Makin' the Scene

We showed up at Secret Crag #7 to find three cars from 3 different states.  Up the hill, we found friends and newcomers, all enjoying a day among the forest and hills and mountains of West Virginia's Pendleton County.

Alex on "Thieves in the Temple"

Synchronized sending

Simon Moore between jugs on "Gypsies"

Dueling shredders

Forward- The Day of the Raids

Angry.

Meth is rampant in Washington State.

Drunk driving is rampant in Washington State.

Political corruption is rampant in Washington State.

Police corruption is rampant in Washington State.

The taxpayers spoke and do you know what the cops of Washington and of Washington, DC said to us?:Fuck you. We do what we want.

The last I heard, cops were supposed to be public servants.

The taxpayers spoke and do you know what the doctors said to us about obtaining our meds: Fuck you. Do it MY way or suffer. 

The taxpayers spoke and the politicians said to us: Fuck you. We will do whatever we want to you whenever we want-with YOUR tax money.

How did the citizens of Washington State get this way? Complacent with being abused? Complacent with being told how to live?

Complacent with having their own tax dollars used against them?

WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

How many people think that the politicians are going to create the jobs needed to get Washington State back on track by January 1, 2014?

The politicians can’t create any jobs while the taxes from our disability and unemployment checks go to pay their salaries. They’ve shipped our jobs away and refuse to replace them.

So when we try to survive by being healthier with MMJ they STILL try to shut us down.

They are wrong and they have to go.

Then we have the corrupt dispensary owners who turn on their neighboring dispensaries because of greed. They don’t give a shit about their patients.

[TimesOfMalta.com]

At the top of all of this are the fake patient advocates who have been pretending to be friends with the patients in order to collect data that is used to deprive them of their medicines — to make them suffer.

When people cannot have their chronic pain medications or end-of-life medications they become angry, depressed, and bedridden.

When people cannot have their meds, they cannot work, properly raise their kids, help their elders, help their churches, or fight for social justice; this is exactly what the politicians want in order to stay in power.

How dare these people try to take away our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Washington citizens are retreating into booze, prescription pain meds, and methamphetamine at astonishing rates.

How do these people sleep at night knowing that their perverse need to control other peoples’ lives is ruining entire cities?

[The Feronia Project]

It’s time for these people to go. It’s time to call the special election necessary to relieve these people of their jobs.

In the meantime, this is what you do:

Start having neighborhood meetings. Learn to grow your own. Rely only on word-of-mouth referrals and trusted sources.

Find every journalist and alternative media outlet you can and scream off the rooftops what has been done to you. Drop any doctor that has supported this nonsense in favor of pro-mmj doctors.

File Referendum Measure petitions. The last day is July 27, 2013.

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives.aspx

The citizens of Washington State did everything that was asked of them and were knifed in the back.

Now go underground, increase your numbers, make a plan of attack, and come back out swinging. 

Put them ALL out of work in 2014. They must have forgotten that the citizens outnumber the cops and politicians.

It is now time to remind them.

~ Anna Dawn Garland

• • • • • • • • •

Editor’s note: This post was taken from Steve Elliott's Weedblog at tokesignals.com  Dispensaries across the Puget Sound area were raided by federal DEA agents on July 24.

And so with Castles Made of Sand...

Fled the heat of Secret Crag #7 for the shade and close proximity of the river to be found at the Entrance Walls.

With so much rock and so few routes, we took on a new line or three...

The green and surprisingly steep start of "Castles Made of Sand".  The big detached block at the bottom later became part of the trail edging below the route.

Looking up the short, STEEP Sandcastle Arete... three bolts of fun to come.

Wall base in pristine condition- debris, spiders, stinging nettles, poison ivy, and plenty of loose rock.

The view from the top: beginning the bolting rappel.

Paleface- this short tower front the road.  Line comes up from under the roof right and heads through big holds above.

The loverly Miss Cindy, keepin' us hydrated on a 90 degree day.. and looking FINE!

In  the end, we ran out of hardware long before we ran out of rock.  Working toward an order of bolts and hangers, for now, and looking forward to creating more short, fun lines along the river.  

So glad everyone is convinced that New River and Seneca Rocks are the only worthwhile climbing in West Virginia!

Smilin' Through the Rain

Some days, the only way to win is to lose, to accept that there are un-winnable battles, knots that cannot be untied and adversaries too dangerous and unstable to face, and on those days you must swallow rage and disappointment and pride and sorrow and simply walk away, no matter how much you love something, believe in it, need it and/or want it to succeed. 

"Keep on smilin' through the rain
laughin' at the pain
goin' through the changes
'til the sun comes out again..."

A Ronin Looks at 50

Mother mother mountain
you have seen it all
wanted to climb
your stony reaches
since I was just three feet tall

You've seen it all...
you've seen it all.

Watched the crowds who climb you
go from outcasts to mainstream
without a clue of your hidden treasures
your forests and your valleys and streams
livin' the dream, just living the dream

Yes I am a ronin
four hundred years too late
The world's gone crazy
the climbing crowd is lazy
I'm the pioneer they all love to hate,
Cuz their egos got bent
one hundred fifty first ascents!


And I have been climbing
for over thirty years
aided, drilled and fallen
been through lots of tears and beers
But my ass has been draggin'
Gotta go craggin'
Get back to the source again
With just a few friends
just a few friends...

Mother mother mountain
After all my years I've found
that the dreams I've chased
across a thousand faces
were all answered back down here on the ground
Sometimes things come around
Things come around...

Home projects

A side bar from the usual rants about politics and the world of climbing; took today to begin painting a tree in the corner of the nursery my expectant step-daughter and her husband have set up in their country home, here in Grant County, WV.

Living on the Road

This is the video I made shortly before we left the Apache Trail campsite where we were maintenance staff.  It shows just how compact life gets after two years in motion.

Father's Day

Belated, but only because I didn't bother getting online yesterday, choosing instead to share my Father's Day wishes with my Father, Gilbert Gray. 

Today, I will tell the world that, no matter how much we may disagree on some things, and no matter the errors of the past, he is a comfort, a loving soul, a teacher and an inspiration, who came from a place most people could not imagine, who rose above his own beginnings to be something more, who saw the far side of the world, lost friends and lived in many worlds, loved and raised and provided for a family, fought fires and floods and flew planes, taught children and served as a shining example for many adults. 

Thank you, Dad, for all you have done and been, you have been and will always be the best.

Weekend fun

More rock climbing and good times over the weekend with friends Simon and Mike.  Some good old lines, a brutal steep project, and a fun new route to end the day.

The Doctor, Mike Fisher, styling his new 5.8 line Buckaroo

Working title

Busy day yesterday hiking to all the crags with a GPS unit to waypoint their locations and record the trails.

SO many great climbs done, so many more to do!