8 hours, 6000 feet in elevation.

we are now near lake tahoe, CA. this morning we were in eureka, CA, on the coast. tomorow we will be in bishop, CA, hopefully doing some bouldering, or at least setting up camp. our friend terry is coming to visit us during his week vacation.

on our way down we stopped by crater lake, which was an amazing site. the picture doesn't do it justice.



this is us in redwood national forest

oregon coast

it's been a few days since an update. i am near the beautiful oregon coast visiting a friend of mine, and dana is visiting with his friend mike in Bend. dana has a few climbing projects he wanted to stay and work on, and i was itching to get out of the "high desert" of oregon. so i've spend the last day or so woondering the coast and forests near the coast, which are amazing. i'll post some pictures to show the difference in geography. each are equally beautiful, but i was feeling drained in the dry atmosphere of smith rock. i am looking forward to going back, hopefully witnessing dana send a few of his projects, and then heading to the redwood national forest in california.

- julie

(click on the image to view a larger version)


this is asterick pass in smith rock, oregon


on the right is "monkey face" a distinctive feature at smith


the beautiful oregon coast


Oregon Forest

climbing today was great - the weather is awesome. nice, but not too hot for climbing. you could say it's perfect. here are some pictures to keep you happy.

dana on a route called rabbit stew

the view of mt. hood from our campsite a few days ago at rainy lake

October 10, 2005

We are in Bend, Oregon now. Actually Smith Rock. It's good to be in a place where we know we will be for a few days - a sort of base camp. there is a ton of climbing in smith rock, and that is what we will be doing for the next few days. I'll post pictures when i get a chance.

thanks to julia and max for letting us stay in Bozeman!!!

xo,
julie

snow.

we passed devils tower, much to dana's dismay, because it was snowing. we could have waited the weather out until friday, but we decided to move on west to bozeman, so we drove halfway from rapid city, and found a hotel for the night. (we aren't really prepared to handle winter camping)

so, a boring post, but we're safe and warm and toasty, ready to head of to bozeman and see my friend julia.

October 3, 2005
last night (oct 2) we camped along the missouri river. finding the campsite was an adventure. we have this book, don wrights guide to free campsites, and it told us to take an exit, drive south 18 miles, and there would be a campground managed by the state, which would be free. so we got off the exit, drove 18 miles and saw nothing. so we turned around, and were about to take another road. i saw something on the side of the road, drove by it, and intuition told me to turn around and see what it was. it was a sign for the nature area we were looking for. 11 miles back. so we drove 11 miles, and saw a sign for a boat launch. 4 miles. so we drove 4 miles. we see nothing. except a small dirt road marked "designated state road" so we take the road. (thank god we have the jeep)

we drive around for a while on this dirt road, first taking it left, then taking it right. no campsites. there are parking areas, marked with a "park car here" sign. Did i mention it's dark? we're trying to figure out where we are, there is supposed to be a boat launch and campsites, but we can't even find the water. i finally step out of the car, and in the darkness, see a shimmering body - of water - in the distance. is this were we are supposed to be? at this point, it's getting late, and we decide to set up camp and find out the morning. we wake up, and Dana makes the observation that it's not a lake, it's a river we are camping near. a big river - the missouri river. and so our first camping adventure goes. pretty darn cool.

driving into fall
(Sept 30-Oct 1)
today i drove from chicago to the vouyager outward bound base camp in the boundary waters near ely, minnesota. it was green in chicago. ok, not actually in the city, but around the city, the leaves on the trees were green. it was pretty green in wisconsin. but suddenly, during the drive, someplace just before duluth, it was suddenly fall. the colors are great - bright yellows, oranges, and reds mixed with the greens of the pine trees. the weather today was great too - sunny, mild. a bit chilly up here at Homeplace, the base camp. i'm snug in my sleeping bag and a wool sweater right now (i'm writing this with no internet access, i'll post it when i get the chance)
it was great to see the familiar faces here and very relaxing. after all the travel preparations, it was nice to slow down and just hang out a bit. I helped out Tyler a bit with some things around base camp to set up for a group coming in tomorrow, then I headed into to Ely to peruse some gear stores (piragis, wintergreen, and the mukluk store) and chat with Ledoux, the staffing coordinator for Outward Bound. I had a good cup of coffee at the Ely surf shop, where 5 out of the 6 of us there were from Ohio. who would have thought, in Ely, Minnesota... huh. Then I came back to Homeplace, had a good dinner, and hung out with Tyler and Sarah. (helping Tyler again, and keeping sarah from her work. but it was great to talk to her - good conversation) it's is really great to be with good people.
tomorrow i head off to minneapolis to pick up dana - i'm excited to hear about his trip, and anxious to really start ours. Next stop, the badlands!!!