Back Outside - The Approach Time Is Never Accurate

There has been a lot, a lot of heavy rain lately. Just a week and a half ago my phone notified me of a potential flood in my area. As I write this post, another storm is raging outside. Sadly that just means that I haven't been able to go outdoors at all. It's been almost half a year since I've gone out for a decent climbing sesh. Being able to train indoors now that my finger is healed was fun for a while, but cabin fever is creeping in and I'm itching to get back outside.

Sunday promised party cloudy/mostly clear skies. This was my chance, and I decided to go explore a crag I've never been to, not very far from my place.

I go on MountainProject and I also look through climbing guide books whenever I plan to explore a crag for the first time. And no matter what everybody says about the approach time, I always add another half an hour to that if it's my first time there.

...Yup. The trails weren't very distinct and where one would think the trail ends, it actually continues past the rocky slope. There were 2 ways to make the approach -- one via switchbacks and one via a shortcut. We took the shortcut on the way up and lost the trail a couple times, which delayed us by at least half an hour. Later on we tried to take the switchback way on our way out in the dark and we couldn't find the alternate trail entrance. Phew, man.

One of the climbing areas, called The Bubble. We didn't climb here -- only stopped to take a look at the guidebook.

Despite all the hiking mishaps, we still managed to get one good climb in. It was MLK weekend and the crag was much more crowded than I thought it would be. But eh, I was just glad to be out and witnessed another beautiful sunset. I was so caught up in taking in the view from the anchors that I forgot I had my phone in one of my zipper pockets.

The view a couple steps down from where I was belaying was still pretty nice:

That Sunday was my first time cleaning a route, but for once I didn't feel so terrified up there. The route itself was a bit reachy but all the holds were great. Getting up to the anchors was a throw to a giant jug before climbing over a decent ledge. I went for the hold, not sure if I was going for the right one...

... and my hand made contact with the most awesome of jugs.

"Thank god," I cried out loud, before pulling myself up onto the ledge.

"Yeah, it's so great isn't it?!" My belayer shouted from below.

And, that was about it. This is one of those posts that has neither a lot of information nor a variety of photos. But it feels good to start off the new year doing new things and climbing outdoors again, and at this moment that's enough to make me happy.

When I got home I realized I took the same photo twice -- one around 2:30pm, and one around 5:30pm. Pretty cool.