b.m.=black mountain = bowel movement = boulder mania=...

Did I mention that I really love the outdoors? Well, I do. I freakin' love the great outdoors. I just spent 3 days on black mountain with Dorian, Erin, Alex and Brett. We had quite an adventure that started on Friday afternoon. The first two hours of the drive consists of very normal (and by normal I mean kinda scary people swerving and speeding all around you) california freeway driving, and then a mellow drive on a rural mountain road (and my mellow I mean big white lifted trucks tailgate your teeny red honda civic going 35 mph whilst avoiding the 2000 foot precipice just inches away from the passenger side of the car) for 15 miles, and then 8 miles of rallying on a dirt road brought us to Boulder Basin campground on Black Mountain.

So many cool things happened it would take me too long to write it all down. A quick summary will have to suffice.

Friday Afternoon:
2:30pm- DAMN! it's really HOT. It is so nice that i don't care how hot it is. Can you pass me a beer? Thanks.
4:00pm-Let's go check out this boulder that everyone will want to climb on! SWEET. Walk 50 paces from campsite to arrive at base of the boulder. Lots of crunchy ponderosa pine cones on the ground and little teeny monzonite crumbles get stuck inbetween my tender-feet and my Chacos.
4:15pm- Gosh. that boulder is a lot taller than I thought. Can I get some beta?
5:00 - 9:00 pm- same story different boulders.

Erin gets a feel for the holds on her favorite problem at b.m.

Dorian on a warm-up problem at b.m. He is the only person in our crew that day to complete the warm up.

Brett owning a tricky problem at Black Mountain. The hat was a necessity! Alexander is giving a superstar spot in the background!

Erin owning the same tricky problem at Black Mountain. This might be Erin's favorite problem so far.
9:00pm- SO HUNGRY! Ate quinoa pilaf and baked tofu. Everyone will have the farts later and I think this is hilarious. I add more raw kale just to be sure. Brett contributed beans and rice (my personal fave), as if he knew what my secret joke was.
11:00pm- everyone (exept me) is in their tents and making quite a stink. I am sleeping out under the stars on the boulder pads. All I smell is ponderosa pine. Awesome!

Saturday:

6:00am- Mosquitoes descended upon my bare face. I am forced to get up or be eaten alive! I will make motor oil coffee in my french press and have the full b.m. experience.
6:30am- Having my 2nd cup of coffee on a mini-boulder watching a spectacular sunrise over Mt. San Jacinto. Brett is also doing the same on a different boulder.
7:00am- I am extremely caffeinated and I must wake up everyone else in camp because this place is so cool and everyone is going to miss it!
The rest of the day is really about bouldering and Tecate. Everyone climbs a lot, gets torn up fingers, and has a super time. My camera battery decides to die so my memories will have to do for pictures.

Sunday:

6:00am- Strong french pressed coffee is definitely better experienced on top of a mountain with a view of the sunrise. This feeling will never get old.
6:45am- Me and my camping crew have decided to drink up all the coffee we brought and eat a huge breakfast.
8:30am- We have just gorged ourselves on homefries, pancakes, kale, spinach, tomatoes and scrambled eggs (I of course skipped the eggs). We are now almost ready for adventure!
10:ish- Our camping neighbor brings us a dead rattlesnake that some idiotic campers shot up the previous evening and left for dead. This makes me feel angry about how disrespectful of nature/life some people can be. Dorian thinks that we should cook the rattlesnake for dinner...
11:00-4:30pm- After half a day of climbing and a bottle of smoking loon pinot noir down, we are all haggard and ready to head back to SD. I look down at my feet and see that they are the same color and consistency of the dirt up on Black Mountain. Erin will surely find this disgusting, but I will show her anyway.