The Current Happenings

So I am headed out for my final trip this year.  I am headed to Glacier National Park for the next week (plus a few) with First Presbyterian Church of Houston, Texas.  I am very excited for the trip in such a beautiful place! I hope that God has many things planned for us on this trip!  This past week has been a mixture of work and play.  We finished trip preparation early which allowed for us to have the last day and a half off.  So yesterday afternoon I headed out with Bob Cruickshank to the South Platte river to do some Kayaking.  I had the opportunity to run the most challenging river I have ever faced.  I took a few swims but had a total blast and had my first successful run down a class 4 rapid (as well as some unsuccessful ones).  I am very thankful to Bob and Lucas who took the newbie with them to the river.  Today I spent the earlier part of the day doing some mountain biking in Curt Gowdy State Park with my good buddy Aaron Coleman.  It was fantastic riding on some new trails we haven't had the chance to explore yet!  Later Angela and I went out on a dinner date.  So it's been a fun week and I will be out for a while starting tomorrow.  Feel free to pray for me and the students who I will be instructing.  After this trip Angela and I will stick in the area long enough to have some fun of our own and then we will be headed home!  We miss you all and pray you are doing well!  No pictures this time but on the next post maybe a link to some video of my mountain biking and paddling adventures from the last couple days.  Love you all! See you soon!

Riley and Angela 

Wow that was fast.

So yeah it's a little quicker than normal but we are eating pie at Shari's diner and there is free Wi-fi.  Not a whole lot to add today.  This morning Angela began the day with a 4 or 5 mile bike ride followed by a two mile run.  I made my ride to Centennial but not all the way back because Angela picked me up while I was on my way back so we could have time to go climbing.  In total I did a fifty mile ride.  The hills up here kill me. Something I am not used to.  Angela and I did two climbs this evening one we have already done and then another that neither of us have tried.  The second one was the most difficult climb Angela has ever attempted and she totally rocked and then cleaned the anchors and rappeled herself down.  It was super impressive.  After climbing, we joined some friends for dinner and are now having a piece of pie. So a well spent Saturday.  I know your life has been changed by hearing about it.  Well anyway.  Love you all and hope you are doing well! See you in about 3 weeks!

Riley and Angela

P.S.  No pictures from today

Catching up

So it's been about a week since our last post, so we thought we should catch you (our faithful readers) up on our lives. 

Angela: Lots of work. One of the other Program Support Coordinators is out of town so it has been pleasantly more busy lately. I have been taught how to use the magical box we call a computer and have therefore been tasked with printing off lots of forms and fielding phone calls from parents who swear they have filled this stuff out three times already! Today I was one of 4 people at work, the rest are in the field or on vacation. By the end of the day that number changed to one of 2 because we sent two guys into the Wind Rivers to pick up a kid from the field who had an old knee injury acting up. Other than work, I try to get in some exercise so my little sister doesn't whip my chili when I get back, and so I can do this tiny little triathlon next weekend.

Riley: So after getting back from my Pine Ridge trip I have had a comfortable bit of time off. Other than getting sick yesterday I have been filling in my alone time (while Angela is at work) by: Day 1- Riding Mtn Bikes with my good friend Aaron Coleman in Curt Gowdy State Park. Day 2- Getting the stereo fixed, which required driving to Fort Collins because Laramie doesn't know the words "car audio". On the same trip I ventured west to meet my buddy Evan Scrutchins from back home, in Estes Park, CO for lunch and then headed back to Laramie to pick Angela up from work. Day 3- Sick. Day 4- (today) I went up to the Snowy Range to do some fly fishing and was successful catching a good number of fish in an hours time. Tomorrow I plan to ride to Centennial, WY and back on my road bike. The ride is about 33 miles one way and then I have to ride back. This ride is hopefully in preparation for a ride all the way to Lake Marie in the Snowy Range which is about 47 miles one way with a large elevation increase on the way out. We'll see how things go.

Angela again: I will not be riding that far. Maybe to the coffee shop and back.

