Custer Gallatin National Forest, Montana 2019

Today my groom and I headed out to the Custer Gallatin National Forest. On our way, we stopped at REI to pick up a Hyalite Canyon trail map ($5). The drive from Bozeman was only 20 minutes and the ride through the canyon was beautiful! We passed several campgrounds and at the pull-offs, several folks fishing at the creek. At the reservoir, there were many people taking advantage of the mild temperatures. Many were camping along the east shore of the reservoir. Many were enjoying the water in kayaks, canoes, or tubes. On our way out we stopped by Practice Rock to watch some climbers. Such a mellow day!  Enjoy some photos taken of our day.

Yellowstone National Park, Montana 2019

My groom and I had a wonderful vacation in Montana. We got to golf and visit both a national park and a national forest. Since we stayed at the Holiday Inn Bozeman in Bozeman, Montana, we entered the North entrance of the Yellowstone National Park via I90 & US89, coming through the town of Gardiner, MT. From the North entrance, the Albright Visitor Center is 5 miles and Old Faithful Geyser is approximately 56 miles. If you drive the speed limit and there's no traffic (ha!) and you don't stop (ha! again), it should take about an hour and a half. We entered the park at 8:16am, made several stops along the way, and watched the Old Faithful Geyser erupt at 1:20pm. And yes, even on a weekday, there is a lot of traffic! 

The drive from the North entrance was simply amazing. Traveling southbound along the Grand Loop Road, the Washburn Range was to the east and the Gallatin Range to the west. Ronnie and I drove in silence, taking in the grand views of the peaks of the ranges. Some had snowy tops and I wondered if anyone had climbed them. I took it all in as we drove. Flanked by those glorious mountains, I felt blessed. 

Our first stop, from the North entrance, was the Albright Visitor Center and the General Store. At the General Store, I picked up a Yellowstone t-shirt and baseball cap. Visiting the different national and state parks, I like to pick up a t-shirt and/or baseball cap as a souvenir and to also use for climbing and golfing. Our next stop was the Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace.

Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace
From the visitor center, you can see the Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace. Mammoth is one of two major geothermal areas within Yellowstone, characterized by hot springs bubbling and steaming down a hill of travertine terraces. There are several parking lots for the terraces and Ronnie and I parked in the lower lot, then walked the boardwalk over the hot springs. 

Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace
Such a beautiful and fascinating area! There are several sets of steps along the boardwalk, but a lot of it is flat and wheelchair accessible. There are also benches along the boardwalk so you can sit and enjoy the different springs along the boardwalk.

Beryl Spring
Pronounced "Burl" - this is a little beautiful roadside spring on the way to or from the Norris Geyser Basin. There is a small parking lot on the west side of the road, giving easy and short access to the spring. We were lucky that it wasn't crowded at all when we viewed it. 

Gibbon Falls

The parking lot was a nightmare, so many cars, RV's and motorcycles entering and exiting the two entrances of the parking lot. But it's such an easy and gorgeous waterfall to experience! I can just imagine what it looks like, totally frozen in the winter!





Old Faithful Geyser
We finally pulled into the Old Faithful Visitor Center at about 12:15pm and we had just enough time to grab some lunch at the cafeteria, the Veggie Hummus sandwich was delicious as was the Chili!! The next eruption was predicted to be at 1:20pm, so Ronnie and I quickly ate our lunches, then headed over to the boardwalk to grab us a seat. I've never seen a geyser in person, so I was anxious to watch Old Faithful. When Old Faithful finally erupted, it was such an impressive sight and an amazing experience!






Wildlife
We exited the park via the West entrance into the town of West Yellowstone, MT. Just past the Madison Campground, we encountered traffic and it was at a standstill. I told Ronnie there's probably wildlife and sure enough, there was a herd of Buffalo on the north side of the road. This gave me a good vantage point for videotaping and taking photos without having to get out of the car. Yeehaw! 



