New and experienced climbers over 50 # 25

When I was a kid folks would light a cigarette after a meal. Now everyone pulls out their cell phones. I'm not sure which is more unhealthful.

M Mwrote:

Nick, will you be coming to Acadia or Clifton? The bugs have been manageable even with the major rain. I haven't been climbing much this summer but would totally meet up one day, maybe even for a swim, paddle or a bike.

Wish I knew that you are available. In Acadia now ( actually Ellsworth) with no one to climb with. Heading home tomorrow though. Maybe next time. Would love to climb at Clifton—never been there.

Alan Rubinwrote:

Wish I knew that you are available. In Acadia now ( actually Ellsworth) with no one to climb with. Heading home tomorrow though. Maybe next time. Would love to climb at Clifton—never been there.

South wall at 5pm Al

Post limit edit- next time Al

M Mwrote:

South wall at 5pm Al

Sorry, can’t make it. My wife will be kayaking this afternoon, so I am on dog-sitting duty!!!! After that it will be dinner and getting packed up. Too bad. It never occurred to me to look for possible partners on this thread. Yesterday I went down to Otter to see if there might be anyone to join up with ( something I used to do during past trips 20 years ago) but it was a total zoo crowd scene—guides, camps. I ran away—don’t have the tolerance for such situations any more!!! Had to do something to ‘scratch my climbing itch’, so, odd as it felt, did a brief late session in the new climbing gym in Trenton. I really am becoming a gym rat in my old age!!!!

Thanks for the offer. Maybe next time. We try to come up at least once a year—usually around or soon after Memorial Day. That trip got rained out this year, hence our spontaneous visit now.

wendy weisswrote:

Lori, your friend is a really sad case. I'm not in as close touch with my old friends as I like, but they're all physically or mentally active or both. I have a hard time understanding that level of willful ignorance and cultural isolation. 

Thank you for this, Wendy.  rgold also nailed some finer points.  

Several years ago, after the election battle, and given my own strong feelings about it, I decided I just couldn't live with the idea that half the country (whichever side) was stupid, ignorant.  I couldn't accept that my side was 'right' and the entire other side was 'wrong'. I knew that Fox wasn't the only source of right-leaning info, nor is MSNBC good representation of the Left. (imo)  So I set about talking to my Right-leaning friends, trying to listen, asking questions, without judgment.  I thought I was making progress in understanding.

For instance, on my last trip to Sacramento I got to talk to my daughter-in-law and my youngest daughter... both had pulled their kids out of school and were homeschooling.  The reasons were that they didn't want the schools taking over the teaching of morality, history, vaccines etc. to their young children.  These two women couldn't be more different politically, but they both had the same feelings about what their kids were being taught in school... so much so that they decided to do it on their own.  

I got more education when I visited our local bookstore, Hey There, and met some militant women who wanted to school me in being a victim.  There was a row of books for every kind of personal grievance--sexual abuse, sexual predation, gender politics, employer encroachment... and I thought, shit... this is such a bummer.  (The store appears to have changed owners and vibe.)  I just wanted a trash novel to keep me entertained for awhile. My real intro to 'wokeness'.  

Jeep Guy helped me find some middle ground.  

So... all along I've been saying "It must be me, not you..." that has the problem.  I'm just not listening hard enough.  And I know there is credible Conservative thought... or was.  William Buckley, Barry Goldwater... heck, even Paul Ryan had a strong philosophical belief system, he grew up reading Ayn Rand, and that was how he voted and campaigned.  The guy was no slouch.  

But maybe in many cases there is no 'there' there.  Maybe this is 'willful ignorance and cultural isolation'.  That is the simpler answer.  

I had another beautiful morning out hiking.  I keep looking at a wall off to the right when I'm hiking up the Mary Worth Buttress.  I have not found the way to get close to it, so, only from a distance it looks like it could be a wonderful climb. 

 

These are incredible summer days here... cool in the morning, wide open places to roam.  I so enjoyed a morning out with Bob a few days ago, climbing Buckets to Burbank and a neighboring route. I love these nearly vertical walls with all kinds of features, easy movement, still a challenge.  

Lori:  Nihilism is your friend.

Randy had a biking photo that had a Datura plant in it.  Since I recently mentioned both J-Tree and KY, and we have this Datura in our yard to remind me of both (in KY it is know as jimson weed), I figured I would post a photo of mine.

Tim Schafstallwrote:

Randy had a biking photo that had a Datura plant in it.  Since I recently mentioned both J-Tree and KY, and we have this Datura in our yard to remind me of both (in KY it is know as jimson weed), I figured I would post a photo of mine.

We do have a lot of this beautiful flower here in J Tree... but I understand the high is not great.  Let it just be decorative. :-)  

Two years ago during COVID I got a very large basal skin cancer on the end of my nose, and because of the restrictions I could not see a Dermatologist.  I had heard of an all-natural remedy for basal and squamous cancers called Curaderm.  I decided to give it a try... 8 weeks, 2 x day, covered with tape.  It got worse and uglier before it got better... but when it finally fell off, it healed up totally.  My Dermatologist was really astonished when we finally met in person.  So... I'm now treating one on the back of my leg.  If it doesn't clear up quickly, I'll let the Dermatologist do his/her thing.  But it worked so well on the facial cancer.  This is just a heads up for anyone who is prone to skin cancers and would like to try something less invasive first.  