Riley again:  Forgot to mention I went to do a nice multi-pitch climb with my good buddy David Laws.  The climb was just 3 pitches (lengths of the rope) but offered every type of climbing from multiple types of crack climbing to friction and a gnarly chimney. It was a fun crack and we even got to see a moose on the hike back to the car.

Riley + Angela: We were blessed with the company of our friends Aaron and Cookie (aka Sarah) Coleman this last weekend. They drove up Sunday and we stayed up way too late catching up. Monday Sarah and I (Angela obviously) started our day with some yoga (much to Cookie's dismay, thanks for being a trooper) at the rec center. We then met up with the boys, checked some gear out from SROM, and went climbing at Vedauwoo. It was Aaron's first climbing experience, and maybe Cookie's first one she actually enjoyed... a little. They both did great. Riley conquered an extremely difficult route that none of the rest of us tried (mostly because if Riley set up an anchor for us and none of us made it to the top, which was likely, then he would have to climb it again to take the anchor down, which was too much trouble). And I asked Riley to teach me how to take the anchor down from the top of a climb and rappel myself down (in other words, I would be controlling my own rope instead of someone on the ground lowering me while I fussed at them rudely due to my barely-concealed terror). It worked well. I did it all without tears, with less rudeness to my loved ones, and it turns out I like lowering myself better than someone else lowering me. Something about being a control freak... From our climb we rushed back to Laramie for a bite to eat and then to Washington park for some ultimate frisbee. It's so easy to put together a game here. You just walk into SROM, say, "Hey, want to play ultimate tonight?" and 14 people show up. Fantastic. So we played for about an hour and a half until it was too dark to see the frisbee. Since we apparently had not done enough that day we decided to go see the new Spiderman. Good movie. I stayed awake through the whole thing. Tuesday I went back to work so we really have not been doing a whole lot together except eat and sleep. Hopefully tomorrow we can climb after I work. If Riley doesn't die on his bike. Or come back so tired he can't set up climbs for me. In which case I will mercilessly apply the guilt trip and make him come anyway.

Brookie caught in North Gap Lake in the Snowy Range

Another one

Coming down from setting the anchors

This is me rappelling myself down.  Apparently I am building up my supply of pictures of my butt.  I think this is a nice one.

Alces alces seen on the way back to the car

Sum up: Lots of work.  Riley leaves on his last course Wednesday.  Angela's race is next Saturday.  We love you all!

Pine Ridge

So I am back from my first trip as an instructor this summer!  It was an awesome time and I had a blast!  The trip was with students from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  We had six students in all if you include the group's leader.  Our trip started with a climbing section in Vedauwoo.  The student's struggled a bit the first day in a friction climbing area called the clamshell.  On day two however every single student topped out a climb in brown's landing, another area in vedauwoo.  I was so proud of our students! Considering none of them had previous climbing experience and one had a severe fear of heights.  It was awesome to see them push beyond what they thought they could do.  After day two we moved to the Snowy Range.  The Snowies sadly lack snow this year but it made travel easier for our young group who had a hard time with 5 days worth of gear and food in their bags as it was.  Day one and two in the snowies were travel days.  Each day had beautiful weather and impressive views.  Day three brought the real fun however.  We took our students up Medicine Bow peak which is the highest peak in the snowy range.  There was some struggling on the way up but the reward was worth it to them.  The view on top of Med-Bow is beautiful and the students were super proud of their accomplishments.  After our peak ascent we made our way back down camp by 1:30 and spent the afternoon chilin' a bit.  Some students used their time for taking naps.  I took a nice swim in one of the many lakes near our camp and then spent the rest of the afternoon fishing.  I caught 4 brookies in the unnamed lake we were camped near!  Two of them I landed at the same time ( I was using a dry fly as a strike indicator along with a sinking fly called a nimph, my dry got hit first and then my nimph as I was fighting the first fish!  Made for a really good fight)!  After fishing we made dinner for the last night and the next day packed up and hiked back out to the van.  After a total of six days out, the students seemed pretty fried, but all in all they all seemed to love the experience!  I know I enjoyed!  Since then I have been hangin with Angela.  On the fourth we hit a barbeque with some friends and friends of friends.  It's been super fun! Headed out to do some multi-pitch climbing in Vedauwoo in the morning!  Take a look at the pics below!  Love you all!
-Riley

