Ancient Times

... had some seldom seen late afternoon free time this past week, was able to get out with 'MG' Sarah for a few hour jungle gym workout...

... 'Fern' boulder located in the 'Hidden Grotto' - stuff here needs lots of brushing - obviously, no one's visited here for many years (although, you can walk right by it and never know it's there)... wasn't equipped for a major brushing project, so did what needed little work and moved on...

... some interesting old stuff on this short steep face - finger pockets and crimp side pulls with thin edging - even found a new project line we never noticed before...

... stopped off at 'Mr. Foley' rock on the way out - some good thin edging and smearing - a bit harder than it looks (and is remembered - at least for us)...

... we haven't really kept up with the local climbing activity for probably ten years (maybe less) - apparently, a lot has been happening as we've learned on line -  it seems SWPA has become a bit of a bouldering "destination"... in our 'Instagram' travels (none of that 'Facebook' stuff for us - that's for "old people" 30+ years) we've noticed images of local boulder problems sandwiched in between shots of Yosemite, Utah, Colorado and such rock (not to mention rock down south), posted by folks from such places... that's pretty cool... we've also noticed an image or two of past worked boulder problems (from "new" and "undiscovered" locations) with a pretty decent difficulty rating attached (we still gotta go and consult our official 'Climbing and Bouldering Grade Conversion Chart', tacked to our bulletin board, when referencing the 'V-Grade' system')... certainly a bit stiffer than what we'd have given it at that time... hey - we'll take it...

... here's a pretty cool 'Lepidodendron' from the same day:

... nothing to note for scale (wasn't thinking), but is a pretty large fossil...

... also a 'Sigillaria' found nearby - lots of this stuff to be found along the ridge if ya' look...

(Internet image)
... when this stuff existed: map of the United States - around 300 million years ago during the 'Carboniferous Period' of the 'Middle Pennsylvanian' age... you can see that the entire Mid Atlantic was mostly a gigantic swamp...

... here's a link to an earlier post: 'Lepidodendron and Sigillaria' ...

... the gigantic swamp has since receded to exist only in the immediate Washington, DC area in these modern times...