how many do you think I can do?” in a slightly confrontational, competitive way rather than “good girl, well done” which is what grandfathers are supposed to say..

So far, I’m winning  

It's just a matter of time, Carl. Grandkids are the best!

This is the first year I haven't planted a vegetable garden, I am very sad. 

I'm not sad about the little over 18,000 miles of road tripping in the last 10 months.

2nd year for no garden. last year I moved and this year I am too busy getting settled in. 

What’s everyone doing today? I’m still looking forward to some reports on COR.

I saw that I had put a route called compassion of elephants 10c on my to do list years ago – – I have no idea how it got there. But this morning I thought I’d hike over and see what it’s all about. Easier said than done, I had to scramble through some small boulder fields to figure it out. It looks like my kind of route. I can’t tell if there’s a walk up and I hate to presume that Bob or anyone else wants to lead it just to set it up for me. But I can always feel that out. Kris commented that it could be a Joshua Tree classic.

on the way out I noticed it beautiful rock that looks like it would be fun to climb right up to the tippy top—and there were a few bolts on it, so ill look it up later and see what it is. 

There is still not a single horned worm on my tomato forest, and here’s my theory: that rodent repellent noisemaker that I hooked up to the sunflower cage does not repel rodents but worms don’t like it.   That’s all I got. I have a bumper crop of tomatoes, and it makes no sense.

Tony is gone. He has been reabsorbed into his Italian family and has forgotten me and Joshua Tree. Well, he did call last night, but it must be hard to blend to such different cultures. He decided to pack his visit into two weeks instead of three or four, and he is seeing everybody and eating everything in sight. 

Meanwhile, my best friend Mallory is babysitting me and it’s an incredible time. We’ve been friends since I was 15 and she was 16 when she noticed me sitting in our French class with very dilated eyes and decided she better take care of me that day of school. It was my first LSD trip.  The picture below is of the two of us in 1968 after we spent a week of Easter vacation at Newport Beach. We were seriously trashed and our mothers never asked why we had the sunglasses on. (Mal in the middle next to her very curious little brother and im far right.)

Mal has no desire to see the park or even to leave the La-Z-Boy for a minute. But she loves that I do. She became a schoolteacher in an inner-city school for 30+ years which was a good fit fir her but somewhere more recently became a hard right Republican. I know it’s a conflict for her and I’m just leaving that alone. Something changed, when she wants to tell me about it, she will. 

Post some pictures of you from your favorite decade!
The last playlist we got was from Russ. This morning I’ve been listening to Little Wing and Jeff Beck’s Ain’t Superstitious. When Rod Stewart sang the blues, he was magnificent. I don’t know what happened that decided disco was the way to go but Do Ya Think I’m Sexy  is most certainly not on my playlist!

Figuring out Wordle before the 5th line would also help! 

Lori, the routes on that large flake/block are Abstract Roller Disco and Tin God (to the right). Both around 11a and pretty good.

Lori, you didn't specify favorite decade of our life, or favorite decade we lived through, but, either way, my favorite decade will always be today. And still here!

Hornworms aren't always a given. I no longer have them here, because a cat long ago LOVED catching the bigass moths. Sadly, if you have no hornworms, it could be that they got eradicated elsewhere, hopefully not by something/someone who wiped out all caterpillars. Bt at least is only what visits that particular plant. I always just put on a glove and handpicked the fat bastards, but I also have a canal over the fence and I enjoyed launching them out into space back there. 

You will be a long while for ripe tomatoes. Big boy is a beefsteak type also, so those big ones take a long time. I've got thriving plants too. The killer here has been heat, which kills the pollen. So far so good though!

I have round 2 of trimming and mowing still, post trip. Got the front, the back awaits. So does all the weeding, and, the really big job of thinning the peach tree!

Peah tree. Yikes! I'll start with loppers, and a pruning saw. Then it's pulling off pounds of green peaches.

Front yard tomatoes. Indeterminate ones on the structure, bushy ones just past them. Row of thai chilis in front, flowers, including volunteer sunflower. Weeds too, of course.

Payette tomatoes, a great Idaho bred variety. Even though they're determinate, I've had them still flowering in October! 

The line of backyard tomatoes, in cages. More chilis in front. Other stuff, including virgina creeper and an old grape vine trying to subsume the planet. Way in the background is the rhubarb, planted in 1980ish. It's colossal.

And one of the beds of spuds! They're looking happy this year, but ya never know until it's time to dig, just what you'll get. I always enjoy that!

Best, Helen

Randy, thank you! I appreciate the info. Do you know if the Abstract Roller Disco is bolted?  

So, I think you are/were a movie buff?. Can you share the story behind the name of your route? (Compassion of the Elephants)? And can you tell from my picture if I found the right start? 

My little journey really hit some snags yesterday … there’s a small manzanita forest back there and many boulders—I got pretty cut up thrashing through brush and rocks.  The opening I found looked about right, but I couldn’t be sure.  If I go back to climb it I now know the way. 

