Saturday Climbing Outing - Mt Woodson

It is springtime, we are still in SoCal, life has thrown no curve balls at us. Things are good. Saturday provided us with a good adventure opportunity- scenic drive, ostrich gawking, a short uphill hike, and short but fun crack climbs on big boulders.

On the drive out, we saw loads of veggie and orange plantations, except they are not called plantations here. Since the underpaid workers are Mexicans, it isn't called a plantation, FYI. It is a farm or an orchard.

We also saw a hand-written sign advertising Ostrich Eggs For Sale. I was stoked to make a really big omelet, but we realized the only cash we had in the car was a whole slew of pesos in the cup holder. As close as we are to the border, nobody here traffics in pesos. What's up with that? There was more peso commerce in Austin than there is here. Interesting, no? We drove by, leaving my dream of an omelet of epic proportions for another day.

Mt Woodson is really just a big hill with big boulders strewn about. There is paved fire-road all the way to the top, so the approach to the climbs is a total cake-walk. Ian and I talked to his bro and sister-in-law on the cellular telephone on our way up. It was not really a back-country experience.

Once you stroll a few feet from the paved fire road, there are lots of fun, short, steep, knuckle grater cracks to climb. We set a few of them up with top ropes, and made a day of it.

If you look closely at the pictures, Ian has resurrected the Manor Elementary shirt that was his uniform in Panama. Apparently this shirt has seen to much to simply be retired. I am, as per usual, sporting a sun hat. Y'all can keep emailing me about how I look like a dork, but when I don't die of skin cancer we'll see who looks the dorkiest. (That was one of the worst sentences ever written; it makes no sense, but I am leaving it. All 2 of our readers can chastise me later.)

After negotiating my way up a fairly vertical crack, we saw the most amazing caterpillar making its way up the rock with much less sweat and issue than my performance required. The little guy looked quite feathery, had snappy red and grey colouration with white accents, and had two plume-like tufts coming off its head. I took it as a good omen. -For what exactly, I don't know. Seeing a plume headed-caterpillar has to be a good sign for something. . . hopefully not for fertility, but maybe for prosperity or employability.

Check out our award winning short films below. One is of an ostrich walking. The plot is pretty easy to follow and there is no surprise ending. Our other short film is of Ian looking at the guide book. That one is quite artistic, if I do say so myself.