Twice thwarted plans and trying to shift the momentum...

Let me preface this entry by saying that I am venting.  It's been a very challenging several days, somewhat draining and immensely frustrating.  I'm hoping that by getting it out here will help me leave it behind.  I'm sure this won't do justice to how frustrated I've been but I will say that I do feel much better. Read if you like, but again just me mopeing about.
     So Bustin Dustin and I had been hoping to climb Tricks of the Trade this weekend and were shut down by raptor closures and re-directed our thoughts to the Rainbow Wall.  Well, as this past week started the weather report from Red Rocks was less than sunny, literally, then the call from Dustin... not feeling psyched and may be coming down with something, I said his psyche was off kilter, but the gist of it was no Rainbow Wall.  He suggested substituting Zion, Monkeyfinger, I was all about it.  Then I started checking the weather page(s).   Even I couldn't convince myself that the weather in Zion was going to be any better than Red Rocks (and those that know me know that I believe that 40 percent chance of rain means 60 percent chance of sun!)  So the climbing trip was a bust and now I had 4 days off with nothing to do.

     I got off of work and decided that rather than try to pick up extra work over the weekend I would head north to Lee's Ferry for some fishing and camping with the dog.  Truck was mostly packed so I just swapped the climbing gear for fishing and hit the road.  The wind was whipping across the Rez, but if nothing else I thought it would be nice to sleep under the stars.  It was a bit of a trek and I may have indulged in a Starbucks crack in a can coffee drink.  The drive went by pretty damn quick and as I coasted over Navajo Bridge I thought that perhaps my luck was turning around.  The sun was out and even though the wind was still throwing sand across the highway I was hoping that on the water it would be calm.  I had hoped on hiking down Cathedral Wash to the riffle there, I'd been down once before with no luck, but I reasoned if it did indeed turn out to be too windy at least it would be a beautiful hike.  I turned the bend and low and behold the pull out for the trail was jam packed, at least 8 vehicles!  What the hell?  I did the quick sticker check and based on the window art they were outdoorsy types.  Crap, I figured they were either a NOLS group, a film crew on the Tooth, or who knows the Sierra Club?  Either way you slice it I thought that Cathedral would be crawling with folks and not somewhere I wanted to be...  The walk-in it was.  I continued down the rolling, winding road towards the Ferry, somewhat disheartened, when I saw a dry creekbed that snaked through the desert toward the river...  Aha!  A new option!  I cranked the wheel and within no time Mariah and I were making our way down the ever deepening creekbed.

      Mariah was fired up, running ahead, coming back to check on me, barking, and basically acting like a puppy!(I guess the salmon oil is working.)  We wandered down the creek bed and the sand slowly gave way to hard stone and the walls got progressively higher and higher.

     Finally it started to open up a bit and I could feel that soon we would be at the river and then... well then we got cliffed out.  Not just a little cliff but probably 200ft straight down to what likely is an awesome fishing spot, but the only way that I could see to get down was a ratty piece of webbing tied through a mini arch with a rap ring on it... wouldn't have been my first choice for rapping off of or jugging back up, but perhaps they brought rafts and floated down to Cathedral Wash.
      Rather than turn around and walk alllll the way back to the truck and be faced with the Cathedral Wash or Walk-in dilemma again I figured that we would just walk overland til we hit Cathedral and boogie on down to the river.  Well turns out that theres many a slip twixt cup and the lip and the hike turned out to be a bit farther than I had anticipated.  Mariah did spook a small fox and nearly gave me a heart attack when she chased it along the rim.  Luckily it was too quick and Mariah is gaining wisdom in her age and let it go.  Finally we found a way into Cathedral and were back on our way to the river.  Both our footfalls grew more rapid as we could taste the moisture in the air.  I was so anxious and excited to be on the water and finally there we were.  The water was clear and cold and within minutes I could see the dark outlines of trout stacked up in the current.  I had packed my waders and boots but couldn't be bothered to put those on, the weather was too nice for such delays.  I quickly put my rod together and soon was casting one of my newly tied flies into the current.  Well perhaps I was a little too hasty and lost that one too quickly.  (I think the caffeine from that iced coffee drink was too much for my weakend state.)  I tied on the standard Lee's Ferry rig, San Juan Worm with a bead head dropper and quickly moved up stream.  The trout were stacked up, shadowy shapes lounging in the current, waiting...  Two or three casts and one hit, it was a beauty, good color about 13-15 inches, a beautiful Ferry Rainbow.  I tried to grab a pic of it with Mariah but those never come out so hot!

       I released it and settled into the rhythm of casting, mending, urging the flies to drop, casting again waiting waiting waiting, and then disaster an errant gust of wind dropped my line into one of those damn  tamarisks, just upstream from where the trout were waiting.  Rather than wade up to where it was stuck I gave it the ole flick of the wrist to no avail and cursing waded up stream and began wrestling with the "tammy"  Finally the fly was free but tragedy of tragedy the tip of my rod was broken.  Curses were swept away by the river but my mood was definitely foul.  I waded back to where my gear was and packed up.
     What to do now?  I resigned myself to an evening spent under the stars at one of my favorite campsites and began the hike out.  I ran into two women also hiking out and struck up conversation.   Turns out they were river guides in the area for some sort of river guide convention being held in the area...  are people camping at Badger Point?  oh yeah probably huge party out there.  BALLS!!!  We came to a Y in Cathedral Wash and I veered right knowing that it would likely come out somewhat closer to my truck.  Well turns out I parked about two mile from where the wash hits the road and Mariah and I trudged for days til we got to the ole rig.  Disheartened we set forth for Flagstaff.

