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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Sugarite Canyon

Most of the last few days has been a blur of driving, highlighted by record breaking temperatures (36 degrees Celcius!) while going through Kansas. I still get mildly excited by the vast expanses of nothing in the great plains, much to Kristal's ammusement.  Here's a token sunset shot from somewhere in Kansas.


We made it to our first destination, Sugarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico, in two and a half days, and were pretty excited at the prospect of climbing when we arrived.  Unfortunately the tail end of the heat wave was still in full effect, and the idea of baking in the sun on the cliff was not at all appealing.  Instead, we headed to the nearby Capulin Volcano National Monument to do some sightseeing.  It was a pretty cool trip, and the fact that there is a road all the way up to the caldera of the volcano was a definite plus!  I didn't take an pictures of the actual volcano, but here are some from the hike.

Kristal freaking out over the number of moths flying about.  She doesn't like moths, and there are a LOT around here.


You can still see evidence of the lava flows in the surrounding plains.


Some cool nearby volcano features.


Some pretty flowers in the path.


Way in the distance is the Rocky Montains!


The next day we were itching to go climbing. The temperatures were more reasonable and despite the threat of wind and rain it turned into a beautiful day.  The cliff here is pretty short, maybe on average only about 70 feet high. It's all single pitch trad, climbing the cracks between these cool volcanic columns.


Here is Kristal leading Salt Mother 5.8.


And me dancing for the camera, with the canyon in the background.



1 comment:

  1. Glad to see you're on the road again. Make sure you drop me a line if you pass through Seattle. We'd love to have you guys over & we have a free guest room if you're interested.

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