Category Archives: Climbing

Posts about…you guessed it – climbing! Trip reports, anecdotes, and musings about my favorite recreational pasttime.

Camping, Climbing, and Salamanders!

May 03 2017

Our family has been eagerly, yet anxiously awaiting the start of the spring camping season. Eager because we love waking up in the woods…anxious because there’s one member in our family that loves being awake in the woods so much that she refuses to go to sleep. However, now that nighttime temps have gotten up in the 50’s, staying in a cheap motel seems like an unnecessary expense. So off we set on Friday afternoon, aiming for Hidden Valley Lake, a serene gem hidden high on a ridge above the town of Abingdon, VA. Had stocked all the necessary items…Read the rest of this entry →

Tuck Fest 2017: Deep Water Solo Competition

Apr 26 2017

It probably goes without saying that this week’s “Tuck Fest” post is far more fun to write than last week’s “Puke Fest” one. It’s an understatement to say that my days leading up to the Tuck Fest DWS comp consisted of a lot more “momming” than training. By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I really didn’t know what to expect, but while I was a bundle of nerves, I was pretty thankful no one in our family was throwing up. The DWS facility at the US National Whitewater Center is the first and only permanent structure of it’s kind in the WORLD.…Read the rest of this entry →

Easter Eggs, Climbing, and the Car Ride from Hell…

Apr 19 2017

This week has been a rough one as I have been nursing a toddler with a bad case of the throw ups (see below), while trying to manage some bad spasms in my lower back. That being said, writing a trip report has been fairly low on the priority list, but the blogosphere has granted me about an hour to bang one out tonight, so here goes. Our weekend can be summed up pretty easily in 3 distinct parts, as noted in the title. I’ll tackle them in order… Easter Eggs – It’s been our family tradition since 2013 to have…Read the rest of this entry →

Anniversary Trip to Hidden Valley

Apr 12 2017

Although there have been a handful of daytrips scattered here and there along the way, the last time the CragDaddy and I were able to get away together for an entire kid-free weekend was almost 5 years ago, back when Big C was 2 and a half, and Little Zu was just a twinkle in our eyes. Considering that the latter turned 3 a month ago on the same day we celebrated 15 years of marriage, we were overdue for an escape! Our original plan was to stroll down memory lane at the New River Gorge, a place that we have…Read the rest of this entry →

Sending Spree at Hidden Valley, VA!

Mar 29 2017

This time of year in the Southeast, planning weekend climbing trips can be a bit of a gamble when it comes to the weather. It’s especially hard when a too-long-for-a-day-trip destination looks perfect one day, and sketchy the next. We all had our hearts set on a round 2 at Hidden Valley, VA this past weekend, but while Saturday looked splitter, Sunday looked, well, pretty wet. However, we’d heard from multiple people about how the bad weather often “hops” right over the mountain, even when surrounding areas are soaked. That combined with numerous rainy day route recommendations from the new guidebook was…Read the rest of this entry →

“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN