The first road trip of the sabbatical: Red River Gorge, Kentucky

The first weekend of June we took our first road trip of the sabbatical. I say first, because I am hoping that Brandon and I do many little road trips or day trips around Michigan this summer. This first road trip was about 8 hours each way to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. We try to do this trip at least once a year to rock climb outside with friends, and this year three friends were able to join me and Brandon. We all fit ourselves and gear into my sister's car for the trip, which was no small feat. 

Upon arrival to Kentucky we proceeded to exhaust our poor bodies with rigorous climbing (two half and two full days of climbing) and camping. Probably the best quote of the trip came from our friend Matt who said wryly, "You know some people use their time off work to get things like room service...". Well, we certainly did not have room service, but we did have dinner each night from either the famous Miguel's or down the road at the Rock House, both of which tasted heavenly and kept our bodies going for the next day of climbing. It's tough to say whether or not the food really is amazing. Rock climbing all day will give you quite the appetite. But I guess we don't really care because either way it always hits the spot on this kind of trip.

This trip we climbed the following routes: 

Danger Mouse: 5.8

Please Don't Feed the Triceratops: 5.7

It's a Wonderful Life: 5.9+

Rat Stew: 5.10a

Send Me on My Way: 5.9-

Return of the Manimal: 5.10d

Stay Off the Radio Jeff: 5.9+

The Bee's Business: 5.7

Boilerplate: 5.8

Deeznuts: 5.8

Sunny the Boxer: 5.9

To Defy the Laws of Tradition: 5.10a

Mr. Bungle: 5.8+

Not too shabby considering that Monday we had thunderstorms and rain to contend with. Many of the routes have naturally overhanging rock that protects the rock face from getting slippery from rain and the rope from rain damage. However, it is still not advisable to climb in lightning with all the metal gear we use. We huddled together to stay dry under a rock overhang and wait for the rain to clear and had to end the day a little early as another storm rolled in later. Thankfully, the weather on the other days we climbed was beautiful. 

Overall, despite feeling broken by the end of the trip with our tight muscles, torn cuticles, scraped up extremities, and bruises pretty much everywhere imaginable, we were all pleased to see improvements in our leading, topping, and general climbing performance from the last trip. *

Brandon looking up to me as I lead "Send Me on My Way"

Me working thru a difficult section of "Return of the Manimal" on top rope

Brandon, our fearless leader, leading "To Defy the Laws of Tradition"

Carolyn conquering the slab section of "Sunny the Boxer" on top rope

Cait and Carolyn hanging out on "Mr. Bungle" on top rope

Matt climbing well on "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" on top rope

*I have used the terms "lead" and "top rope" in this blog post. If you want to understand more about what these are and the difference between them, I have found this blog post from the American Alpine Institute to be helpful: 
http://blog.alpineinstitute.com/2011/03/definitions-for-beginners-top-rope-vs.html