Photopost: Return to Rocktown

At the end of last month Alex, Cal and I headed down south for a weeklong trip to Rocktown, GA.  I'll just say that during this adventure I was a lot less drunk, a lot less warm, and a lot less dry than the last time I was climbing in the southeast.  Despite all that, it was a great trip.

We arrived on Friday, a wash out.  There was a strange noise that seemed to be coming from a little past our site.  Picking up various implements of destruction we trudged off towards the strange moaning.  It was unsettling that the noise was in the direction of an area on the mountain called the "Rape Gap", not making that up, there are signs.  We concluded that the noise was coming from cows down in the valley (not a bear, or cries for help that our imaginations lead us to believe).  After the trip Alex did a little Google Earth re-con and confirmed the fact that there were indeed some bovine herds bellow the ridge.

The next few days were full of climbing, campfires, and eating excessive amounts of saltines (three failed attempts at the challenge over the duration of the trip - Cal, that bastard, told us it was SEVEN crackers).  On Monday night we drove down the mountain into LaFayette to sample one of their fine eateries..Los Gurrero's.  Super cheap, huge servings, some kind of velveeta cheese that scared Cal, awesome menu illustrations, FREE tortilla chips with homemade salsa, etc. etc.  BUT if you were planning on schwilling margs (which we were), it's a no go - no booze.  Other than that, two thumbs up if you're cheap and hungry.

Tuesday brought a mist that shrouded Pigeon Mountain in an eerie fog, as well as soaking the boulders.  To pass the time we sat around the fire trying to create things out of wood and flame.  Cal made a club. Alex was making some sort of device.  I got pissed off and probably started eating saltines.  Alex took off that night and the wind snapped one of my tent poles in half.  UP SIDE!  I came upon the important realization that I can fit my Organic Big Pad in my tent.  Just so you ladies out there know, I now have a luxury suite.

Cal and I headed to Chattanooga, TN on Wednesday to wait out the rain.  The next two days were prime.  We befriended a couple of guys during the week - Ben from Florida and Jeremy from Ohio. We knew it was time to wake up and climb when we heard Ben fire up his car - a gutted Honda Civic that he sleeps in that we dubbed the "Green Machine".  They were both crushers and all around nice dudes.  It happened that they even knew my good friend Eleanor from climbing at The Red.  I hope to one day run into "Psychadelic Ben" and "Captain Trips" again (they are unaware of these nicknames and I hope they do not take offense if they ever read this, we really liked them, I just can't help myself with creating stupid names for people/things).

Saturday looked like another rainy one so Cal and I packed up our things and headed north.  One last stop at Huddle House and we were out of Georgia.  The southeast has really captivated me in the last couple of months and I am seriously considering moving down to Chattanooga.  Who can hook me up with a job in the environmental sector?  Till next time.

-Ryan