We were at the Church Street Bridge Boulders in Idanha, Oregon. Just Kona the Rottie and me for the weekend to do a few winterization repairs at the river cabin.
I brought my bouldering gear, because I remembered seeing quite a bit of rock around Detroit Lake, and Idanha is just east of there. We found some rocks right down the street at the Church Street Bridge. The second day I was cleaning a triangular boulder right on the water, which would become "Trout Fishing in America", an excellent V5, when I got a little too excited with my brushing and flipped my favorite soft bristled brush into the water. Kona was already in the water, curiously eying the leaping cutthroat trout, but not really trying to get one. When the brush went in, I'm like "Go get it!" She swam in like she knew what I wanted, but then swam right by the brush. I can't help but think my old lab Andi would have grabbed it, but that dog is long gone.
Then I'm off, running down the river bank trying to catch up with the thing. I used my bamboo pole to fend it closer to shore, stumbling, cursing, it's almost at arm's length; I step out onto a root and grab it. At that same moment, my foot slides off that root and into the water, but is now trapped just below the ankle in between two roots with the current worrying at it the whole time. I thought for sure I would lose my shoe, but I grabbed the little loop on the back and somehow pulled it free.
Lucky for me, I had a dry pair of shoes back in the cabin and it was sunny and 65 that day. Later that night it would plunge to 30, the stars shining like diamonds with the Milky way clearly visible. It was also my first time seeing the Andromeda Galaxy in quite some time, my 10x50 binoculars captured that quite nicely.
We will be going back to the cabin in the spring, and the area will yield more stories, but I will remember this one for a long time to come.
I brought my bouldering gear, because I remembered seeing quite a bit of rock around Detroit Lake, and Idanha is just east of there. We found some rocks right down the street at the Church Street Bridge. The second day I was cleaning a triangular boulder right on the water, which would become "Trout Fishing in America", an excellent V5, when I got a little too excited with my brushing and flipped my favorite soft bristled brush into the water. Kona was already in the water, curiously eying the leaping cutthroat trout, but not really trying to get one. When the brush went in, I'm like "Go get it!" She swam in like she knew what I wanted, but then swam right by the brush. I can't help but think my old lab Andi would have grabbed it, but that dog is long gone.
Then I'm off, running down the river bank trying to catch up with the thing. I used my bamboo pole to fend it closer to shore, stumbling, cursing, it's almost at arm's length; I step out onto a root and grab it. At that same moment, my foot slides off that root and into the water, but is now trapped just below the ankle in between two roots with the current worrying at it the whole time. I thought for sure I would lose my shoe, but I grabbed the little loop on the back and somehow pulled it free.
Lucky for me, I had a dry pair of shoes back in the cabin and it was sunny and 65 that day. Later that night it would plunge to 30, the stars shining like diamonds with the Milky way clearly visible. It was also my first time seeing the Andromeda Galaxy in quite some time, my 10x50 binoculars captured that quite nicely.
We will be going back to the cabin in the spring, and the area will yield more stories, but I will remember this one for a long time to come.
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