Who da Guy?

When you close one door you always open another. I said good bye to Aunt Mary and Uncle Rex knowing I could have at least spent a season at the Andrus. But I said hello to two dear old friends, Mr. Phillip Anthony Wiese and Miss Rock Climber (my alter-ego that has been put to sleep for far too long).

I met Phil off the 395, unexpectedly rather. We had plans to meet in Bishop, but since he got an earlier start than anticipated, he decided to keep on truckin'. He was parked at a beautiful vantage point of the monstrosity, Mt. Tom, and I myself was paying attention to the beautiful scenery when I almost missed him. I was thinking, "Who's that good looking dude sitting in the back of his truck, I guess I'll wave... Oh wait! It's Phillip Anthony, errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (that's the sound for rapid braking). And that's when the first reunion begun.



Phil and I had a great time. He spent the last summer working at Rock Creek Lodge and now has a pretty good hold on the area. He was like my little tour guide and entertainer, showing me the best climbing spots and playing me to sleep with his beautiful guitar.

Here is the first place I got to (as Paul and the Wyoming boys would say), tickle the rock. It's a nice little place called Pocketopia (I think). I flashed a really rad V1, a classic problem. But that was about all for me that day. But certainly a friendly awakening of Miss Rock Climber.



Here's a pic of Phil. I said, "I'll carry the rope and draws, you just have to set it up. An oddly scary rappel. The kind where you have to shuffle yourself off the cliff, thank god for daisy chains, right? Anyway, it was a nice slab area where I could focus on technique and not worry too much about falling. Only 5.8-5.10 but surprising, I still managed to forget to use my feet. They were slipping ever where. But, always, I'm my own worst critic.



A shout out to Miss Mickey Kinser here. When we were camping in Joshua Tree, she told me that her family use to wash each other's feet before they would crawl into the tent... and well, I was almost hesitant to propose the idea to Phil, since if you know me, you know my sad history of foot problems, and well, if you don't know me, I have certainly covered my bases with planters warts, athlete's foot, and well, most recently, toe fungus, that is going trans-foot-tential. Anyway, Phil loved the idea. True unconditional love. What a friend.

When I think of it, what didn't we do? We drank beer, bouldered, top-roped, clipped bolts, explored a haunted house, played dominoes, and... crystal hunted!

Here is a nice little city of crystals that we found while paroozing the mountain side. I am still envious of the really awesome crystal this guy showed us when we were pulling in. Two, almost amber colored, pinky sized crystals, connected side by side. Ohh, hummft.


Phil and I took a nice series of self-timer pics to remember our little home away from home, a nice camp tucked away in the pines and boulders. Phil and I once again went our separate ways, nothing new for us. It's been the way our friendship has worked for going on 5-ish years now. One love filled reunion after the next. And only more to come.