Bishop Continued:

Climbing in Bishop was phenomenal. There was such a variation of terrain. In one area a volcanic rock bed made for some beautiful, unique and fun bouldering. Holly, Jeff and I tried some cool problems, and spent a day in the hot dry desert sun. I crawled through a cave only to look back upon the Mojave rattlesnake, which was hanging out at the mouth of the cave, as I obliviously walked past it. But don’t worry Joan and Brenda that was the only little guy I saw (unfortunately!). Another special experience was seeing a road runner (the bird from the cartoon). I was more excited for Holly, as that was a first for her.

The next day we went out to another area full of massive, round granite boulders. As you can see from the pictures, they were quite weathered from rain and sun, unlike the granite boulders in Squamish that we climber earlier. We tried an ultra classic problem up the corner of a very tall boulder (the white boulder that Holly is sitting on top of). After that we moved on to a smaller, less challenging line up another boulder. We finished up and hiked out in the dark, licking our wounds all the way back to camp. All 3 of us now have some pretty ragged finger tips, so the trip to Vegas will provide us with a chance to nurse them a little (they give out way before endurance, strength, enthusiasm, or anything else!).

The camping at Bishop was rad, since the days are so hot and the nights are cool it makes for a nice sleep. The highlights here were some of our gourmet food dishes, the most amazing starry sky I’ve ever seen, a very comfortable campfire, and an excellent 24oz bottle of Becks.

The slow pace of life in Bishop was enjoyable, as compared to a place like San Franciso. We were only in San Fran for an evening, but that was enough for all of us. It was late on Friday night and trying to find a place to crash amidst the night life and craziness was frustrating. Needless to say we skipped town and pressed on to find a motel outside of the concrete confines of the city.

On a more tasty note, we have pioneered a new dinner entre, a camping dish which is a variation on spaghetti sauce. “Spa-ghetto” sauce consists of adding numerous cans of vegetables to tomato sauce, some spices, and hoping for the best… So far we’ve had some winning combinations, especially when there’s cheese on hand to add to it.

Oh, and we nabbed the hitchhiker that was tagging along with us! A few nights ago we caught the mouse that was in our car. He was caching nuts in the engine, eating our chips, and pooping all over the place. Needless to say, he won’t be missed.