This weekend my dear friend Lynnea and I decided to take a trip out to Vantage, Washington- a hot spot for climbers. The weather promised to be nice, we have all our own gear, and we both desperately needed a getaway from the chaos of life. So we packed up on Friday and headed towards Eastern Washington. I was wearing an American flag shirt with blue jeans and my cowboy boots- not exactly the sort of apparel one might find at a crag, but I did feel very patriotic. It took about three hours to reach Vantage, this including our stop at a sketchy Safeway for food. I was so incredibly happy when we finally rolled into the camp. We parked the car and then just sat there looking at the towers we were going to be climbing and coming up with ridiculous scenarios we could find ourselves in. We must have spent the first 15 minutes just sitting in the car laughing until we cried (something we do quite often when we're together). Finally we decided having driven all that way we should at least get out of the car. We packed up our gear and headed to "the Feathers"- a grouping of free, standing basalt columns that, strangely enough, don't quite resemble feathers. We climbed for several hours, taking on one especially difficult route called "Hardening of the Arteries." It felt so good to be outside again, on rock that wasn't slick as a freshly mopped floor. The weather was a bit cool, and as always, there was a biting wind that liked to stir up dust and chalk and sweep them into your face. Several hours later we decided to call it quits and go off in search of hot dogs. Yes, strangely enough both of us were craving them. Vantage is situated basically in the middle of nowhere, however, so we knew finding a place that sold hot dogs would be a difficult feat. We drove back over the bridge that crosses over the Columbia River to the tiny little town of Vantage where there was a general store, a couple gas stations, and a handful of other little buildings. Much to our chagrin, the general store was closed, so we settled upon exploring the neighboring Texaco. It was run by a robust woman with a rather cross disposition. When asked a question she had the tendency to look at us as though we were from another planet and hadn't a clue what she went through day in and day out. I decided to buy a cup of noodles( the store didn't have a whole lot to offer okay?) but when I tried to use my card she gave me another of her looks and told me I'd have to buy something else first or pay with cash. I sighed and took my card and noodles and browsed the store trying to fathom what else I could want to buy. In the meantime, Lynnea found a dusty can of soup and some bologna. Later I watched her eating that bologna in a state of disgust. Bologna is something I find detestable, but apparently, to Lynnea, bologna tastes like hot dogs. Feeling hurried, I snatched a bag of Chex mix and placed it on the counter beside my noodles. I felt like a champ when she approved me to use my card. "Need some hot water?" she asked. I nodded and she directed me to the coffee maker, where a spout for hot water was situated. After that she seemed to grow a little more friendly.
"It's great you're open at this time," I said cautiously, testing the waters of our friendship, "Nowhere else seems to be."
"Well honestly, if I hadn't told so many people I'd be open until nine, I'd be closed too!"
"But you are a woman of your word." I stopped, hearing in my head just how ridiculous I sounded. I grabbed my noodles and my chex mix and headed to the car. We slept that night in the back of the Subaru. Lynnea had laid out a thick, memory foam pad, and we had a pile of blankets and covers- we were really "roughing it" as they say. I would have slept rather well I believe, were it not for the baby in the tent next to us that was not content unless he kept everyone in the camp awake with his incessant crying. Well needless to say in the wee hours of the night I started to feel a bit angry towards babies. The following morning, however, I had the privilege of meeting the source of the racket, and my heart softened a bit. His name was James and he was very cute. I took pictures of him and his dad, and then to make myself seem less like a creeper I asked the man for his email address so I could send him the photos I had just taken. The remainder of our time at Vantage was spent climbing at a place called "Sunshine Wall." The towers on this side are much taller and offer much more of a variety as far as routes and difficulty. It takes a small hike to get there, and a scramble through a chimney that has been dubbed "the birth canal." The weather here was brilliant and hot, so we took off our shirts and climbed like gypsies (or what I imagined gypsy climbers would look like). The first route we did was called "Steel Pulse" and was exceedingly long, with the first bolt being about 15 feet off the ground. Lynnea led it perfectly though. Our second climb was equally long, being entitled "Boschido." We set up next to a foursome of