After leaving Laramie, we had planned to make our way across the middle part of the country as fast as possible. However, as we’re repeatedly finding out on this trip, our plans have a way of changing, and we ended up spending some time visiting Seth’s aunt Sally just outside of Chicago. The night we arrived, Seth’s family treated us to Chicago-style deep dish pizza and convinced us that we should see the city. The next day we took the metro (train?) and explored downtown – a big change after spending the last few weeks in Ten Sleep and Laramie. Our Chicago highlights included the Chicago bean, walking the Magnificent Mile through the shopping district, the historical architecture, and the Lake Michigan beach.
The infamous "Bean" (we'd never heard of it)
Chicago shore of Lake Michigan
We
continued east after our Chicago adventure.
We had to battle through way more toll booths than two Seattle-ites should
ever have to deal with, but eventually we pulled into New Hampshire to see the northeast,
climb at Rumney, and visit Sydney (one of Chelsea’s friends from Team Vertical
World).
The gorgeous Baker River, Rumney, New Hampshire
We were
able to experience some of the most incredible climbing of our trip so far
during our stay with Sydney and the Buck family in Merrimack, as well as a bit
of the equally enjoyable New England country lifestyle. After meeting the Bucks (Steve, Denise, Eli,
and Micah) and catching up with Sydney, we made plans to climb at Rumney the
next day despite a pretty soggy forecast.
Sydney introduced us to her boyfriend Kyle when he came over later in
the evening, and Kyle kindly offered to loan us a pretty extensive library of
local area guidebooks and help us find a dry place to climb during the rainy
weather.
Kyle had
some awesome suggestions, but we still ran into wet rock at Rumney the
following day. Instead of spending the
day climbing outside, we explored some of the surrounding small towns, took in
the gorgeous New England foliage, and got some climbing in with Sydney at the gym she
works at.
Wet Rumney schist!
When the
weather cleared later in the week, Kyle was able to bust out of work to head up
to Rumney with us – thanks for giving us such a comprehensive tour of the area! Sydney then took us to Patuckaway, a
beautiful, forested bouldering area near the University of New Hampshire, and
we had a fantastic (if challenging!) day trying Sydney’s most recommended
problems. Over the weekend, we headed
south with Sydney to get in some quality plastic climbing at the first Dark
Horse comp of the season, and to let Sydney and Chelsea meet up with Kayla (another
ex-Vertical World team member) while Seth toured Boston College. The comp had fun problems, and watching the
climbers during the final round was great inspiration and motivation as far as
increasing our own climbing levels goes over the course of this trip.
Chelsea warming up in Pawtuckaway State Park
Seth on the classic Hobbit Hole V3
Chelsea working Ride the Lightning V6
Seth on a fun V4 with some questionable rock
After a few days climbing in the Rumney area, we headed north to Franconia Notch State Park. This trip had been highly recommended by Seth's grandmother, who had grown up in the area and remembered visiting Franconia Notch when she was young. Our original plan had been to climb the classic Whitney-Gilman ridge, but the weather was again looking uncooperative, and instead we looked around the beautiful landscape and went for an awesome trail run. After our run, we made dinner at the base of the cliff and spent the night at a great little campsite.
Seth loves trail running
Overall,
we really enjoyed the fall scenery and climbing in the northeast. The schist climbing at Rumney was very
challenging and really fun to play on.
The foliated rock has a texture more like wood than any rock we’ve seen
elsewhere, and the mica flakes both within the crag rock and in the gravel on
trails were pretty sweet as well – our climbing shoes are still glittery from
little mica fragments. The granite
bouldering at Patuckaway was very different than the style at Rumney but was
equally challenging and enjoyable, and the location is gorgeous; a little
stream runs through the boulders down to a pond filled with cattails and
rushes, and some of the problems are right on the water.
New Hampshire orchards are fantastic
Outside
of climbing, we loved the New England farm stands and general culture of
environmental consciousness. We spent a
lot of time exploring the farm stands, including the little stand that Sydney
and Kyle keep up which supplies produce, eggs, etc. from Kyle’s farm (if you’re
ever in the Merrimack area, please check it out and support them!). We also took advantage of the fall harvest
and went apple picking at an orchard very close to the Buck’s house, and may
have gotten a little too excited about the apples and the unbelievably
reasonable price the orchard owners were charging: we walked away from our
orchard experience with a full peck of apples (read: A LOT) and a jug of cider,
and we’re still working our way through them.
Thanks to Sydney, Kyle, and the Bucks for hosting us and sharing the local experience - we had a great time with you guys, and really appreciate everything! We were also able to spend time with Erik (Seth’s friend from school) while we were in Plymouth, and were lucky enough to run into Salz (another AAI guide from Chelsea’s summer job) at Rumney. Both Seth and Chelsea wished that we could spend more time in the northeast, but after about a week and a half it was time to head south to Manhattan to visit Chelsea’s sister Kiki at Barnard for the college’s family weekend!
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