Good evening, and welcome to the Cafe Jerous. I'm Dan and I'll be your server this evening. Can I start you off with a drink? No? Well let me finish mine really quick.... there. Now, for tonight's special we have a three course meal. We'll start you off with a very sweet honey glazed Wyoming climbing trip. After that we have the very succulent Greenland loaf. And for dessert we have a caramel coated, bacon wrapped, deep fried, buttered job in California that is covered in sprinkles, more bacon and french fries. Sound good? Great, we'll get that started for you right away.
You may or may not recall but the last time we had spoke I had recently returned from travels abroad. I was faced with a tough decision to go back to work or take another month off for some climbing. It was a tough decision and after a lot of deliberation I opted to pack the van and head to the wild state of Wyoming for a solo climbing trip.
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| Fremont Canyon |
Having my roof-rack rip off of my car (with my bike and rocket box attached) while doing 75 on I-80 seemed a bit of a bad omen on my first day. But despite the set back much enjoyment was had on the trip. I climbed in the likes of Vedauwoo, Fremont Canyon, and Wild Iris, saw places new to my eyes, made friends out of strangers, and fell in love with life a hundred times over.
One of the more memorable experiences had upon the trip was a big climb in the Tetons. It was an adventure from start to finish to say the least. It began with an optimistic two-lake paddle in. But swarms of mosquito's and warnings of grizzly bears proved to be ominous foreshadowing.
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| My partner Terry paddling on our way to the climb |
For not being able to find the climbers trail, we were punished with a rather unpleasant hike in. And despite a midnight mountain storm with no tent or flat ground on an exposed rock slope, two hours of sleep, a heart attack scare (my climbing partner was 65), a lost shoe, and two and a half hours of the worst bushwhacking of my life, we succeeded and finally made it back to town at around 3am.
But it isn't always fun and games here at the Cafe Jerous. I gotta do something more with my life than just have a good time, right? So off to Greenland for some work.
They say that after you've been everywhere, there is always Greenland. It has an almost overwhelmingly vast, baron, melancholic landscape. There are sweeping mountains of shattered rock that lead to horizons of ice beneath everlasting grey skies and the midnight sun. The particular place I was at was quite unique however. We were surrounded by a mountain range, the ice cap, three separate glaciers and a large bay filled with icebergs. And even though I had been coating my coworkers boots with seal blubber I was unsuccessful in seeing a polar bear. I did manage to work up the courage to jump in the water though. I suspect it would be quite hard to survive in that water for even a few minutes. But in Greenland, when it rains, it pours. The same can be said of my work schedule.
So straight from the icy grip of the Arctic to the warm embrace of southern California.
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| A fog dragon slinks across the valley floor |
We worked right on the coast near Oxnard for the first week or so and then had another job on a remote site in the Channel Islands. We had to pack in all of our own food, sleeping gear, everything and take a long boat ride to get there. Our reward was constant post card quality landscapes.
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| Santa Cruz Island fox |
There were also these cute little buggers all over the island.
But seriously... enough about work already, right? Let's get back to vacation. So after two months of work I was jonesing for some climbing (surprise, surprise). This time I was lucky enough to get to tie in to the ropes with my pops, who had come out to spend a few days out in the woods, clambering around on rocks together.
But alas good friends. The warm season is coming to an end and so too must this blog. With the falling leaves I take my queue to flee to warmer lands. So tomorrow I head to Arizona for a few weeks of climbing and canyoneering in Zion and Lake Powell. Got a few more cool adventures before this year ends so make sure you tune in next time. But until then.... don't do anything I wouldn't do.
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| Charming the fog dragon with some flute music |
DanJerous
You may or may not recall but the last time we had spoke I had recently returned from travels abroad. I was faced with a tough decision to go back to work or take another month off for some climbing. It was a tough decision and after a lot of deliberation I opted to pack the van and head to the wild state of Wyoming for a solo climbing trip.
