So there I was, heading south with a carload of food, equipment, and friends. It was spring break again and time for some adventures. With energy stemming from the prospect of climbing on warm rock, and the thought of schoolbooks left behind, we were all on our way. With the words of John Muir echoing in my head, we were “leaving our university for the ‘University of the Wilderness.’” Our first stop was in Pennsylvania so we could put more fuel in my truck’s tank, and a couple of RedBulls and a cup of coffee into my tank. Fueled by this we continued south, though only one of us awake. Somewhere around my twelfth hour of driving the demons of drowsiness started pulling at my eyelids. My co-pilot, also the person who was supposed to be keeping me awake, was off in dreamland. “Just finish this tank of gas,” I kept telling myself. When the needle fast approached E, I pulled into another gas station and passed the wheel, to crawl into the back seat and dream of a not so far off place with warm rock and ample climbing to sample.
Waking up to my friends screaming I noticed we were there. We had arrived in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky. We puled into the Pizza Restaurant/Campground parking lot at about nine thirty in the morning after sixteen total hours of driving. We threw up or tents stashed our gear and went looking for rock. We acquired a guidebook and were off to make our own adventures.
It was seventy degrees and sunny, we laughed at those still in New Hampshire getting snowed on, maybe a bad karma move. We climbed several routes at the first wall we visited. The effects of the long drive and poor ‘on the road’ diet were starting to surface. It was now evening and the sun was beginning to set, so it was off back to the campsite, windows rolled down to enjoy the remaining heat of the day.
We got back to the campsite and met up with some friends that had arrived a day earlier. They looked drunk; no, they were actually only completely exhausted from having climbed hard two days in a row. “This place must be great!” I thought to myself, as I tried to hide my excitement. We made dinner together; rice and beans was the fare for the night. We talked about where to climb the next day. Later we all went to bed to the sound of rain falling on the tarps above our tents, hoping for a clear day in the morning, no such luck. And, as it would turn out no such luck for the rest of the trip. As with most road trips, you can guarantee interesting moments, fun, wild behavior at times, but the one thing you cannot control is the weather. Rest day number one was now in effect, but we were not going to sit still. We decided that abusing my truck on the muddy access roads of the gorge area, to check out climbing areas for the next day, would be a formidable activity for the day, as we could not climb. Four wheeling up rut laden roads with steep drop-offs on either side had me beginning to worry about the outcome of this day. Never was I so excited to se paved roads and later a gravel parking lot to set my truck to rest in.
The next morning we woke up to rain again, but still climbable conditions on the steep walls of the gorge. Funny and sometimes disappointing things happen to people on road trips. Mine happened to be the inability to climb, or climb well as I thought. Having spent most of the winter hanging on to ice tools, my arms were not in the shape that the steep, unrelenting, pocketed faces of the Red River Gorge’s walls. I was using all of my energy to muscle up climbs that would have been a breeze at the end of the fall. Never the less you have to find ways to have fun on a trip of this type of investment. The climbing, though tough was fun. I had a blast and it was not just the climbing that fueled my enjoyment. It was being in a really cool place with really cool people. Besides isn’t it the people who go with you on a trip that make the trip worth wile? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather go to a crappy place with cool friends, than a cool place with people who are not interested in being there at all.
So we climbed through the rain, fog, and wind. We even drove an hour one day to embark on some adventures in the big city of Lexington. We had the times of our lives doing it too. We all left the Red River Gorge in Kentucky with plans of going back real soon and trying some things that we didn’t have time for. I plan to go too. One member of our group is actually graduating and moving there this summer. I guess he really liked the place. Road trips are fun to get away and let loose. Safe road trips are better, so drive safe and use some good judgement when you make decisions, because remember, you have to go home and tell all your buds who didn’t go how much fun they didn’t have with you. Remember not to let the rain get you down.
—The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too. Hervey Voge