I think I've got some Gunks in my eye....

So, Monday night I arrived in New Paltz. I found my way to the Department of Environmental Conservation Multi-Use Area (a.k.a. the "Multi-Abuse Area) about 6 miles outside of town, and settled in for the night. Tuesday morning, I drove into town and went to the local gear shop, Rock and Snow, to pick up a guide book, then headed back out toward the crag. On my way out of town, I saw a buy hitch-hiking with a crash pad (actually, 2 crash pads) and stopped to pick him up. His name was Marco, and, after some conversation, he said he would be happy to do some routes with me if he had a harness. Conveniently, I have an extra one with me! So, we climbed a couple fun, easy 2 pitch routes, then a couple of popular single pitch climbs. After that, we top-roped, the Trashcan Overhangs, a short, strenuous 5.11-, then hiked down to a boulder problem Marco has been working. I climbed a few V0's, and spotted Marco as he worked his V8 project. He didn't send it, but made some progress. Unfortunately, I was pretty remiss about taking pictures, but I did get a couple.

Rhododendron, a fun 5.6 crack in the Uberfall area at the Gunks.

Marco sitting below the Trashcan Overhangs. The route traverses left under the roof, then pulls over the lip on the left side. Coming off early on TR makes for a fun swing!

It was nearly dark by the time we finished climbing. When I went to take Marco back to the bus station (he had taken the bus up from New Jersey for the day), we found that the road back to New Paltz was closed because a tree was down on some power lines, and had to detour through Gardiner, another small, nearby town. After, I dropped Marco off, it was about 9:00PM, and I headed back to the Multi-Abuse area. I was driving slow looking for my turn, and a truck was tail-gating me. I missed my turn, and went to turn left into a driveway to turn around. The truck chose this point to try to pass me. He clipped my left front fender and kept going. I stopped to inspect the damage, and it wasn't significant, but it was noticeable, so, knowing that he couldn't go too far, since the road was closed a half mile further down, I took off after him. I honked frantically, but he showed no interest in stopping. I got his license plate number and proceeded to where the firemen had the road closed. They radioed the police, and I sat around waiting for them to come out. By the time they had taken their report and everything, it was about 10:15 and I still hadn't had dinner and was totally famished. They said they would call me if they found the guy who hit me. So far, I haven't heard anything.

The Crunchinator's first scar from the trip.

So, Wednesday, I didn't wake up until 9:00AM, and still felt tired. Despite beautiful weather, I opted not to try to climb. I did drive around a little, and walked down to Split Rock, a.k.a. "the swimming hole". It was a little underwhelming, but would be a decent place to take a dip. Thursday, it rained, so I did more not climbing.

Friday, I had plans to climb with a guy named Richard, who I'd contacted through rockclimbing.com. We met up around 8:30AM, and he had two other guys, Tom and Jonathan meeting him as well. We hiked into the Trapps, and it was wet...very wet. So, we kept walking over to the Near Trapps, a.k.a. The Nears. We eventually found some almost dry rock, and I top-roped several routes, then went off with Tom and led Disneyland, an area classic 5.6. While we were climbing, Richard and Jonathan headed out. It was still early, and we had a little gas left so we went back to the Trapps (it was on the way to our cars anyway), and climbed a link-up of three short pitches that Tom had not done and was interested in trying. It was a fun conclusion to a solid day of climbing. Regrettably, I left my camera in the car both Friday and Saturday, so no pictures. Sorry!

Saturday, I met up with Jan, yet another guy I met through rockclimbing.com. I was supposed to hook up with Jana and Jason, who I met at the Red, as well, but my phone battery died and we failed to connect. Anyway, Jan and I got three good routes in, had a fun day of climbing, and I finished the day feeling nicely worked over. I decided I deserved dinner out, so we went out for Indian food in New Paltz. Yum!

It rained like mad Saturday night. Jan stayed the night, and we were going to climb, but between feeling a little sore from the previous two days, and not really wanting to pay $15 for a day pass to climb wet rock, I was feeling like a rest day was in order. Fortunately, an acquaintance of Jan's happened by, and his partner had opted out on him, so he and Jan were able to hook up to climb. This made me feel much better about bailing on Jan.

So, that's it for my Gunks experience so far. A good deal of the climbing here is steep and quite strenuous, even at the "easy" grades. My shoulders (deltoid muscles, I guess? The muscles in the back of the shoulder?) are getting apretty good workout! I think I'm going to stay here a couple more days. I should be able to climb with Richard again tomorrow and Tuesday. Then I will probably head toward New Hampshire, perhaps with a detour through the Adirondaks. Other than an unfortunate brush with a truck, it's been a good stay so far!

Route List for 5/12-16:

• Dennis (2 pitches, 5.5 Trad) (onsight)
• Jackie (2 pitches, 5.5 Trad) (onsight)
• Rhododendron (5.6 Trad) (onsight)
• Laurel (5.7 Trad) (Led with one fall on a polished hold at the start)
• Trashcan Overhangs (5.11- Trad) (TR, flailed a bit)
• Birdland (5.8+ Trad) (TR)
• A Farewell To Arms (5.8 Trad) (TR clean)
• Bird Cage Traverse Variation (5.9 Trad) (TR)
• Transcontinental Nailway (5.10 Trad) (TR)
• Disneyland (2 pitches, 5.6- Trad) (onsight)
• Oscar's Variation to middle of Strictly From Nowhere to top pitch of Travels With Charley (3 pitches, 5.7+ Trad) (Followed pitches 1 and 3 clean, onsight pitch 2)
• Son of Easy O (5.8 Trad) (Onsight pitch 1, followed pitch 2)
• Three Doves Pitch 1 (5.7 or 8-ish Trad) (Onsight) to Annie Oh! Pitch 2 (5.8 Trad) (Followed clean)
• Directissima With Leftmost 5.8 crack variation ot last pitch (4 pitches, 5.9 Trad) (Followed pitches 1,2, and 4 with one fall on pitch 2, onsight pitch 3)