   At that point it looked like the weekend was going to be a total bust, I was down, down, down.  I went to bed and awoke in a similarly foul mood.  Coffee and some yardwork saw me through most of the day and I headed downtown to see about replacing my broken rod.  Mariah was psyched when we ducked into Babbits Flyfishing, I didn't have the heart to remind her that this was their last day open.  She got her customary biscuits, unfortunately the last two fly rods they had had on sale were already gone.  Trying not to be to disappointed we headed to Mariahs next favorite shop on the downtown circuit, Mtn. Sports.  It was packed and as we navigated the clutch of people I recognized a familiar and long absent face behind the counter.  Little Monica?  Turns out she's moved back to town with her boyfriend.  After a quick catch up period Mariah got her biscuit and I had plans to rope up at the climbing gym with Monica and Abel.  We climbed for a couple hours before Jason kicked us out...  I was starting to feel better.  I headed home for some grub and sleep and before I went to bed firmed up plans with JJ and the crew for some climbing at Upper Solitude.

Trying desperately to overcome my mental block on Holy Roller 12b/c  JJ Schlick Photo  


 I awoke a bit more refreshed than the past several days and once again swapped my fishing gear for climbing gear and rallied over to the trailhead.  A motley crew awaited, JJ, Wade, D-Kish, Tom, with Dr. Dave and Joel arriving shortly after.  Not to forget Barley, the little hellion Rogen, and Rufus.  We packed up and started the hike in.  The air fresh and the company fantastic.  We hiked up hill for the requisite 45 mins and soon were at the base of the Middle Wall of Upper Solitute.  Great climbing by all and great company on a beautiful day.  We climbed until our tips and tendons could take no more and none of us could believe what a beautiful day it had turned out to be.  Maybe things are turning around...  and to bring it all full circle in the distance a pair of peregrines swooped and dove and the screeching of their voices echoed through the canyon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3D0qfK8JNA&NR=1

Great I'm turning into my dad!

      Its always interesting when you realize more and more what you have in common with your parents.  In my case it has been amazingly enriching to find that my folks and I have some very similar tastes in music. More so my dad and I, but my mom enjoys many of the artists as well.  And it brings me great happiness to be able to introduce them to new artists who they become ardent supporters of.  This all goes back years ago when I was a kid growing up with an old eight track in my room and my dad had a record player, cassette player, reel to reel (I'm not even sure how the hell that thing worked), and a cassette deck.  He later made the technological leap into the CD age and actually had an Ipod before I did (now my mom has an Ipad what the heck is going on!)  Anyhow, it was then that I was introduced to at least two artists that would become favorites, Willie Nelson and Mark Knopfler.  I may not have known it at the time but they both are two of my top choices when driving cross country.  Its continued over the years with Tommy Emmanuel and Iz to name just a few.  Well now the time has come that I get to return the favor!

With the Folks atop Kendrick a year or so ago
      
        A few years back I made a DVD/slideshow for my family documenting my adventures over the past year and on the "soundtrack" I included one of my newly favorite groups, the Devil Makes Three, it wasn't long before my dad was requesting a CD.  Several months after sending out the CD I received a late night phone call from my parents.  I learned what it must be like for a parent to receive that call from their kids!  The back ground noise was overwhelming but I could hear my dad shouting, "Hey!".... "Dad?"  "Yeah!  Guess where we are!?"  "I don't know, is everything ok?"  "We're watching the Devil Makes Three!  They're playing in Chico! I think your mom and I are the oldest people here!  We're standing on chairs!"  Let me tell you that was an awesome 3 minute conversation, I could just picture my folks surrounded by young hipsters rocking out to some sweet Bluegrass/punk fusion (at least thats how I look at it!)  Our second experience with the DM3 was a bit different but just as rewarding.   My dad was in the hospital recovering from open heart surgery and I was spinning my wheels at the house.  Suspiciously there were no home projects left undone, other than digging a two foot trench around some aggressive bamboo that was attempting to claim new territory.  I had been hacking at the hardened red clay/dirt of Northern California all morning and was taking a break.  I started thinking of what might cheer my dad up when he got out of the hospital and I got onto the DM3 website and sent them and email.  I outlined my dads love of their music, his current condition, and asked if I might be able to order him a t-shirt.  Less than 24 hrs later I got a message back, short and to the point, What size and where to send it.  My dad had been home only a day or two when a shirt showed up on the doorstep courtesy of the Devil Makes Three.  Great folks!

     Now there are some areas where are mutual tastes differ, I'm not sure if the folks really bought into the Nightwatchman, or the Black Keys, and he's had some that I wasn't so into, but overall this mutual sharing of tunes has been great.  His biggest lament about the latest offerings that I sent him was this, "Did you know Ted Hawkins died in 1995? There goes another great singer/songwriter dead and gone before I "discover" them!  Townes Van Zant, Walter Hyatt,Iz, and now Ted!"  I guess I'll have to check the status of artists before I recommend them.
      I wonder if this trend is nature or nurture?
Heres the last two links that I sent to my dad and his friend Don with two new artists I've been listening to.  Somewhat mournful but damn these guys have some voices!  I hope whoever is reading this enjoys them and is inspired to share their favorite artists with those close to them.  Also, the videos are ok but its the songs that hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8gXMhOHdWg&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBaSTozYLdI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DsZzZQ-4tM&playnext=1&list=PLC7C06236D11B95EE