Beyond Climbing

 This is what we do in climbing areas when we aren't climbing.

Lincoln Lake gave us time to be silly, hike the dam, and use saplings as slingshots.

Getting in and out of Cowell was an adventure! Love Dove has more power than one would expect. She is a syncro at heart :)   Syncro is a 4 wheel drive Vanagon. 

 Exploring scenic vistas and natural areas is my favorite thing to do on climbing rest days. However, laundry, car maintenance, grocery shopping, paying bills, and some work needs to happen on those days too.  Life on the road still involves many of the everyday things we do in a house. That's another post.

  Here are some great scenic shots from a day of hiking to waterfalls. The hike to Pam's grotto was along the base of a cliff line.  The cliff line James and Phil were climbing.  It was a strenuous hike up; finding dead animal bones made the trip less arduous for T.  The cool mist and and pounding waterfall added to our delight. The icing on the cake was the trail back to camp; we followed the creek. Along and in the creek were HUGE moss and lichen covered boulders, hollowed out logs, and hundreds of mini waterfalls created by rocks.  E decided to play mother nature and move some of the rocks, thus changing a few mini waterfalls, create a whirpool, and build a dam.

Haw Creek Falls

And just for good measure we throw a few craft projects into our beyond climbing moments. Grammie sent us all new crocheted hats for Christmas.  James' was a little big so I unraveled a few rows which gave me enough yarn to create the old man beard for Terje!

I cannot even fathom how much beauty our country holds. We have barely scraped the surface of natural lands and each day I am in awe of the quiet places tucked away in our busy lives.