                                                        Chilin' by North Twin Lakes

                                                    Getting ready to set up the Clamshell

                                                        Camp #1 in the Snowy Range

                                                     Brown's Landing face in Vedauwoo

                                                                         Marmot

                                                    View from Medicine Bow Peak

                                                              On Medicine Bow Peak

 The Brookies I caught at the same time!  Not very formidable individually but when they teamed up it was a fun fight.  I think I have found larger fish in a sardine can though.

                                                          Campsite #2 in the snowies

FYI:  would have loved to post some pictures of my group but as they are minors and this is my personal blog and not a SROM sanctioned site, I am pretty sure I can't do that so...sorry.

Laramie Regional Airport

So one of my tasks for today was to go to the Wyoming State Geological Survey office on the University of Wyoming campus to purchase a topographical map that one of our courses needs.  We were told there was a dinosaur outside the building, but I don't think we really believed it until we saw this:

Wow.  Intense.  Then Colby and I got to go to the Laramie Regional Airport to pick up a student.  Whe we arrived we were told by one of the two ladies working there that the flight was delayed thirty minutes.  Awesome.  Let's watch the planes come in. ... Nope, no planes.  Let's watch TV.  One channel.  And what is it?  An in-depth coverage of the political reaction to the Supreme Court's decision about the health care bill.  Awesome.  So I amused myself by tweeting endlessly (sorry guys) and taking these pictures. 

This is the arrivals and departures board.  The arrivals are on the left and departures on the right.  Apparently they have the same flights every day.  This is also where one of the two airport employees would sit if they weren't both at lunch.

This is the Laramie Airport Starbucks.  Lukewarm according to Colby.

This is the rental car booth.  Yes, they do rent cars at this airport.

This is the Laramie Airport food court.  Gourmet.

I also took pictures of the security checkpoint and the sign that told you that if you passed this point you would be subject to search.  Maybe after Cheryl comes back inside from unloading the baggage from the plane.  And that was the best part, watching the plane come in.  "Cheryl" from the front desk (real name is not known, I am making this up) appeared outside to direct the plane to the parking spot, then chocked the front wheel (in her sensible flats).  Then Linda (also a made-up name) appeared with a baggage cart which she drove the thirty feet to the side of the plane and climbed up into the belly to get the luggage.  Cheryl then carried the bags around the wing to the front of the plane and put them down.  Then the side of the plane opened and Cheryl extended the ladder and placed a stepping stool at the bottom.  I was then shocked at a dozen people piled out of this little clown plane.  There were three teenage-looking girls who emerged, and we awkwardly questioned all of them, only to realize our passenger was in Milwaukee.  There's an hour of my life I will never get back.  Thank you to those of you who responded to my desperate tweets.  They brought me through.

Life is uneventful.  I am using the internet at Hastings, which is across the street from Trudy's house.  I would like to clarify that despite the fact that it is across the street, I still drove, after my 3 mile run at the park.  It's complicated.  Anyhow, I am laboring through a raspberry Italian soda because I think it's rude to go somewhere to use the internet and not buy anything, so I picked something cheap and "light", but I always forget that Italian sodas taste funny.  I also attempted to order the women's Bible study book from amazon because Hastings does not have it, but Amazon got suspicious that I wanted to change the shipping address and asked for all my bank info again which I do not have at the moment.  Darnit.  While I am here I also plan to rent a movie to watch while I go to sleep, because I am currently alone in the house (in the basement) and it freaks me out, thereby making sleep elusive.  Work was productive today.  This morning I helped someone enter paperwork into the computer, found out what the problem was with the SPOT locator tracking link, and rebagged food into smaller increments.  Mostly boring.  This afternoon we "threw" all the food for the 20 day teen girls' course that leaves this weekend.  I would just like to say that I would not want to be carrying that much weight at the beginning of their backpacking section.  They have to carry 12 days worth of food and that's a LOT!  After loading up the van with mountain stuff for the first 40/40 transfer tomorrow we got to go home.  Hooray!  Not overly exciting but we were at least busy and I had some nice laughs with my coworkers.  Love you and miss you all! 

