Blog #6

I have officially begun my summer trip with my girlfriend Alex. She 
and I left Boulder, CO on July 4th and the trip has been nothing but 
fun adventures since the beginning. The trip began with a short trip 
to Joe's where we were soon chased away by the absurd heat of Southern 
Utah. I managed to get in some fun deep water soloing as well as eat 
some of the best donuts in the world at the food ranch. Joe's is by 
far one of my favorite climbing destinations in the country and I 
can't wait for the Fall to come so I can make a worthwhile trip out 
there! We found no escape from the heat in Vegas but enjoyed the city 
for a few days before embarking to LA to visit Alex's Aunt and 
cousins. After a quick stop there it was off to Humboldt for some 
beach bouldering.

I am currently in Humboldt now and have had two days of climbing under 
my belt here. The place is absolutely beautiful. We finally have 
escaped the heat of the south and are comfortably enjoying the cool 
sea breeze and climbing over the sand. The boulders here are ever 
changing because of the sand levels. I was told about some cool 
projects to try while here. One of them was unfortunately covered with 
sand while the other was perfectly climbable! I managed the first 
ascent of this really nice compression slopey line. Though the sand 
levels were a bit high and the boulder itself ended up not being that 
tall I had an awesome time establishing a climb at such an amazing 
location. It is always nice to leave a mark on the climbing area 
wherever you may travel to. Tomorrow is going to be our first rest day 
here in Humboldt County and I surely am sore. We are going to explore 
the town of Arcata which looks to have some really nice shops and 
local restaurants. After a rest day we will either head back to the 
beach or possibly go and check out some of the local sport climbing. I 
definitely eyed a few lines on the beach that I very much look forward 
to getting back on. I wish there were more spots in the United States 
like the climbing on the beach in Humboldt! It truly is one of a kind 
and a place I will never forget. I hope to one day get back here when 
the sand levels are completely different and see all of the boulders 
from an entirely new perspective.

After our stop in Humboldt the rest of our trip is looking to be a 
blast! From here it is off to Portland and then a quick stop over in 
Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retail Show before continuing onward to 
our big destination of Squamish. We will be there for a couple of 
weeks and with some luck and hopefully some good climbing temps I 
would love to try and hopefully do both "The Singularity" and 
"Dreamcatcher." I have tried neither of them before and am excited to 
see how I fair on them. With the great weather that we have been 
getting here in Humboldt I can only hope that it is going to get even 
better the further north we venture. After Squamish, we are going to 
drive East through Canada to Banff with a few possible short stops 
along the way. After that it is back home to Boulder, CO before 
starting school again at the end of August.