I took a well-deserved rest day today and did a hike with some camp boys and Todd. It was cold and windy from the top of the hike and I woke up 20 minutes before the van left from the meeting spot in town so I didn't feel like I was fully awake or prepared to meet the day when we started. The wind was buffeting us and my thin hiking shoes were doing little to protect my tender toes from the rocks on the descent. Climbing that night before had done my feet and body no favors. As we got going though we found some spots that shielded us from the wind and the sun began to warm us.
It was nice. RipRap is a small swimming hole on the western side of the Blue Ridge and it's the first hike I ever lead with a group of older kids when I started working at Field Camp. We used to go a different way that was much flatter and shorter but that secret back entrance has since been closed off. It was fun to do a new hike and see the parkway and see the people of camp again. A nice thing about going in February is that you could see all of the rocks and crags and exposed rock walls that are normally covered in the summer. There were a couple of massive faces that looked really fun to climb if you could set up some rope anchors. I even brought my climbing shoes along as I was frantically packing this morning thinking that maybe we would come across something on the side of the trail. It wasn't until later that I remembered that my finger tips were completely raw from three days of climbing in a row.
For all of my frustrations with running about accomplishing things and meeting people, climbing is the complete opposite. I feel like I'm making a lot of improvement in a short amount of time and I feel more connected than ever to that gym. So really I'm just being greedy that I can't have it all all the time.
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