Well God Damn. I actually got back "in status" yesterday. Unless some damn sonof#$%&ch has been holding out on us about some new route they've done, I'm back to having done every climb in the park easier than 5.10 in good style. I wasn't sure I'd ever get there again. This stuff really is fun.
I'm starting to realize though that this will end some day. Someone will put up a route at some point and I'll walk out to it with my walker. Dave Harden will be along, no doubt, using two walkers. Gavin will be older and he'll have begun to understand but, willing as always, he'll have carried the rope and rack out. Marco and Mikayla will have intuitively understood what's coming and hiked out with us (a short hike) for the laugh. I'll look at the route, shake my head, and I'll say, "nope, can't do this one." It's inevitable and when it happens? I'll go back to camp, kiss Vicki, get my face washed by retrievers, pour a glass of wine, sit in my chair and be totally, totally satisfied by how long it did last.
Another thing I'm realizing is that I'll never get the raw route count up to 1,300. I've now done 1,258 different routes in the park in good style. There aren't currently enough existing climbs that I can do to get to 1,300 and even if others are established over time, I don't see it happening. And I'm good with that too. Such a great run.
All these reflections while I'm sore and worn out at home today after three action packed and excellent days down there. Thanks to Jenn as always for the great guidebook help and getting over to the first of two routes I needed to do. Gavin and Alacia made yesterday at The Citadel a ton of fun and quite productive. In fact, I think I'm mostly sore because Gavin expects me to climb harder than I should for my age. But who knows, maybe he's right. He definitely pushes me. Alacia just tries not to laugh while I grunt my way up routes.
And apologies to Natalie who seemed to understand and forgive me for not joining them today as planned.