We only spent one day visiting the park and saw just a tiny bit of it. There is so, so much more to see and experience. It would probably take several days to see it all!

Bridger Creek Golf Course

Bridgers Creek Golf Course is a quiet, 18 hole golf course at the base of the Bridger Mountains Range. My groom and I got an afternoon tee time and the weather was phenomenal! The course is in really good condition and the greens were fast, and the course layout plays well. Enjoy some photos taken of our round!

12th hole along Story Mill Road

The 13th tee box at 4,780 feet elevation with the

Bridger Mountain Range in the background

The 13th tee box overlooking the Gallatin Valley

Pond at the 15th hole

The 13th green

Redrocks - Rock Climbing

Leading Roll The Bones (5.5)

Don't like the humidity and heat, but love climbing more! This morning, Nuno and I met up at Redrocks in Gloucester, MA. to get in a couple laps of climbing. Started on the Main Crag warming up on High Me (5.7), then getting a short sport lead in on Roll The Bones (5.5). Afterwards, we moved onto the Pink Floyd Wall crag. By noon it was so, so humid and the wall was super slippery. So slippery I couldn't even finish Atom Heart Mother (5.6). And I attempted Meddle (5.6) but my hand jams kept slipping out - even with my Ocun crack gloves on! I really wanted to just try and get into the crack up to the midpoint, but I couldn't keep my hand jammed. I'd love to get back to give the Pink Floyd Wall a try again but when it isn't so humid. Thank you Nuno, for your photos and your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  With today’s climbing, I’m at  27 leads of 71 pitches! Enjoy some photos taken of our day.

Nuno leading Roll The Bones (5.5)

Animals (5.5) on the 

Pink Floyd Wall

Left side of the Pink Floyd Wall

The second bolt of Atom Heart Mother and 

the first bolt of Unnamed Bolted Face are rusty.

Meddle (5.6)

Nuno at the anchors of Pink Floyd Wall

Route 128 in the background thru trees

Ummagumma (V0+)

Reuse, Repurpose & Recycle

Buffalo Pit & Buffalo Corral - Rock Climbing

The arete of Lonesome Buffalo (5.8)

Brought some of my favorite climbing friends together for a day of cragging at Buffalo Pit and Buffalo Corral in Rumney. Got an early morning start to beat some of the humidity, heat and possible thunderstorms. Fun climbing Innocent Prairie Dog (5.1), Mr. Buffoolo To You (5.4), Sunny Side Up (5.10c), Lonesome Buffalo (5.8), Mild Horses (5.5), Ghost Pine (5.6), Bleached Bones (5.7) and Book Of Sins (5.5). We spent most of the morning at Buffalo Pit and then headed to Buffalo Corral for more climbing. Didn't stay long...the heat and the humidity continued. But mostly I didn't feel like continuing to listen to the guy on the 5.9+ Flaming Arrow constantly swearing. He couldn't make the crux and was literally throwing a temper tantrum. 

Yes, the humidity and heat were brutal. But the climbing and friends more than made up for it. And a great big MAHALO - Nuno, Jackie, Noah, Iskuhi and Danica for your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  With today’s climbing, I’m at  26 leads of 69 pitches! 

On the Small Wall of the Buffalo Corral, I lead Book Of Sins. It was only 5.5 but the fact that it was so dirty, wet and mossy made it a super fun climb. The rocks up to the first bolt were all mossy, so I stick clipped it. After that it was just pure dirty and wet -sure wished it was a longer climb! And yes that's a rusty ax! It was covered under leaves and Nuno and I almost stepped on it. 

No. Nuno's pants are not two-tone. It's the first time he has sweated through them. But even 90°+ temps and 90%+ humidity can't stop friends from climbing!

Noah leading Innocent Prairie Dog

Jackie leading Lonesome Buffalo

Danica leading Sunny Side Up,

Lonesome Buffalo & Bleached Bones

Iskuhi leading Sunny Side Up with Nuno on her belay.

