Zion National Park

What do you want to do? I don't know, what do you want to do?
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Monday we arrived at Zion and talked to the ranger about Pine Creek Canyon. The water was up to your neck and 45 degrees and so we decided not to do it.

We took the shuttle up the canyon and did the Emerald Pool Hikes.

Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes! Everybody loves potatoes!! (Some kids were singing this on the shuttle over and over and now it's stuck in our heads.)

Although it's not a shocker, Rodney is winning the sneezing contest, but Jean is in second place. (Note from Spud to community reading this: Sounds like a real hoot of a party to me. Ohhhhh a sneezing contest. They now how to live it up!)

Tuesday we head to Bryce Canyon and then to the Grand Canyon which we will hike on Wednesday.

Currently we have about 2 gigs worth of photos so Johnson you are going to be busy.

Godfather: The diet coke is back!


Submitted by Spud - Rod's sis.

Moab - Sunday

Jean and Liem on top of Owl at Arches NP
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Liem and Jean climbed Owl Rock in the Arches National Park and then we headed to Steal Your Face on Potash road which is more like steal your finger prints.

Mike Haning: Was there an undercling at the fifth bolt on Steal Your Face? It seemed like the flake had broken off and made movement through that area very hard.

Submitted by Spud - Rod's sis

Suuuuper Crack

Liem leading Super Crack
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We arrived in Moab Friday at 2pm and we were on Super Crack by 6:30. Liem led Super Crack and Jean and Rodney toproped due to the time.

We got photos and video and it was awesome!

As Mike J. knows, the style is just like the crack in the back corner of the gymn.

Saturday we visited the Arches and Sunday we plan to climb Owl Rock and Steal Your Face.

We are having a blast and Monday we head to Zion.

Added by Rod's sis Spud.

Wind River

Snowball fight at Wind River
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Today we spent the day hiking in the Wind River area. It must be out of season, because the roads into the main parking for the Willow Creek area were closed. We still parked climbed over the gates and went for a three hour hike.

It was a great day - very nice outside. We're currently in Rock Springs, WY and heading to Moab for 3 days tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a cafe that has a newer computer that has USB ports so I can upload some photos.

Take care!

Yellowstone and Jackson

Yellowstone's water fall
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Updated: Tuesday we spent the day in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. The road into YS was under construction and is only opened from 8am to 8pm. Folks have been caught in the park trying to get out of the East entrance.

Weather has been great and even though it was in the 20's last night at Jackson we survived.

Devil's Tower Summit

Devil's Tower Summit
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Updated 5/26/05 - Below!
Monday was suppose to be a recon day, but the weather was too perfect to sit around so we decided to go ahead and climb and headed up the scramble at 11:30 am.

We got stuck behind two teams that held us up for two hours but decided to go ahead and continue.

Rodney led pitches 1 & 5, Liem led pitches 2 &3 and Jean led pitch 4.

We took the meadows traverse and summited at about 7:20 pm.

The raps went well until pulling the rope to set up the final rap.

We will leave you in suspense as to what happened next but needless to say we did call 911 but after getting our heads together and the use of our knife we were able to make use of the remaining rope and get ourselves down safely.

As soon as I can get access to a computer I will update the post and add pictures.

-Updated by the Godfather per Rodney

5/26/05.

Actually we had Ken call the ranger and then after we figured out what to do we called him off. Liem convinced me to lower him down to find another place to rap from and then we lowered Jean. At that point I climbed up a bit and cut the two ropes and tied them together to give us about 80 feet of rope, but 40 from which to rap. I then rapped to those guys and hooked in and then pulled the rope. It got stuck again. I was getting unnerved to say the least - we could not catch a break. So Liem said, "We've got options" and we tied off the remaining rope (about 40 feet) and did a single rope rap to a small landing which we were able to scramble down to the path with the help of Ken with his flashlights showing the way to the bottom.

The next morning we viewed the route and found our rope had gotten snagged on the right side of the face of the column. Clearly unexpected. We were trying to keep the rope out of the column's cracks.

All is well and we learned a good lesson. Great climb, though!

Climbed in Black Hills

Baba Cool 5.9/10?
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Sunday we spent most of the day in the Bad lands and Mt. Rushmore and then climbed in an area called Chopping Block.

From there we went to our base camp to Devil's Tower.

Rodney will update more details later...

-Being updated by the Godfather per Rodney

We lied!

Sorry, we aren't going climbing. Are you nuts! The tower is like - 1200 feet high and it is still in the 30's at night. You know how much I hate the cold. Yes, I know my fault for buying a cycle and that is why winter won't end and that is why we're on the beach in the Bahamas soaking up the sun. Hey, cabaña girl, I need another back rub. Oh yeah!

Actually, I'm just waiting for Ken and Jean to pick me up and then we're off to wake up the Lieminator. 18 hours or less we'll be in the Rapid City area to visit Mt Rushmore and then move on to setup camp at Devil's Tower. Monday is a reconnaissance day. We plan to hike up to the base of the first pitch so that we are familiar with the landscape for the summit attempt on Tuesday.

Get well to both the Eric's!

Posted by Hello

Heading West

Liem, Jean, Ken and I are heading West on Saturday May 21st. Our first stop is the Bad Lands, but our first climb is the Durrance Route of Devil's Tower. We plan to summit on Tuesday, May 24th.

I will try to get online and keep you posted of our trip.

Wish us luck!

Rocket