An Adventure in Hiddenite

Anna and I drove two hours with our T@B camper to Hiddenite, North Carolina to go rock climbing at Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area. A former quarry was bolted for top rope and sport climbing. Climbers can park right at the face of the rock wall. We did some recon after setting up camp.

https://youtu.be/NSLzRIvhMkY

Our campsite was at the edge of a stream.

https://youtu.be/7uaMoQIFQMo

Anna set up the anchors so we could top rope:

The rock was very different from any we've climbed; there were very few easy places for hands. We had to keep our body up against the wall and rely on toe placement to ascend. Climbing the routes was all slopers and smearing.

Anna did very well while I barely managed to summit a climbing route; but I did clean the anchor.

On our second day, Anna did her first outdoor sport climb! She placed all the quick draws ascending and cleaned the route coming down.

As usual, we ate and drank well. Our first night at the campground was filet mignon and the second night was Indian Dhal.

Before leaving Hiddenite we panned for gems at the Emerald Hollow Mine ( https://www.emeraldhollowmine.com/ ). We were quite successful (aventurine, common opal, amethyst, quart and jasper) but we didn't strike it rich.

With Lynne and Jim in Boone, North Carolina

Anna and I went camping with Lynne and Jim. We had our T@B camper and L&J had a new tent. We spent the weekend exploring around Boone. Anna had made us matching pajamas for the occasion.

Yeah, we know, too cute.

Lynne and Jim had never gone white water rafting so we all went on an easy trip (class I - III) down the Watauga River with High Mountain Expeditions.

It was a lovely day and we had lots of fun.

The next day our first stop was Blowing Rock which is a really nice town and is also a well-known tourist attraction.

Lynne and Anna just HAD to climb up on it.

The views up there are spectacular!

The flowers weren't bad either.

We also drove to Linville Springs and hiked to the views of the waterfalls.

This very short Youtube video shows the lower cascade. If you look carefully, on the bottom right you can see people on "the beach". We have no idea how they managed to get down there!

When we returned to the campground we experienced a 45 minute downpour. We were all stayed snug in our camper until the sun came back out. And L&J's new tent passed its first water test with flying colors.

A Quick Climbing Trip to Pilot Mountain

Anna and I drove 110 miles to a popular climbing spot less than two hours away from our house in Durham. The last time we were there was three years ago; our guide was Taylor Smith who took us for our first outdoor climbing experience. At that time we had only been climbing at an indoor climbing wall for three months.

We have climbed outdoors many times since; but this trip was our first time climbing without local helpers or guides. Anna had bought all the gear and a sixty meter rope. And she made a quad and locked us in at the various anchors so we could top rope five different routes: Howdy Dude, Honey Pot, Grandpa's Belay, Pee Break, and Goldilocks.

We stayed at the Greystone campground, a mile from the parking lot at Pilot Mountain.

That's me at the middle; then Anna topping out:

Anna did the toughest climbs:

Anna proves that the rocks are unforgiving:

Myron resting:

We had a good three days of climbing. It was hot and fatiguing but the views were stupendous!