In retrospect, it probably would have been just to stay with friends in Louisville instead of driving five hours to Chicago on Tuesday and then seven hours back to the Red on Friday, but then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to eat two
Purvis burgers in one week. After a delicious stop for lunch in West Lafayette, I drove to
Lago Linda Hideaway to meet friends for our weekend of working at the
Johnny and Alex Trail Day and climbing. It was raining when I arrived, but fortunately there was a covered area where we could set up our tents. Since I had a roof over me, I decided this would be the perfect time to test my new hammock and see if I could get a good night's sleep in it. The hammock was fine, but the people yapping in the nearby pavilion with the lights blazing until 3am didn't make for a restful night.
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| Pierre enjoying the hammock |
The rain stayed away and we were able to proceed with the trail day. My group built a new trail to the Purgatory Wall in the PMRP. We enjoyed good food and good music at the party afterward. On Sunday, we headed to The Shire for some climbing. The rock was a bit wet, but the leaders did a good job of getting the routes up. Unfortunately, our day was cut short by rain and I got to clean another route in the rain. On the plus side, A and I ended up getting an early start for our drive to the New River Gorge.
After a fabulous night of sleep, A and I headed into Fayettesville for breakfast at the Cathedral Café. Mmm. Sufficiently fueled, we headed out to see some waterfalls and to hike at
Nuttallburg, an old coal mining town and complex. It was a beautiful hike, and we got a bonus workout swatting at all the bugs. All that hiking and swatting made us hungry, so we grabbed a tasty dinner at
DiOgi’s.
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| Nuttallburg |
We started Tuesday off right with quiche and an outstanding cup of coffee at
Musical Grounds. (Their motto “Without coffee, life would be a mistake.” Sounds about right to me.) After our relaxing morning, we got into a raft with other adventurous types and went down the Lower New for the
Rapid Run trip. The water levels were much higher than normal for August, since it had rained a lot the previous couple of weeks, so the rapids were, well, rapid. I had an absolute blast, but the fun was tempered by the knowledge that someone on another raft
drowned on his trip. The good meals in Fayetteville streak continued with dinner at Gumbos. Fried pickles – mmmm.
Wednesday was climbing day (yay!) so we headed to Summersville Lake to tackle the Orange Oswald Wall. The hike in took about a half hour and was absolutely gorgeous.
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| Summersville Lake |
A absolutely rocked it as the rope gun, putting up several routes including her first 5.10a, Orange Oswald. A group in a boat applauded her effort when she got to the top. The wall is right on the lake, which makes for a convenient way to cool off on a hot day, which we mercifully did not have. That didn’t stop a guy in another group from floating around on the inflatable dragon he brought with him. We went to
Secret Sandwich Society for dinner, and Hoover is a much better as a sandwich than he was as president. (The Hoover is a fried chicken with honey butter, pickles and green. Mmmmm.) It was a cool night at the campsite (I had to break out the puffy coat) but at least it didn’t rain.
A and I packed up Thursday morning and went our separate ways, DC for her and Chicago via my mother’s house for me. It was a great trip and I am looking forward to another hike/raft/climb adventure with A and others in the future.
