Tom Grundy's December 2014 Cross Country Trip Page

This trip really started in November, but so be it. The first leg was to Flagstaff for the traditional Thanksgiving Ethiopian feast. YUM. I also got in a little bit of mountain biking and climbing. Then I continued east through NM, TX, and on into OK. There I visited the Witchita Wildlife Refuge to take pics. It looked like there was some good climbing there too, but not so easy to rope solo. I saw bison, deer, longhorns, prairie dogs, bald eagle, lots of waterbirds, and some hawks. Unfortunately it was overcast for much of the time and the road up to the top of Mt Scott was closed when I was there. One odd thing was inside the park there was the "Holy City Of The Wichitas" where I guess they have a passion play every year. It had a bunch of outdoor stages for re-enacting various bible bits and some pretty cheesy exhibits and some nicer looking stuff too. Evidently they don't let you park 70's muscle cars on the lawn there.

traditional Thanksgiving Ethiopian feast

bison, or american buffalo at the WWR

prairie dog at the WWR

clouds obscure the top of Mt Scott at the WWR

longhorn cattle through the fog at the WWR

no 70's muscle cars allowed at the Holy City

the Moses room at the Holy City

longhorn bull stopping traffic at the WWR

you are more likely to see a tornado safe at a Home Depot in Oklahoma

After the WWR I cruised east some more into AR. There I went to Sam's Throne for some rock climbing. Unfortunately I didn't have a guide book or a partner. This made things a little frustrating at times, but it was usually easy enough to set up a top rope and rope solo "mini-traxion" my way up climbs as long as they weren't too steep. (even though I was using an Ushba ascender since I don't have a mini-traxion). One advantage with this setup is that if the anchors are close together and you can get between them easily at the top it is possible to climb a lot fairly quickly. The sandstone here was pretty nice and grippy. The weather was a bit colder and wetter than optimal, but it was good enough for a few days of climbing and when the sun did peak through it was appreciated.

nice featured sandstone for climbing at Sam's Throne

gear tree at Sam's Throne

another tree at Sam's Throne

From Sam's Throne I headed back south and then east some more into TN. There I was originally going to go to Fosters Falls or the T-Wall but I was a little nervous about vehicle break ins so I went to the much more obscure Blue Holes area. This featured some nice waterfalls and some too wet bouldering and a little bit of top-roping. It was definitely colder than optimal (frosty even), but I took pics until it warmed up enough to do a little more rope-soloing. Then I turned northish and took the scenic route up over a pass with snow and stopped at the Devils Backbone where a river makes a hairpin turn leaving a large fin of rock with a tunnel through it. There I hiked a bit (over the backbone and to the falls) and then was able to belay and get a belay from a guy who was putting in a new bolted line.

one of the Blue Holes waterfalls

another of the Blue Holes waterfalls

and yet another Blue Holes waterfall

Backbone Falls

Backbone Ridge top trail

Then I got back on the interstate and headed NE through a passel of states to Needham for the Holidays.

nice sunset in my mirror in Virginia (I think)

cool light on the "crab eyes" at the WWR

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