-Ang

PS: I don't feel like proofreading this so if there are mistakes PLEASE don't tell me about them.

Sunday, June 24

Yesterday was great.  It was Riley's last day before going on course for a week so we had ourselves a fun day.  We started off in Vedauwoo proper at the "Clamshell" (also known as part of the "Fall Wall" for those of you who are going to look it up later... dad).  I would like to put it on record that there should be a climbing rating on the hike/climb up to the Clamshell.  I didn't think I was going to make it.  You have to go under a massive rock, then shimmy up and across some other rocks where Riley had to grab me by both hands, ignore my whimpering, and pull me up.  And that was all BEFORE the actual climb.  It also just so happened that one of our 40/40 groups was also up there that morning so we were in good company (and they were kindly non-judgmental about my less-than-courageous entrance).  Riley led up two routes for me (meaning that the rock had bolts on the routes already and he attached the rope to the bolts using caribeeners on his way up) and then I climbed them.  They were both friction climbs, meaning there were no spectacular holds, just bumps no bigger than ant hills (and most were smaller) that you had to trust your shoe to stick to.  The first was (sadly) a 5.5, and the second a 5.7.  Riley and I both climbed these routes but somehow he did not get photographed doing so.

This is me in my first friction climb.  Look at the wall, see any places to hold onto?  Me neither.

This is Riley belaying me on the second friction climb.  It was harder than the first but I felt more legit when I made it.

This is the "Fall Wall".  You can see the Clamshell in the middle with the lines that make it look clammy.  We walked under it, then scrambled up some rocks to get on top of it.  The two climbs we did are in the middle verticle section above the Clamshell.

The next place we went was a place called the "Beehive" at Brown's Landing.  These two areas that we climbed had bolted routes so we could climb them without extra "trad" gear.  I did an encore performance of the route I did when Riley was gone, though this time I did it in a fraction of the time it took me last time and without the help of someone else lifting me by my harness :).  Then we did a second route which was rated a 5.7.  It was challenging but fun and I got up without too many long pauses and only one slip.  Riley kicked butt on all the climbs he did and never fell (which is good because when you are lead climbing you fall down to the last bolt you clipped into which can sometimes be quite a little trip). 

This is Riley on the 2nd climb at the Beehive.  I chose the zoomed-out version so you could get an idea of how high he was.  I topped this one too.

Riley rapelling.  I caught him in mid-air!  I don't rapel quite like that.  There are usually white knuckles and small steps involved.

After the climbing we drove out to the Snowy Range for a short walk and some fresh air.  So beautiful!

Snowies over mountain lake.

There is a cute little path around part of this stream complete with a picturesque bridge.

Riley at the same stream.

Riley is now off on a seven day trip with six students.  Wish him luck!

-Ang and Riley

So i am still trying to catch up so two posts in two days.  My next adventure took place while Angela was in Virgina for her teaching seminar.  This time I headed to the Snowy Range in southwest Wyoming which is actually just 45 minutes away from Laramie.  So David (another instructor here at SROM), Joshua (a full time SROMer and senior instructor) and myself headed up to the Snowies for some snow trave/ mountaineering school.  Some of this was review for me as I recieved mountaineering training in my first trip with Solid Rock in 2007.  Anyway, we headed up and began training.  During training I learned everything from how to keep myself from sliding down the ice and plummeting to an icy death, which is called self arresting, to setting snow anchors using many different methods such as picks, dead man's anchor, and my favorite the bollard which is using the snow itself as an anchor to rappel from.  We also learned (re-learned) different methods of glacading which is a quick method of descending steep ice or snow that involves sliding down on one's buttox or feet.  Last but not least we made a peak attempt but were forced to turn around early due to storms coming in around 11:00 am which is uncommonly early for a storm in the snowies.  All in all a super cool day and fun experience.  No pictures this time.  Forgot the camera.

