(all pictures are high res, for low res click here)
On the first day of the trip, I had
my first real rock climbing experience, as all of my prior rock climbing has
been done in the gym. The picture
above is the first route that I climbed - if you look closely you can see Tony
setting up the belay station and anchors - here's what it looked like from afar
.
I only did so-so on this routes, but I don't think it was too bad for my first
exposure to real rock. From this perch, we were served some beautiful
views of the valley
as well as other
climbing
problems
.
Everyone went climbing this first
day 
, and we all had a ton of fun.
And yes, the pictures of Pea do remind me of
Mike Myers as
the "hyper hypo" on SNL . Kudos to Pea, as he climbed a 5.10a route this
day.
After climbing here, we took a
break back at the Real Hidden Valley for some lunch and beer.
.
Adrian took this time to rest in the sun
, I got some pictures of a coyote
, and
Tony wowed us with his running skills. Some
people went bouldering, while Tony convinced me to go try some more routes.
After watching him climb (solo!)
, I felt I was ready for another
go. I mean, he made it look soooooooooooooo easy. Of course, I continued to have
trouble with the routes, but I had a ton of fun.