Stone Fort and Lilly Boulders, Tennessee

After our days of fun at Rocktown we left Georgia and headed to Tennessee to climb at Stone Fort (aka Little Rock City). It's a strange climbing atmosphere because it sits directly on a golf course. So, as you are climbing you hear the tink of golf balls and can watch the carts driving around the course.

We have few of our own pictures because the charger broke on our brand new Canon camera, so we were without a camera for a bit. The new charger has arrived though and we're back in working order. All of the photos from the Lilly boulders and some from Stone Fort were taken by Nikki and are on her flickr photostream here.

Nikki on Sternum v5 - Stone Fort

great v0 -stonefort

We spent the day wandering around looking for stuff to climb. We weren't terribly impressed at first probably because we didn't have a guidebook which made finding the really good climbs a bit difficult. Eventually we ran into a group of climbers from Chattanooga and they gave us some advice on a few climbs we would like. There  was a v6 that Matthew flashed and Cassie got her second or third try. Matthew did Sternum v5 and Cassie did Ribcage v3 in a few tries. While talking to one of the climbers named Shay he asked us if we knew Ian and Nikki from New York. We were blown away that he knew them and told us they had just left there the day before to head to the Lilly boulders, which is where we were planning to head next. We had met Ian and Nikki in Moe's Valley Utah and had talked about meeting up in the Southeast, but didn't think it would happen and never made definite plans. So, armed with this new information we decided to only do a single day at Stone Fort, and head on to the Lilly boulders.

Monster,Nikki,Ian,Cassie,Matthew at the swimming hole

It's not the jump that's scary... It's the cold water.

We arrived at the Lilly Pad campground the next afternoon and immediately ran into Ian and Nikki who were stunned to see us. They had been thinking about leaving for West Virginia, but decided to stay since we were there. They showed us around the bouldering area and we found it to be a very nice little place. Definitely not as big as the other areas, but well worth the visit. The campground was Del and Marty's place and we found them to be excellent hosts. Their dogs are absolutely hilarious with one named "monster" chasing our car down the road every day to make us take her with us when we went climbing. Tipsy was another dog that loved to bark at vultures circling in the sky, Soldier was a big old dog who patiently waited around to clean off your plates and dishes. We bouldered until we were all sweaty and then headed down to the swimming hole that had an amazing place to jump off the cliff into the water. Cassie climbed an excellent v7 in just 4-5 tries called Jack Slap. Matthew did a great v4 called Hooker. Other than the ticks we had an outstanding time and were sad to leave after a few days.

Nikki works Jack Slap v7

Ian flashes Obediah - v5

Matt - Hooker - v4

I am not putting my hand in that hold. 

We said goodbye to Ian and Nikki on Friday and left for Red River Gorge in Kentucky. We arrived at a cabin Matthew's friends from Dayton had rented for the weekend and his friends arrived shortly after. We drank far too much that night catching up with everyone and stayed up much too late. The following day we took the crew climbing for their first outdoor climbing experience. Everyone had a good time though they struggled on the steep 5.9 we put them on. Everyone felt like it was quite an accomplishment to get as far as they got and were exhausted by the end of the day. We stayed up late celebrating Jim's birthday with bourbon and ale8. The next day we hiked to Natural Bridge and enjoyed the view. We drove on Sunday to Matthew's sister Elyse's house in Columbus, Ohio. We stayed up talked, watched a movie and the next day hung out, went out to eat and caught up on each other's lives. It was a great, though short visit.
Now we are at Matthew's parent's house in Howard, Ohio. It's a farmhouse on a river and is a bit of a hippy haven. We've cleaned out the van and are starting to get out stuff ready for going abroad. We leave for New York City in 4 days so time is short.

heron