Plum Island - birds, bugs, and poison ivy

We went to Plum Island north of Boston a few days ago to check it out. Most of the island is a nature preserve with heaps of birds, mosquitos, poison ivy, and so on. Unfortunately for us most of the beaches were closed for plover nesting, but we still saw lots of birds on the back side of the island and at either end which had access. Mostly they hung out a little too far away for decent photography with my 300 mm lens. In the open it was mostly pleasant although hot in the sun, in more sheltered areas the mosquitos could get fierce. Luckily we weren't besieged by green headed flies which can be a summer scourge there. We also spotted a few ticks, a snake, lots of snails, and a few crabs.

Here I am dipping my toes in the Atlantic (MJPG pic)

a tick - not my favorite thing, but at least he didn't latch on to me

Great Egret

Cormorant

They don't want the nesting plovers disturbed

low tide at the south end of the island

Here is my sister at her booth at the Needham farmer's market. You can see her fabulous art work here:

http://nydamprints.com/

Needham farmer's market booth for block print art and books

Quincy Quarries Highline Humbling

The title just about says it all. I saw online that the Slackline Boston crew (namely Sonya) was setting up a highline at Quincy Quarries, so I headed down there. After a few navigational challenges I found the spot and got in the queue.

This line is set up from the large rock buttress in the center of the quarry sort of north to another buttress. It runs about 120 feet long and is maybe 35-40 feet high, so by some measures it isn't a highline (higher than it is long), but I am going by the scary high and falling to the ground is completely unacceptable measure. When I got there Benoit was just walking across, but on the far side he threw down his hat and lost his powers and was unable to walk back. A few people later and it was my turn. As usual my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating. I managed to scoot out into position and set up for a sit start. I stood up and managed a few wobbly steps before falling. That was pretty much the theme for the day. I tried a bunch more times and managed to get 6 or more steps a few times but I also had some dramatic falls including one where I failed to grab the line and leashed out headfirst (imagine a dive towards the ground that is caught by a leash and a climbing harness). Actually not that bad, but still a little unnerving. Eventually I was beat up enough and tired so that I came back and passed the leash on to the next victim.

Here I am looking good on the line, but it didn't last

This is the usual result - falling and catching the line

In between goes on the highline I also managed to get a few runs in on topropes that were set up. I definitely felt like I was climbing better than slacking that day, although I think the climbs were all 5.9 or less and it definitely didn't feel like a 5.9 highline.

My second go was no better than the first, although perhaps my falls were a little more elegant. I also mixed up my sit starts with Chongo starts. I failed a few starts, but for the most part I was managing to stand up and get a few steps in before I wobbled and either stuck it or fell. Falling and catching the line isn't always comfortable. I got plenty of scrapes and bruises on the inside of my legs and arms.



In between my attempts others went. Some were just getting comfortable perching on the line over space and others were walking with skill. I took a bunch of pics, but most weren't all that exciting.

My final go was probably my best, I managed on my second or 3rd attempt to walk nearly a third of the way across. My foot got in between the walking line and the backup line which sort of freaked me out, but in reality I just lost my balance and fell.

All in all it was a bit frustrating not being able to walk the line very well, but it is good to get humbled from time to time and gives me something to work towards.

Here is the line from below, plus a climb

Sylvain was really busting some good tricks

Thanks Sonya for setting up the line, and Alex (I think) for taking pics with my camera. It was fun to get out on the line with a bunch of slackers.


Here is another pic taken by Matthias. I swiped it off of his post on facebook. I hope he doesn't mind. There are more pics there on the Slackline Boston page. Hopefully the link works.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.552116901511091&type=1

Here I am looking solid (looks can be deceiving)  Matthias pic

Seneca Rocks

A few things happened before Seneca Rocks, like driving across the country and a few little state high points and YogaSlackers teacher training - an amazing experience which I hope to be able to properly write about soon, but meanwhile, back to Seneca Rocks.

After teacher training Adi and I packed up a heap of leftovers and headed to Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. We got there a bit after dark and got a campsite. I had been feeling crappy and run down all day - no doubt in part to the end of the training, but there was something else too. I wasn't even that hungry.

That night it started raining, and it rained most of the night. I also woke up drenched in sweat/humidity. There are definite benefits to living in the desert. This part of West Virginia is very green and beautiful, but there is too much water in the air and falling out of the sky.

We slept in to the sound of rain the next morning. I felt much much better this day, although not 100%. Eventually the rain tapered off and we biked to the Gendarme climbing store to check e-mail and so on and wait out a few more showers. We planned to climb that afternoon, but it rained again. Then on to the fancy new visitor center and then back to camp where we set up a 175 mantra long line. I managed to "full man" it a few times (walk the whole length and then turn around and walk back without falling). This was probably the longest line I have managed that. It sure made my arms and back tired though.

Walking the 175 foot line (thanks for taking the pic Adi)

we camped by the North Fork South Branch of the Potomac River

The Mountain Laurel was blooming nicely

Tuesday it looked pretty threatening and the forecast was for 40% or more chance of thunderstorms but we decided to give it a go. We were going to start on Ecstasy, but someone else was on it so we went up Ecstasy Junior - a much easier but still fun climb. There was a tiny bit of sprinkling while we went up this but it wasn't enough to wet anything. Then we traversed over to under the gunsight notch where we went up the 3 pitch "Green Wall" to the top of the South Summit. Supposedly this is the highest 5th class (requires technical climbing) summit east of Devils Tower, Wyoming. It is a pretty nice summit - a sidewalk along the top of a fin of super hard Tuscarora Sandstone - really more like quartzite.

on top of the South Summit

Dr Rubber Ducky in his summit office

From the base of the Rappels we started up another 3 pitch climb, "Bring on the Nubiles". Actually this is a 2 pitch climb that starts one pitch up. The 3rd pitch was pretty spicy, old school 5.9+ with not a lot of gear and plenty of exposure. Then we headed back down the raps for another quality leftover dinner.

after topping out "Bring on the Nubiles"

The weather for Wednesday was supposed to be a bit better, but still plenty of chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. It actually turned out to be quite nice though. We started up Ecstasy, I linked the nicely exposed 2cd and 3rd pitches past some sketchy pitons that were older than I am. Then we hiked back to near where we were the day before for a trip up some variations on "Thais" and "Thais direct" and "Thais bypass". Then back around to the south end to finish up on "Ye Gods & Little Fishes". This was a perfect pumpy way to finish the trip. Then we packed up the vehicles and headed north towards PA to avoid an impending storm system or at least be indoors for its arrival.

I mostly placed gear to avoid sketchy pitons that are probably older than I am

Adi finishing up the last pitch of Ecstasy

some others enjoying the lichen fest left of the Thais Dihedral

More Cowbell!

Seneca Rocks with nice weather