Road Trippin' with Paul Robinson - Part 1

July 12, 2009
The trip began with a slow start. With final exams in our summer classes and the prospect of moving our lives into a storage bin looming above us, Paul and I made the final preparations to begin our journey. It took multiple days to move both of us out of our houses but on July 4th after a delicious breakfast at Turley’s, we headed off towards Joe’s Valley, Utah. This was to be one of the many stops on our trip that would take us from Boulder to Joe’s for 2 days, Vegas for 2 days, LA for 3 days, San Fran for 1 day, and Humboldt for about a week. Then it’s off to Portland, where we are taking a flight to Salt Lake City to OR for a couple days, flying back to Portland and immediately driving up through Seattle to Vancouver. After that, the plan is to stay in the Vancouver/Squamish area for almost 2 weeks, where Paul’s brother Joel is joining us, before heading to Banff and then eventually making our way back to Boulder in mid-August.

It took us a while to arrive in Joe’s because we made various stops including a short trip across the tyrollean in Clear Creek Canyon so Paul could try Prime Evil. After a few really close attempts we realized it was getting too late and the rain clouds were about to break above us so we quickly packed up and continued on our way. When we got to Joe’s it was dark, cold and empty so we were psyched. This feeling did not last long. We awoke the next morning with a plan for Paul to climb Finger Hut Direct and I was going to climb the arete next to it. Paul instantly realized it would be too hot for him to climb even though it was only about 8:30 am. I decided to try the moves on my climb but by the time I got all the moves dialed down, it was so hot and we still hadn’t eaten breakfast so we decided to escape the sun and try the climb that evening. When we got to the car we realized we had no fuel so we made a quick trip to town and then decided to eat up on Joe’s reservoir. It was hot and buggy and we couldn’t wait to leave after we finished breakfast. 

We decided to go down to the part of the river where Wrinkle In Time is so we could go swimming. It was too hot and too sunny so I thought we could take refuge in our tent where we had put a queen blow up mattress and we had a computer and DVDs. We watched a movie, hoping the lack of sun and activity would cool us down, but it was useless. A few hours later we decided to venture back to the river so Paul could try a project next to Wrinkle In Time. The water was freezing and Paul realized he would need some sort of floatation device to get across to the boulder.

It was off to town again in search of an inner tube. 20 minutes later we emerged with The Explorer, a two-person raft that took way too much time and energy to blow up. Watching Paul cross the river in his raft was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I don’t know why we didn’t think that he should put a bathing suit on but there he was paddling with all his might across the river in his little raft, wearing only boxers. We tied the climbing rope to a handle of the raft so I could tow him back in. It took him a couple tries to get across but he finally did and he tried some previously established climb next to the project. He walked back in a shallow part so he could raft across again and try the project. He made it to the perfect spot on the boulder first try this time and he began up the climb. Two moves from the top he fell into the freezing cold water. It was fun to watch him from my cozy dry spot on the other side of the river. This was the end of the deep water soloing portion of the trip because at this point the sun was setting and it wasn’t even hot anymore. (I am on medication that doesn’t allow me to be in the sun, so this portion of the trip was really taking a toll on me).