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| Ben and I at the wedding in San Diego |
Waking up the next morning was a completely different experience than the night before. I woke up, looked out the window and could see 3 climbs about 20 feet away from where I was sleeping. I walked back to our campsite to set up my chair, and was in awe of the beauty of the sun hitting the rocks in the morning. The weather was cool, which made a warm cup of coffee and a longer breakfast time very nice. I was psyched.
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| The view from our campsite |
I went into our trip to Maple with no climbing expectations. As I had mentioned earlier, I took March and April off from climbing due to an elbow injury from a fall at a climbing competition. I was able to climb through May until I pulled my left pectoral muscle while warming up bouldering. I took another three weeks off to let it heal and managed a few rope sessions at our gym before we headed off to Maple. I was bummed I wasn't able to get stronger but was excited for the experience.
The first thing I noticed about Maple was the true feeling of a community. The first day we were invited to a campfire at our neighbor's campsite. Ben and I had gone into town looking for leveling blocks to even out our car for sleeping but had no luck. When we returned and visited the campfire, three people offered to let us borrow their extra leveling blocks and one person even offered to hold up our car for us! :) The amazing camp hosts Rene and Margarita helped us to find rocks to also help with leveling out the car. Each person there was on their own adventure and had their own story. It was great to see old friends, meet new friends and hear a part of their story.
The second thing I noticed was how different the rock was from the Red. Rather than pulling on crimps and hueco pockets, Maple has a lot of slopey jugs and cobbles. I knew this going into the trip and was unsure how I would climb on this style. To my surprise I really liked it and was able to do well with adjusting to this different type of rock. I enjoyed the various types of movement and pulling moves that were different and interesting.
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| Pipeline Crag |
Ben and I took the first few days to really get used to the style. We tested out some different areas and wanted to see everything that Maple had to offer. My good friend Cassie from Boise and her boyfriend Cale came down and climbed with us for a few days which was a great time. We never projected anything in Maple due to the short amount of time we were there but I was happy to send a couple 12's, climb some fun 11's and see some amazing looking routes for our next trip. It seems no matter how long you are on a road trip, you always wish you had more time to do that one last climb.
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| Rest day hike |
We headed out from Maple to drive to Colorado Springs so we could do the Pike's Peak incline. For those of you not familiar with what this is, it is a 1-mile ascent of railroad ties that gains 2000ft of elevation in this mile. It is so steep that at some points you need to use your hands to help you get to the next step. It was hot, hard and humbling. This was my fifth time to do this and each time it never feels any easier, but the view at the top is amazing. Ben and I are hoping to do the Pike's Peak ascent next year (half-marathon that runs up Pike's Peak) and thought this would be fun to stop and do before we start our training.
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| Top of the incline, we made it! |
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| View from the top of the incline looking down |
As we left Colorado to drive the rest of the way home, I couldn't believe how fast the trip had gone by. We met many amazing people along the way who had their own adventure and their own story. Each of the places we stopped held a different adventure and experience and I felt very blessed that God had given us the opportunity to take this trip, spend time with each other, and be with Him in nature. As I looked around each morning in Maple, I was amazed by what beauty God has created in this world if we can take the time to see it.