Lastly... neither here nor there... I'll be going back up to Sacramento soon and spending time at Folsom Lake.  That got me to recalling this thing that washed up on shore, I could never figure out what it was.  Actually... for a week or two there were many.  I saw them for several years, so maybe this year too!  

Not a jelly fish.  Fresh water lake.  Squishy.  One friend's best guess was 'discarded breast implants'.      I'm sure Russ will know. 

I brought one home and put it in a bowl.  I thought maybe it would crawl out... but nope. 

Lori Milaswrote:

Not a jelly fish.  Fresh water lake.  Squishy.  One friend's best guess was 'discarded breast implants'.      I'm sure Russ will know. 

I brought one home and put it in a bowl.  I thought maybe it would crawl out... but nope. 

Some hippy dropped their kombucha start.  

Lori Milaswrote:

We do have a lot of this beautiful flower here in J Tree... but I understand the high is not great.  Let it just be decorative. :-)  

Two years ago during COVID I got a very large basal skin cancer on the end of my nose, and because of the restrictions I could not see a Dermatologist.  I had heard of an all-natural remedy for basal and squamous cancers called Curaderm.  I decided to give it a try... 8 weeks, 2 x day, covered with tape.  It got worse and uglier before it got better... but when it finally fell off, it healed up totally.  My Dermatologist was really astonished when we finally met in person.  So... I'm now treating one on the back of my leg.  If it doesn't clear up quickly, I'll let the Dermatologist do his/her thing.  But it worked so well on the facial cancer.  This is just a heads up for anyone who is prone to skin cancers and would like to try something less invasive first.  

Lastly... neither here nor there... I'll be going back up to Sacramento soon and spending time at Folsom Lake.  That got me to recalling this thing that washed up on shore, I could never figure out what it was.  Actually... for a week or two there were many.  I saw them for several years, so maybe this year too!  

Not a jelly fish.  Fresh water lake.  Squishy.  One friend's best guess was 'discarded breast implants'.      I'm sure Russ will know. 

I brought one home and put it in a bowl.  I thought maybe it would crawl out... but nope. 

There are freshwater jellyfish.  One of my favorite genera and species:  Craspedacusta sowerbii.  They have been reported from Folsom Lake. However, they are not as big as the one in the last photo.  Without anything else for scale, it's hard to say for sure.  Do you remember how large (diameter) they were.

Lori, those are bass egg goo's  The eggs have all hatched but were laid with all that protective goo around them.

Got another huge pile of tomatoes today.  Giving them away as fast as I can and trying to use them in every meal.  Gonna have to do something to make some more room in the freezer so i can make more sauce to freeze.  I also have at least a gallon of cherry tomatoes!  Who knew that two plants could make so many of them?  I quit picking this morning because my back was tired of bending over.  Will have to pick the rest tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, etc, etc, etc.

Climbed the Memorial Route on Slickrock (McCall, ID) with Jared who was in town from Spokane. (Thanks MP Partner Finder).  In the 7 pitches we scored 4 locking carabiners and are thinking of renaming the route "Bootyville".   My guess is that a party raped the route, avoiding the somewhat sketchy walkoff.

Bob, I hope they didn't.   

Camped deep on a logging road in way northern Maine. New Brunswick tomorrow. Day 5 of consecutive climbing. Climbed a three pitch 5.7 in Barrets Cove today that has a pretty serious start. Nothing but a few shallow sideways micro stoppers and bad offset cam in the first 50 ft. Might have been better with a red tricam but didn't have it with me. The rest of the climbing was steep and stellar. Isa did great. We spent major cash on lobsters and clams right on a working pier.  All the photos are in my cameras and won't be able to post until I put them in the computer and have WiFi..

Bob - Slickrock looks good! I'll have to make it up there one of these days.

Hopefully we can avoid the rapist.

Idaho Bobwrote:

Climbed the Memorial Route on Slickrock (McCall, ID) with Jared who was in town from Spokane. (Thanks MP Partner Finder).  In the 7 pitches we scored 4 locking carabiners and are thinking of renaming the route "Bootyville".   My guess is that a party raped the route, avoiding the somewhat sketchy walkoff.

Route rapists deserve to lose all their gear.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Climbed a three pitch 5.7 in Barrets Cove today that has a pretty serious start.

Did the Standard Route a few years ago.  Some serious looking routes there!  Not too far a drive to Jen's sister's place in Friendship.

Just had friends over for dinner last weekend with Greenhead lobby tails.  I bar tended at the owner's place in Sugarloaf a few NYE's ago and Jen's mom ships them to us.

Hard to beat!

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Camped deep on a logging road in way northern Maine. New Brunswick tomorrow. Day 5 of consecutive climbing. Climbed a three pitch 5.7 in Barrets Cove today that has a pretty serious start. Nothing but a few shallow sideways micro stoppers and bad offset cam in the first 50 ft. Might have been better with a red tricam but didn't have it with me. The rest of the climbing was steep and stellar. Isa did great. We spent major cash on lobsters and clams right on a working pier.  All the photos are in my cameras and won't be able to post until I put them in the computer and have WiFi..

That was a working pier alright, sounds like you got worked! Around here if your neighbors dont have any seafood you go hit up the guy down the road with hand painted signs by his mailbox indicating he has seafood.

Last year we bought and cooked our own on a picnic table but I forgot the big pot.