Rock climbing. This is a beloved hobby of mine. :) I honestly prefer free-climbing. I know it's so much more dangerous, but...that's part of what I love about it. I love the thrill of life versus death. Me against nature. Are my skills enough to keep me alive if I slip? I'm an adrenaline junkie, I will not lie. XD However that will likely change whenever it is in life that I'm a wife and mother. :) Anyway. I first got one of my tastes for rock climbing up at a 2-week extreme outdoor camp that a local college put on called Camp WILD. Ohh boy do I have stories from those two weeks! xD It was years ago, but I remember it so well. Hands down, one of the absolute best experiences of my life, if not the best. :) But it was safe, of course. Using ropes and spotters, etc.
I got my first taste for free-climbing at Arches National Park in Moab. Some beautiful scenery there. <3 Super, super hot. Super dry. But breathtaking formations. :) My brother and I started free-climbing different places on the trails. We would go ahead of everyone just so we could free-climb a ways. Wherever we stopped for lunch, it was the same story. Come to think of it...we did do this at Fremont Indian State Park, as well...but I can't recall if that was before or after Moab.... Needless to say. It was one of these trips and we would climb as high as we could with the amount of time we had.
I remember...just feeling so free. The higher I climbed, the more free I felt. To this day, the higher I can climb, the more free I feel...and the less pain I feel. I feel stronger, healthier, when I climb. I just want to go higher and higher and higher. I never want to stop. I never want to go back down. I just want to climb. It is...pure bliss. <3
Eventually we had to come back from these trips. ;)
Thankfully, I live near some huge, gorgeous mountains. <3 And just up a canyon not too far from me is a waterfall that I'm able to go free-climb with my dad in the Summertime. It's beautiful, absolutely breathtaking. <3 I love to free-climb straight up the waterfall "rapids" and then up the side of the waterfall as much as possible.
There does come a point where we have to go off a ways so that we can eventually loop around and get back to climbing along some narrow ridges in order to get to the second level of the falls, and that's amazing. :) It's like walking into another world. <3
What is especially cool about this waterfall is that all along the way, there are fossils. If you know to look for them. ;) There's also obsidian here and there - and a couple large obsidian boulders at the base of the waterfall. Most curious, I must say. :o It intrigues me greatly, and I wish I was qualified to figure out the exact history there. :D Anyway, once you have to go off a ways to loop around...there's actually a point where if you look down, you'll see a fossilized kelp or seaweed or something root forest - it's amazing! :D And then once you get up towards the narrow ledges, there's a small alcove, not quite a cave though, that has crystals in their early stages of formation. :)
It is simply amazing. <3 I love all of the flowers, trees, rivers and streams, insects, critters...just everything.... <3 I love, love, LOVE it up there. <3 It is simply gorgeous, and so freeing for me. <3 To me, this locations is a piece of paradise. :)
I won't include nearly as many pictures as I would like, because of all the technical issues from beforehand. ;) However, I will post one of the Falls. :)
There does come a point where we have to go off a ways so that we can eventually loop around and get back to climbing along some narrow ridges in order to get to the second level of the falls, and that's amazing. :) It's like walking into another world. <3
What is especially cool about this waterfall is that all along the way, there are fossils. If you know to look for them. ;) There's also obsidian here and there - and a couple large obsidian boulders at the base of the waterfall. Most curious, I must say. :o It intrigues me greatly, and I wish I was qualified to figure out the exact history there. :D Anyway, once you have to go off a ways to loop around...there's actually a point where if you look down, you'll see a fossilized kelp or seaweed or something root forest - it's amazing! :D And then once you get up towards the narrow ledges, there's a small alcove, not quite a cave though, that has crystals in their early stages of formation. :)
It is simply amazing. <3 I love all of the flowers, trees, rivers and streams, insects, critters...just everything.... <3 I love, love, LOVE it up there. <3 It is simply gorgeous, and so freeing for me. <3 To me, this locations is a piece of paradise. :)
I won't include nearly as many pictures as I would like, because of all the technical issues from beforehand. ;) However, I will post one of the Falls. :)
Believe me, I wanted to post pictures up-close of the rapids, of the two different levels, of the fossils, of the crystals...of everything. I just don't want to risk another technical issue with this post at the moment. =/ I may make another post with all of the pictures - I would love to share the true beauty and wonder of this location with you, dear reader! :D But this one picture does, in my opinion, speak volumes of the Falls' beauty. :)
Have a wonderful day, dear reader. ^^
-Bryn
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