beginner climbers who were attempting a fun 5.7 that wrapped around inside a chimney. Peter, Molly, Tristan, and Hannah were there names. I remember this only because they were very loud and were constantly shouting at each other. Molly was the funniest of the group. When Lynnea and I first walked past them in search of our next route, she exclaimed that we looked like tribal goddesses. She had no idea just how much she was flattering our vanity. Later we struck up a conversation and Hannah asked if we were in high school or college. My first instinct was to be offended. High school?? Then I remembered that in twenty years or so I'd be thankful that I look younger than I am. When Lynnea started the climb, Molly kept exclaiming what a bad ass she was and how awesome we were. When it became Molly's turn to climb I swear it sounded as though she were giving birth. There was so much grunting and shouting and cursing...my initial thought was that she would never make it in the zombie apocalypse, but later I decided I liked her so maybe she could... If I helped her to survive. Problems started happening then. Lynnea discovered she was out of quick draws before she reached the chains. Now, this can be a problem on so many different levels. Luckily Lynnea is resilient and she was able to make it to the top (how, I am still not sure). We then discovered that the rope was just barely long enough to reach back down to the ground. One end wasn't even touching it, just resting above it several inches. Lynnea tied into the anchor with her daisy chain, but felt nervous because she had nothing to back it up with in case it failed. It was an intense several minutes until she was back down. Our new friends then offered us a beer and I said that I would definitely take one once I got back down from boschido. I climbed it as quickly as I could because, truth be told, I wanted that beer so badly. I had a few tense moments when climbing the last section of the face- my fingers managed to fit into some little cracks that I never imagined they would have been able to- but I made it. I anchored, switched to my rappel and discovered I had set it up backwards as I was going down. Oh well. Once on the ground again I was rewarded with my beer (Coor's Light- of which I discovered I do not like). After this, Lynnea and I decided to call it a day so we packed up our stuff, hiked back to camp and then drove away in search of a stream. It was gloriously hot, and I could feel my back and the top of my head burning while I belayed. We found a small stream by the roadside and followed it a ways until the brush became too thick to traverse. It was than we discovered the mosquitos. Or rather, the mosquitos discovered us. I still have giant welts all over my back and arms from the nasty buggers. Strangely, Lynnea has none! Must have been her stench keeping them at bay. From there we decided to head home and decide on the way whether we wanted to give Exit 38 another try. We stopped at our favorite fruit stand, Thorp, on the way, a historic mill turned produce and antique emporium. We bought fruit rolls, fruit, and a peach smoothie. I have noticed that each time we have stopped there has been after a climbing trip, and so we go inside filthy, bloody, and looking rather windblown. Luckily the town of Thorp is a little plot of country life that forgives us of looking our worst (even though I am convinced it is in these times we look our best). Besides stopping again in Cle Elum to purchase some much needed oil, it was a straight shot home.
Here comes the second part of our story. Are you tired of reading yet? Well I should hope not. We live terribly exciting lives after all. The next leg of our adventure involved archery. For you see, just because we had arrived back home does not mean the excitement ended. Lynnea and I carry excitement with us everywhere! We decided to practice our shooting skills in our favorite spot in the woods. We toted our bows and target down there and then contented ourselves for the next hour or so aiming at dandelions and missing most every time. At one point, whilst searching for missing arrows in the tall grass, we thought to pretend our arrows were wands and so we had a spell war. We do not know many Harry Potter spells so it did not last long. Then, at some point, I challenged Lynnea to a sword fight. Of which she accepted. We spent a good twenty minutes running around the woods fighting with our swords (arrows) and we even had Pirates of the Caribbean music playing from my phone. This is probably the most dweeby we have ever been together. Following our duel, we packed up and headed back towards home. The remainder of our evening consisted of Anne of Green Gables and laughs, and only ceased when an emergency of which I am not inclined to disclose happened upon our door. So... this was quite a long post, but I am enamored with details, as most writers are, and so I will offer no apology. Here's to adventure in all forms! Fairfarren all.
No comments:
Post a Comment