So I haven't really held up my end of the whole blogging thing so here is my first post.  The summer has been pretty unbelievable so far.  My first trip was a combination of climbing in Red Rocks Nevada combined with Hiking in the Grand Canyon.  Much fun and much learning happened during this trip.  My climbing skills improved a great deal in Nevada and the group there was awesome!  In Red Rocks we were on a constant search for the endangered desert tortoise who sadly never showed it's face.  We did learn a great deal about them however from the pamphlet the park made us read and sign ensuring we would not steal one and ebay it.  If you have any questions regarding the tortoise please feel free to leave it under the comments.  I feel somewhat of an expert now having read the pamphlet.  I even know what to do if I am forced to approach one of these elusive desert creatures. Though we were not graced by the presence of our hard-shelled desert dweller we did encounter some wild burros (A mother and baby) while in Red Rocks.
      In the Grand Canyon there were many cool experiences such as a full moon lighting our path during night hikes, an owl that seemed to be just as curious about us as we were him, a golden eagle, fresh spring water straight out of the rocks and much more.  The north rim of the canyon is awesome and we saw nobody other than our group while in the canyon.  We did however meet some wonderful characters over the course of the trip.  Amongst our most memorable and notable are: Debbie, our camprground host in Redrocks who didn't refill our TP in the latrine, thought we may have stolen the solar panels off of the latrines, and who was pretty convince her boss was a murderous lunatic., Lo, the man who fed me my last non-self-prepared meal before I went into the wilderness and who gave me a free drink if I purchased my meal back at the deli rather than at the front check-out counter (thanks bro anyone who gives me free Dr. Pepper is a hero in my book).,  And finally Steve, who was a National Forest Service Fire Fighter who jumped the van at the trailhead so we could go home after a long time in the backcountry.  Steve, we will forever be in your debt.  We may also wonder if you used to be one of the Village People.  Your mustache, wool cargo pants tucked into your boots, and your diamond earing make you a person I aspire to reflect.

    After the Redrocks/Grand Canyon trip, I was able to spend one evening with Angela before she left out to go to Virginia.  It was good to see her after such a long time apart.  All in all it was an awesome beginning of my summer and things just continue to be amazing.  More updates coming soon! Peace out!
 

Today was busy with work stuff.  Did some shopping, some errands, some food throwing (I love scales!), some brownie making, etc.  I am (im)patiently waiting for my wonderful husband to reappear.  He left Durango at about ten this morning but got stuck in Denver traffic.  I am so excited about having him home!  I wanted to take a bunch of pictures around SROM today to show you what it's like but I don't have a camera.  However, I did have Colby take this awesome picture of the three PSCs (Program Support Coordinators) so you could see the other two wonderful folks who do my job: Colby and Carissa.  They are tons of fun.  Anyhow, it's hot, I'm tired, and now I would like to go home.  Peace out!

My feet are sweaty.  Not sure you wanted to know, but that is foremost in my mind right now.  We spent the afternoon "throwing" food (putting it in packages that are field-ready) and I have a variety of powders mixing with my food sweat right now.  Brownie mix, pudding, potatoe flakes.  I know, I know, not before dinner.  I was nice and busy at work today.  Dropped off the next 40/40 group to start their trip, hiked huge water jugs into the forest, went to Walmart, packaged food... Lots got done.  Now to home, a quick jog (which I really don't want to do), and a SHOWER!  Riley comes home from Durango tomorrow, super excited.  He will then be here until Monday when he goes out on course again.  Not long, but much better than the less-than-24-hour reunions we have had the last two times.  That's about all I've got.  Yesterday was slow.  Worked all morning then got to go home early.  Napped, then  hung out with Cookie :) . So nice to see her. 

