It seems like all of my best adventures begin in the evening.  I guess this is probably because I get too excited and know that I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.  Plus if you wait until the morning to leave…well then you just wasted the morning.

This adventure began on a dirt road on the North Shore of Big Bear Lake right as the sun was setting a couple of weeks ago.  Ruthi and I had loaded up the earlier that day with no plans other than climbing.  We had a couple of ideas for places we had never been and certainly no guide book or direction for getting there.  So we started out on this dirt road and drove for about a half hour into the fading light until we found a campsite.  The campground was empty except for one other small group.   We made sure our site was far enough away so they couldn’t make fun of us for running around in the middle of the night with our headlamps.

We were in no hurry to wake up that morning, as it is the time of year when everything moves a little slower in the morning.  After stoking a morning fire out of a few twigs and pine cones that I scavanged we were able to warm up enough to find some rocks.  This was the easy part.  There were lots of rocks, but without a proper guidebook there would be no story to tell.

Ruthi got attacked by the rope

Good fortune came upon us when we found two other climbers that didn’t put up a fight when I instructed Ruthi to begin taking pictures of the necessary pages in the book.

Borrowed treasure map

Coyotes at Sunset (5.8)

Having these stolen pages helped us some, but not much.  We  wandered for most of the day trying a couple climbs here and there until we finally found something that just fit.  It was the last climb of the day, 100 ft sport climb called Coyotes at Sunset.  The climb is only rated 5.8 but, it helped me to remember that the reason I started climbing in the first place was because it allowed me to hang onto something real and allowed me to feel so much smaller than everything around me.

A couple of days ago I read an article about how to make your own Hard Apple Cider.  It was one of those familiar moments when you just know it has to be done.  Sorta like building a jump for your bike as a kid just because you found an old cinderblock and a piece of plywood.  The materials were there, and it seemed like a good idea at the time so you just went for it.  This weekend I think I’ll go to Oak Glen and find some apples and then just go for it.

Conversations are taking place.  Most are not about me.  Infact I would be utterly suprised if there was a conversation involving me going on at this moment.  Regardless today I have decided to join the conversations that have been occuring without my participation.  I am not trying to reinvent something or start a movement I just want a voice.