Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Tag Archives: Camping

C-Squatch and “The New” Invasion

C-Squatch and “The New” Invasion

After several weekend weather woes, we were finally able to get Canaan up to the New River Gorge for his first multi-day climbing/camping trip.  We decided it would be best to go up during mid-week as to figure out the logistics of bringing a baby to the crag without also having to battle all the crowds of Memorial Day weekend.  We convinced our friend Scott to be our third man/guinea pig under the stipulation that we wouldn’t stick him with the job of baby-watching. So, with as rain-free of a forecast as you can hope for at the New River…Read the rest of this entry →

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Briars and Scrambles and Gullies, oh my!!!

Briars and Scrambles and Gullies, oh my!!!

Finally the weatherman got the order right – an absolutely gorgeous weekend followed by a dreary, cold, and rainy Monday morning! This was the first weekend out of several that hasn’t been a washout, and Steve and I were not about to let it go by without taking advantage of it! We invited our friend Huck to go with us – one of the new folks we had climbed with at the Red a few weeks ago. Huck is somewhat of a new climber, and was eager to try out some new crags he’d never been to. Also, he’d never…Read the rest of this entry →

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Red River Gorge – great climbing, but where’s the river?!?

Red River Gorge – great climbing, but where’s the river?!?

In the few years that I’ve been climbing, I’ve had the opportunity to climb in lots of different places, but I’d never made it up to the Red River Gorge until this past weekend.  Steve and I had tried to go several times, but due to weather, schedules, injuries, etc., it seems as though the stars were never quite in proper alignment to make it happen.  But when several friends invited us to go, and especially after being able to finagle an extra day off of work on Friday, spending Labor Day weekend in Kentucky at the Red seemed to…Read the rest of this entry →

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Gourmet Camping (aka Ode to Jetboil)

Gourmet Camping (aka Ode to Jetboil)

If you have ever been camping with me, you have heard me sing high praise  for the Jetboil system.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, the Jetboil is NOT a communicable skin disease transmitted on airplanes, but rather, a portable, personal cooking system.  According to their website, the Jetboil is a “complete food and beverage multitool.” Steve and I received our Jetboils for Christmas in 2006 in anticipation of a backcountry canoe/hiking trip to the Everglades for New Year’s 07.  Since then, we have never been camping without it or without these sleeping bags!  For a long time…Read the rest of this entry →

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Maple Canyon and Closing Thoughts

Maple Canyon and Closing Thoughts

The climbing at Maple Canyon is probably the most unique climbing area I’ve ever been to.  The rock is a conglomerate embedded with pebbles and rocks of various sizes.  The routes are difficult to read from the ground, and require a lot of endurance to onsight, since you never know what kind of hold a cobble is going to be until you grab it, so you end up spending a lot of energy trying to find the right cobbles to use.  However, b/c of all the  cobbles, we discovered that Maple is also a place that rewards good footwork.  No matter…Read the rest of this entry →

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