Sunday, September 17, 2006

Bouldering via Google

After looking at some well known bouldering areas on google maps, I found two areas near the cabin which looked like they might have some boulders. It was a bit of a crap shoot, but they were in the Tahoe national Forest, so even if climbing was a bust, the scenery was sure to be impressive. After a few wrong turns down some very bad roads, which required some fancy driving and road clearing


We parked and hiked the rest of the way in. The road was littered with trees, small rocks and other things which would probably have demolished the subie if we had tried to go any further. We were soon rewarded with a cluster of large boulders, one of which had some spectacular technical problems on pristine granite features







After grating off our skin, we scoped out the rest of the boulders and headed to Lake Valley Reservoir, where I tried unsuccessfully to get my kite in the air. It was lulling to zero, and it got pretty frustrating waiting in the freezing cold water for the wind to come. I did discover that my beating at 3rd avenue had put a tear in the leading edge which will need to be repaired.

We drove back to the cabin, unpacked our things and began unlocking the cabin. Shortly afterwards, I heard a shriek and heard the patter of feet running over forest duff. Three bats had slid out of the window cover as Chloe opened it and fell to the ground.

They were motionless for about an hour (Actually, I was sure tat they were dead) before, one by one, they extended their disgusting rubbery wings,

took flight and circled the house before going off in search of a better hiding place and some bugs. Chloe, at first sight of the new airborne bat, ran into the cabin and shut me outside. As the second bat came to life I was left on the deck, looking in at my wife, peering wide eyed out of the glass doors, crouching down and ready to lock the door. In situations like this, I always seem to get sequestered on the same side of the door as the bat.

We had bought a table top hibachi for $3 at Raleys, which we used to grill corn and sausages

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