The CragBaby

After the week in Rifle, the next planned destination was the Red River Gorge.  Rifle was a 6 hour drive from Salt Lake City, and the Red River Gorge was a 21 hours (yes, you read that correctly) drive from Rifle.  Whew.

The drive seriously consisted of a day and a half spent driving the very straight  I-70.  I actually got pulled over in Kansas for speeding (oops!) but was lucky enough to get a warning.  I must admit that the warning did keep my speed in check for the whole rest of the drive.

The first couple hours outside of Rifle were probably the most beautiful and spent winding through these mountains.

I happened to pick the best Colorado rest stop to walk CB as up on the hill were these mountain sheep.

My travel mate.  He he he… check out that tongue!

The beautiful Kansas sunset after the most torrential storm.  The hail hitting my windshield made me really wonder if my windshield was going to break.  To be honest, I called Shaft to see if he had heard of any tornadoes sweeping through Kanas.  Um… there weren’t any… but the storm was amazingly intense. =D

After 1,000 miles on I-70, I saw this sign. I was so ecstatic that I would soon be exiting I-70,  that a quick picture was mandatory. Yet I was so tired of driving, I was very tempted to go to Chicago instead of Slade, Kentucky.

At around midnight on September 25 I finally saw this beloved sign!  I must admit that a new friend already camping at Miguel’s kept me motivated throughout the entire drive, telling me stories of the fantastic Red River Gorge climbing.  To him, I am very grateful as the drive through Kansas truly is LONG!

After my first six weeks of vacation in Utah, I officially hit the road heading to Rifle, Colorado.  I had been to Rifle a couple years back and completely gotten my ass kicked.  At the time I was working on 5.10′s and 5.11′s and Rifle was definitely NOT the place for someone working on such grades.  This year I am a bit stronger and so was excited to see if the climbing felt any better.

Beautiful Rifle canyon.

Screamer on one of the “do-able” 5.10 warmups, which were very few and far between.

Well….. unfortunately…. it was still ridiculously hard.  I am working on low 5.12′s in Salt Lake, which means in Rifle I am working on 5.11′s.  Also, the Rifle ‘word on the street’ is to stay off the polished 5.10′s and 5.11′s…… meaning I was once again scared to death.  Sigh.  I only climbed 4 days but honestly just wasn’t having any fun.  I couldn’t get into the grove of the Rifle climbing technique (basically nothing pulling downwards and the bolts being spread out), I was scared to lead anything, plus, there was some stuff going on at home that was affecting the experience.  I was so discouraged I almost drove home from the road trip and hung up the climbing shoes for good.  Thankfully, I decided to cut my losses short and left for the Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

Scott on the stunning Feline route.

Perhaps I need to go back to Rifle if I ever hit the 5.13 level.  Sigh.