Sunday, December 1, 2019

After The Gold Rush

... not a lot of action this past year - these images sum it up...

... early summer... for somethin' different made a rare visit to the 'Wooddale Powerline' (aka: 'Trout Hatchery Boulders')... the open power line ROW access was pretty overgrown with tall grass by then so we opted to stick with a few boulders spread around the adjacent open woods - that place used to be overrun with rattlesnakes and we didn't want to press our luck bushwacking about... hadn't been there since probably the mid 90's and well before the current open pit quarry operation adjacent - was a bit disappointed as the quarry took out a few pretty nice boulders located higher up what used to be a ridge - we're sure the rattlers are probably gone as well as they're highly sensitive to even the slightest ground vibrations (critical to their hunting complex) so the blasting and constant heavy equipment moving about surely couldn't have done them any favors... we used to spot two Ravens frequently as well that had a "ravens roost" atop a large boulder up on the ridge top - probably had been used as such for a few hundred years...

... an old climbing buddy of ours told us recently of another nearby old local crag which was habitat to more than a few rattlesnakes - he mentioned that since the construction of a nearby gas well and the subsequent frequent humming and vibration, it was only a summer or two before he hadn't spotted a snake there since... 

... a few days up on the 'Ridge'...

... keepin' busy...

... boulder layback cracks are few and far between...

... two in a row - a fingertip layback seam...

... lot's of fun workin' the only project of the summer over the course of a few visits...

... why is it more fun when ya' can't climb somethin'... ?...

... exercise or achievement?... must be both...

... edit 12/07/19 - a shot from an hour or two at 'Cal's Boulders' (aka: 'Liston Rocks') a few weeks back... 

... from inside the cave - forgot we had those still in the camera...

... a whole year of excitement...

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