Rock climbing adventure with bonus guest Tanner the Beagle
Had an amazing day climbing yesterday! Tanner got to come along, and he really seemed fine out there. Better than I expected.
I climbed a 5.9, a 5.10a and another 5.10a. I wouldn't have thought I could climb routes that were rated at that level, but I feel like I did them pretty easily and with only a couple takes. And no falls on those ones, I don't think? I might be forgetting, but either way it was definitely one of my best climbing days.
I also tried a 5.10c but definitely fell a few times on that one, and eventually had to bail on it because it just wasn't happening. A little disappointing because I was pretty close to the end, but it was a freakin 10c so I don't really feel that bad about it. At least I tried and came kinda close.
Tanner loved the hiking portions of the trip. He was pretty restless at our first climbing area, because it was in an open area with lots of other people and dogs who were all moving about, and he had to be tied up so he wouldn't wander off. He wasn't thrilled with that but he still was good, getting along like a dream with everyone and even settling down to chew on his bone for awhile.
The second climbing area we hiked to was quite a ways out and pretty secluded. We had a little spot all to ourselves, plus it was up pretty high in this ledge-like area, so I was able to let the dog off leash without worrying that he'd wander off. Not that he apparently had any energy to wander off: without all the distractions of other people/dogs, he crashed out pretty much immediately! No sooner had I laid his bed out did he curl up on it and not move for the next hour or two while we climbed those routes. My pup was an adorable exhausted little rockstar crag dog :D
I should steal some of the facebook photos uploaded by other people so I can link the album here. (ok, did! link further down.)
After a long, long day of climbing we stopped at Malarkey's in Issaquah for dinner. This posed a problem with the dog because around 6pm, it was definitely still warm outside and I knew I couldn't really leave the dog in the car all that time. The first idea was to try to park somewhere shady and roll the windows down a bit, but when I went to check on him after just 10 minutes, I knew that wasn't enough. As soon as I opened the car door I was hit with a wave of hot air, and Tanner was panting a ton. Crap. So I went back in to tell Hex.. wasn't sure what I was going to tell him exactly, except that it wasn't working. Thankfully one of the other girl's took up my cause with me so I didn't have to feel like such a pest being worried about my dog (even though I knew I couldn't leave him in there) - anyway, she encouraged us to tie him up outside the restaurant with some water and said that he'd be much better out there. I knew she was right, temperature wise, but I've never tied my dog up outside of a place before so I wasn't sure about that either.
Continuing his trend of surprising me by how good he can be, Tanner stayed calm outside the whole time through dinner (I could keep an eye on him out the window!) and it was absolutely completely fine. I'm so glad we did that =)
Because epic climbing + dinner isnt nearly enough time with good company, the decision was made to go for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. The best part of this plan, in my mind, was that it was easy to take the ice cream outside to eat, so I could keep Tanner with me and not have to worry about him. One girl made the super awesome decision to head for a grassy spot in the sun with her ice cream. The rest of us immediately jumped up to follow, lol. This was particularly awesome because our sunny grassy spot was... in a shopping center's parking lot =P hahaa. So we probably looked ridiculous, but who cares.
A few photos for now: summer climbing
Best part of the day from my perspective? Climbing the top of that long, high 10a.
Best part of the day from the dog's perspective? He got to lick everyone's ice cream cups once they were done with them.
All in all, a Sunday for the books! (Or lj, as it is.)
I climbed a 5.9, a 5.10a and another 5.10a. I wouldn't have thought I could climb routes that were rated at that level, but I feel like I did them pretty easily and with only a couple takes. And no falls on those ones, I don't think? I might be forgetting, but either way it was definitely one of my best climbing days.
I also tried a 5.10c but definitely fell a few times on that one, and eventually had to bail on it because it just wasn't happening. A little disappointing because I was pretty close to the end, but it was a freakin 10c so I don't really feel that bad about it. At least I tried and came kinda close.
Tanner loved the hiking portions of the trip. He was pretty restless at our first climbing area, because it was in an open area with lots of other people and dogs who were all moving about, and he had to be tied up so he wouldn't wander off. He wasn't thrilled with that but he still was good, getting along like a dream with everyone and even settling down to chew on his bone for awhile.
The second climbing area we hiked to was quite a ways out and pretty secluded. We had a little spot all to ourselves, plus it was up pretty high in this ledge-like area, so I was able to let the dog off leash without worrying that he'd wander off. Not that he apparently had any energy to wander off: without all the distractions of other people/dogs, he crashed out pretty much immediately! No sooner had I laid his bed out did he curl up on it and not move for the next hour or two while we climbed those routes. My pup was an adorable exhausted little rockstar crag dog :D
I should steal some of the facebook photos uploaded by other people so I can link the album here. (ok, did! link further down.)
After a long, long day of climbing we stopped at Malarkey's in Issaquah for dinner. This posed a problem with the dog because around 6pm, it was definitely still warm outside and I knew I couldn't really leave the dog in the car all that time. The first idea was to try to park somewhere shady and roll the windows down a bit, but when I went to check on him after just 10 minutes, I knew that wasn't enough. As soon as I opened the car door I was hit with a wave of hot air, and Tanner was panting a ton. Crap. So I went back in to tell Hex.. wasn't sure what I was going to tell him exactly, except that it wasn't working. Thankfully one of the other girl's took up my cause with me so I didn't have to feel like such a pest being worried about my dog (even though I knew I couldn't leave him in there) - anyway, she encouraged us to tie him up outside the restaurant with some water and said that he'd be much better out there. I knew she was right, temperature wise, but I've never tied my dog up outside of a place before so I wasn't sure about that either.
Continuing his trend of surprising me by how good he can be, Tanner stayed calm outside the whole time through dinner (I could keep an eye on him out the window!) and it was absolutely completely fine. I'm so glad we did that =)
Because epic climbing + dinner isnt nearly enough time with good company, the decision was made to go for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. The best part of this plan, in my mind, was that it was easy to take the ice cream outside to eat, so I could keep Tanner with me and not have to worry about him. One girl made the super awesome decision to head for a grassy spot in the sun with her ice cream. The rest of us immediately jumped up to follow, lol. This was particularly awesome because our sunny grassy spot was... in a shopping center's parking lot =P hahaa. So we probably looked ridiculous, but who cares.
A few photos for now: summer climbing
Best part of the day from my perspective? Climbing the top of that long, high 10a.
Best part of the day from the dog's perspective? He got to lick everyone's ice cream cups once they were done with them.
All in all, a Sunday for the books! (Or lj, as it is.)