Noah on Mr. Buffoolo To You, 

Lonesome Buffalo and Mild Horses

Jackie leading Lonesome Buffalo and Mild Horses

Mt. Forist - Multi Pitch Rock Climbing

Leading P2 of Madigan (5.6)

If you love slab like I do, go climb Mt. Forist! :)

A stellar day for some multi-pitch rock climbing with Jackie at Mt. Forist in Berlin, NH. The two routes we climbed were a great intro to the climbing and the rock feel of this mountain. In the shade the rock was slick and the climbing felt sketchy. But in the sun, the rock was amazing and uber sticky! We also bumped into Jeff Lea and Tom Callahan, who gave us great beta on the climbing routes there. We started on Madigan with Jackie leading P1 and me finishing up on P2. Then for P1 I lead Nibroc and we finished up with Jackie leading P2 of Brown School. Rain clouds and some thunder showed up quickly while I was making my way up to Jackie at the P2 anchors of Brown School. It turned cold really fast too. We hurried down just in case there was lightening as well. Double 70m got us down in 1 rappel.  Afterward, we all headed to the White Mountain Cafe & Bookstore for some post climbing coffee and sandwiches!

Thanks, Jeff for the photos. And thank you, Jackie, for your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  Enjoy a few photos taken of our day multi-pitch rock climbing at Mt. Forist. Can't wait to get back to do more climbing there!

Jackie (left) leading P1 of Madigan.

Tom (right) at the anchors of Nibroc

Jeff at the anchors of Nibroc

(photo taken from P1 anchors of Madigan)

Bringing Jackie up P2 of Madigan

Jeff at the P2 anchors of Brown School

(photo taken from P2 anchors of Madigan)

Bringing Jackie up Nibroc

Buffalo Corral - Rock Climbing

Leading Stampede (5.8)

Buffalo Corral
Rumney Rocks
Rumney, NH

If you love slab like I do, go climb Buffalo Corral.

Met up with Nuno and David at Buffalo Corral of Rumney Rocks. It was our first time climbing there and we had a really great day. The parking lot is large and I'm hoping that the little clearing off to the side will be the location of the new outhouse. The approach is super short and the crag is well-shaded. There are trails on both sides of the slab to access the top to set up top rope anchors. We didn't do any top rope climbing today, just leading. We pretty much started on the right side of the slab and worked our way to the left side. David lead Mild Horses (5.5), Ghost Pine (5.6), Bleached Bones (5.7) and Flaming Arrow (5.9+).  And both Nuno and I lead all the routes but the 5.9+ Flaming Arrow. 3 other groups showed up and they mostly climbed the right side of the slab. Thanks, Nuno and David for the photos and your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  Enjoy a few photos taken of our day at the Buffalo Corral.

At the right side of Buffalo Corral.

With its super short approach and fun moderates, this crag is a heavy favorite for camp groups who love to utilize the right side routes during the summer months.

David on lead

Left: Flamming Arrow start

Right top to bottom: Mild Horses, Ghost Pine & Bleached Bones

Nuno leading Bison Burger (5.7)

Nuno leading Twinkle Toes (5.7+)

Appropriately named - 

At the crux, you'll find out why! hehehe!

Leading Mild Horses (5.5)

Women Outdoors Marketplace

Calling all women! Jackie and I started the Women Outdoors Marketplace, an online community for women, run by women. Women can post For Sale, ISO, Outdoor-related businesses, Vacation Rentals, Fundraisers and more! Hoping to also get the word out to other women who hike, ski, SUP etc. Please join us and help spread the word to other women!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1010627275794638/ 

#women

#womenwhoclimb 

#womenwhohike

#womenwhoski 

#womenoutdoors

#outdoorwomen 

#womensport

#outdoors 

#marketplace 

#nature

#adventure 

#womenwhocamp

#womenwhosurf 

#alpinewomen