I miss all of you and can't wait to see you or hear from you! 

-Ang



Had to stick at least one picture in here because, let's be honest, no one wants to read a post that is picture-less.  This is from our farm tour at  Mount Vernon.  I am, of course, the awkwardly tall chick in the foreground with the pink backpack.  In the background you can see the General's state-of-the-art 16-sided barn used for threshing grain.  This was our one "rainy" day.

Monday, June 18

Back at work.  Today is a full day.  The next 40/40 (40 days and 40 nights) team is coming in today, plus we have lots of other things to do.  I spent a good chunk of my morning scrubbing and soaking old climbing shoes that SROM loans to students.  Totally gross.  Then we did a tour of where we will be dropping water, food, and students in the Vedauwoo area.  Speaking of Vedauwoo, I had my first Wyoming climbing adventure yesterday!  After dropping off the first 40 group, a few of my coworkers decided to climb and invited me.  We went to a part of Vedauwoo called Browns (or Brown's Landing) and climbed a route that already had bolts in the rock to clip in to (that's called Sport Climbing I think).  One of the guys that was on Riley's Grand Canyon course gave me an overview of ropes and holds and stuff like that, then I got to try it myself.  The beginning and end were super fun, but in the middle I got very stuck.  I reached a ledge with a.... bump?... small overhang?... I don't know climbing terms yet, that I had to get over.  I stood on the ledge for probably fifteen to twenty minutes before I finally (with help) managed to hoist myself up and over (causing a nice scrape to my left pinky).  I made it to the top, and even managed not to cry when I had to lean over the edge to be lowered back down.  Most people think the down part is the most fun, I disagree.  Anyhow, I felt very proud of myself and thankful for the wonderfully encouraging and patient people that were with me.  Hopefully they will continue to take me climbing with them and I will get better.  By the way, the climb was a 5.8 for those of you who know what that means, or care (dad, ... probably Cori...).  After we climbed I joined my SROM buds for dinner, which was also relaxing.  Anyhow, day 1 back in Laramie with Riley in Durango was a success.  Now if you will excuse me, I have more stinky shoes to scrub...

-Ang

This is my butt.  I am repelling down this rock face which I just climbed.  I am also hanging on for dear life because I personally think that this is the most terrifying part.

This is where I camped out for most of my climb.  I did not get up from this pose, but we can pretend.  I did get up eventually.  Also, the bottom of this picture is not the ground, I am about thirty feet above my belayer (maybe, I am a bad estimator), just FYI.

Just got back from a very solid week at Mount Vernon.  For those non-history folk out there, that is George Washington's beloved "vine and fig tree" (home).  It was super busy but extremely cool.  We were busy from sun-up to sun-down and then some.  We attended lectures by experts in the GW field, took tours on the estate (most of them after-hours for the VIP version), and met historical characters (we met Martha a two ages in her life).  I know more about the General than the average person and would be happy to bore you with all kinds of facts about his life and his estate!  Some of my favorite times were early in the morning before the grounds opened when I went jogging (try not to be too surprised, both that I was up and that I was jogging).  It was quiet and empty and very beautiful.  My other favorite parts were visiting with the historical interpreters, especially older Martha, she was fantastic.  It makes me want to go get an eighteenth century outfit and become someone historical.  Looking forward to applying my knowledge to my classroom.  So happy to be back with my hubby now (though only for a day). 


Here is a picture of me and my new friend, Melissa sitting on the General's back porch (the piazza) overlooking the Potomac.  Be jealous!

-Ang

This is our first post on our new blog.  We (Riley and Angela) are spending our summer in Wyoming working for SROM and we wanted to be able to keep everyone semi-up-to-date.  We will try to post our adventures and hopefully some pictures (this one is the Grand Canyon at night).  We hope you enjoy sharing our summer with us!

-Riley and Ang