Helen, the mystery of the hornworms. We had them last year so I don’t think they’re extinct. I have several theories now: 1) a watched pot… 2) the wind blew them away 3) the rodent repellent noisemakers repelled the worms 4) angels. I favor the tomato-angel theory.   

Yes, I think now is the best time of life. But there was something magical about 1968-71 for me.  It’s coming back now full circle. Rock magic. Psychedelic with muscle.   

——

Sort of an uninteresting sidenote… in my desire to get closer to White Room to be able to see it up close I finally did… it’s not what I thought and probably not worth all the work to set up a toprope. But after exploring Fisticuffs up close I turned around to see that right TR formation.  Is there ANY way to start along the cracks up to and left of White Room and then ease on over to the face of right formation?  I would love to climb that face. Won’t be able to make that leap from TR crack.

Lori Milaswrote:

Randy, thank you! I appreciate the info. Do you know if the Abstract Roller Disco is bolted?  

So, I think you are/were a movie buff?. Can you share the story behind the name of your route? (Compassion of the Elephants)? And can you tell from my picture if I found the right start? 

My little journey really hit some snags yesterday … there’s a small manzanita forest back there and many boulders—I got pretty cut up thrashing through brush and rocks.  The opening I found looked about right, but I couldn’t be sure.  If I go back to climb it I now know the way. 

Lori,

Both Abstract Roller Disco and Tin God are bolted, though they are not "sport" bolted.

It is difficult to tell from your picture whether that is the way up to the base of Compassion of the Elephants, but it looks like where you scramble up to the base. The route name derives from a small book of short stories titled "Tales of a Dalai Lama" by Pierre DeLattre.  Interestingly enough, other short stories in that collection included: "An Eye to the West," "Ten Conversations at Once" and "The Decompensator of Lhasa."  You may recognize these as other climbs in Josh.

Sadly, Maria Cranor, who ended up placing the crux bolt and leading to the top, passed away this year. She was brilliant climber, a true moral force, amazing business person and academic. One of a kind.

1972 September…. With Girl Friend at wedding for HS friend. Never have the bachelor party- that goes to 7am on the same day as the wedding.
Compassion of the Elephants is full value. Best to bring your “A” game. Good luck! 

1980, Garnet Canyon. Pretty good decades.

Randywrote:

Lori,

Both Abstract Roller Disco and Tin God are bolted, though they are not "sport" bolted.

It is difficult to tell from your picture whether that is the way up to the base of Compassion of the Elephants, but it looks like where you scramble up to the base. The route name derives from a small book of short stories titled "Tales of a Dalai Lama" by Pierre DeLattre.  Interestingly enough, other short stories in that collection included: "An Eye to the West," "Ten Conversations at Once" and "The Decompensator of Lhasa."  You may recognize these as other climbs in Josh.

Sadly, Maria Cranor, who ended up placing the crux bolt and leading to the top, passed away this year. She was brilliant climber, a true moral force, amazing business person and academic. One of a kind.

It’s killing me that this information is being lost forever. I know I’ve brought this up before. Maybe I have an unusual tenderness for this place. Maybe I need to accept that it just gets handed off to the next generation to create their own memories. Maybe what’s old is old.

I have asked myself what I am doing here, and whether I have some purpose aside from learning to climb. But I am just so drawn to this place. I have so many questions. So maybe my purpose here is to be a docent. A curator. I have now climbed so many routes all over the park… maybe poorly… but I understand them now. 

I was wondering who Maria Cranor is and had you not mentioned it I would not have no idea. But if she was all that then she’s important. There’s been so many stories here on Mountain project but they’re scattered everywhere.  I really want them in a book. I know that Riverside County did these great interviews, but who the hell is going to go digging and looking for all that on some website?

I know that the older folks left here and love other places better. I know the young folks are spread out all over this country and I think Jeremy is climbing in Europe this summer. But I want to get a hold of Dave Houser before it’s too late and ask him the story of run for your life. I want to know about swept away. I want to hear all about the fights in the parking lot over bolting. I certainly want to know about the Climbing circuit, and when people came and when people left.  I would love to interview the young people who are here, but don’t even know why. They know there’s “something“ this place and they’re just running off that.

Would anyone read such a book? Would anybody wandering into Nomads pull such a book off that shelf? And I know Bob knows how much this place means to me and it’s pretty exciting to suddenly be looking up at the New Deal or realize that the same guy put up integrity and cutting edge– – but now he’s gone. Some of those draws are still hanging off the back side of turtle rock. Does all this just fadeaway oblivion?

It looks like the Compassion of elephants has not been visited in a very, very long time. Maybe that’s why I was a little sad about Good To The Last Drop because it has history and it’s really fun and it pretty much can’t be climbed.  Many parts of this place feel like they are in disrepair. Why not clean them up a bit and re-introduce them to the world?

Sorry for the ramble.