Tag Archives: Leominster State Park

Sep30

21-Sep-13 – Climbing at Crow Hill

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21-Sep-13 – Climbing at Crow Hill

  • I met up with Daniel, Erin and Meghan early afternoon on Saturday. They were supposed to be there earlier, but the extra time gave me a good chance to relax and explore the area.  Do a bit of shopping at the random yard sales, have a bite to eat, the usual slow Saturday stuff.
  • Once they arrived we moved onto the climbing – starting in at the far left wall
    • Usual two routes here: layback crack and the nice handcrack that runs up the center
    • Daniel and I led the center crack (once each), and I let Daniel take the Layback crack.  Was nice, and a fun relaxed set of climbs.
    • I tried to set up a small climb farther right, but unfortunately some other folks arrived just before I could actually go about setting the route.  Wasn’t that horrible, but I was looking forward to trying out a new face over there.  Getting a good lead in maybe.
  • From here we moved right, to the practice slabs.  It was getting late, so we only did a toprope of the first one.  I did take two runs on it though – one to try the straight-up and fun route, and another to try out a few harder slab moves that looked interesting.  They were, in fact, quite interesting.
    • And… that was it.  Not a huge amount of climbing, but it was fun.  The weather was great and we had a good time, which is really the key to it.
Sep29

Weekend of 20-Sep-13 through 22-Sep-13 – Adventures in Camping

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Weekend of 20-Sep-13 through 22-Sep-13 – Adventures in Camping

Friday, 20-Sep-13

  • Got home from work Friday night and started packing up for the weekend!  Plans had fluctuated a lot over the week, but the current path was to drive out to a campground that I’d stayed at before, hang out Friday night and Saturday morning, and then link up with Daniel and Co. at Crow Hill for a day of climbing.
  • Instead of packing and leaving though… I fell asleep.  It was a good sleep… though rather concerningly strange dreams were had.
  • Once I got mobile again I checked in with the campground to give them a heads-up that I’d be late, packed the car up, and hit the road.
  • After a quick stop at the grocery to grab food for the weekend, I was on my way down Route 2, with the top down and the music cranked.  It was a glorious drive – not a cloud in the sky, and it was just cold enough that I turned the heat on.
  • Arrived at the campground, and shot the breeze with the owner for a while.  He’s an interesting guy, who collects small mechanical devices in a gallery in the back of the office.  It’s huge, and has tons of very interesting little machines.
  • Don’t even bother setting up my tent, and instead just have a quick dinner around the fire.  Again – glorious.
  • Sleep out on the ground in my sleeping pad, directly under the stars.

Saturday, 21-Sep-13

  • Get rolling, pack up my gear, and head out to meet everyone at the climbing spot.
  • They’re running late… so I’m in no rush.  Good.  Means that I can explore for a bit.  Which I do –
    • I find a cool little coffee shop and get a breakfast snack, along with a pumpkin-spice chai latte.  Yep.  Typical fall in New England.
    • Eat breakfast under a small little bridge that I find.  It’s calm and nice, though I guess it’s near a hiking trail, because I got “found” by a random dog running around in the woods.
    • From there I moved on, just driving around the back country roads.  It’s beautiful, and I was quite happy to drive slow and enjoy the relaxation.
    • I found out that one of the towns nearby was having its annual “yard-sale day”… every few houses there was a massive multi-family yard-sale… so I stopped in and picked up a few odds and ends that were missing from the house.
  • Everyone finally arrives, so we start with the climbing
    • Time passes!
  • After climbing and dinner, head back to the campsite and sit down with the owners again.  Chat for a while, hearing about when he used to run a trucking company and telling him about my trips in New Zealand.
  • Head back to the campsite – the firewood I didn’t use last night is still there, waiting for me!  Woo!  Start up that fire!
  • As the fire’s burning, I head to the car and set up the tent this time – it’s been looking like rain all day, so I’m thinking this is a good idea.
  • Relax by the fire, have a drink, and zone out for an hour or two
  • Head to bed under the stars again.
  • And… I’m glad I set up the tent.  At some point it starts drizzling… and by the time I’m in the tent it’s full-on downpouring.  Continues through the night in epic fashion, and I learn the hard way that my tent isn’t completely waterproof… unfortunately.  Fortunately it’s only a small leak, so I sleep through it with only a sort-of wet sleeping bag to show

Sunday, 22-Sep-13

  • Up and at ‘em, say my goodbyes to the owners, and get on the road!
  • Nothing really to be said here – packing away a wet tent and sleeping bag is never fun, but sometimes it’s what needs to happen :/
  • Grab a “skillet breakfast” at a diner outside of town.  It’s excellent – potatoes, eggs, bacon and sausage with cheese melted over it.  Definitely something I’ll make again at home.
  • From there, move on to the Kayaking place, and then home for a relaxing Sunday evening
Jun23

A bit of work, a bit of climbing, and a lot of relaxation and reflection on Patriot’s day.

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15-Apr-13

 

After the previous few days spending time with Mike and Sarah after the passing of Mike’s Mom, I felt the need to get away from everything for a bit. So I packed up the Mustang and drove out to Crow Hill, in Leominster State Park. I had planned on hiking, climbing, and hopefully doing a bit of work for Artisan, but the events of the day changed that plan a bit…

 

  • I was awake and mobile much earlier than usual. Perhaps because it was a Monday, but I think it was mostly due to the emotionality of the previous days… and my need to escape to the woods for a bit.
  • After a delicious breakfast of waffles, bacon and eggs I finished packing up the car and headed into work at Artisan, to get caught up on a few things that I’d missed the previous week and to make up some time that I knew I was going to burn later on in the week.
    • I actually got a fair bit done in the short time I was at Artisan; having a building completely to yourself does actually help creativity and ability to focus, as crazy as that sounds. Though I did miss having someone to bounce ideas off of, I’ll admit.
  • After grabbing some of my notes I hit the highway again, dropping the top on the car and taking Route 2 all the way out to Crow.
  • The drive? Amazing! Perfect weather and excellent skies, with just enough traffic to keep the driving interesting.
  • I park at the parking lot to the rocks and head on in after having a short chat with one of the rangers nearby. Slow day, supposedly, which is a bit surprising for such a propular climbing place on a Monday holiday.
  • After chatting with a few random climbers about the rock and the day so far I headed deeper into the park than I usually do – heading out to do a bit of exploring for new crags to climb
    • There was tons of wet rock and greasy climbs, but for a while nothing looked legitimate enough to bother setting a rope up on
    • Finally I broke through a whole nest of shrubbery and undergrowth, finding a massive cliff that looked perfectly open for development. I still haven’t gotten to go back yet so I won’t admit to anything about them… but I can’t wait to get back.
  • As I’m walking around and exploring, the phone calls finally start flooding in…
    • “Are you ok? Are you at the Marathon?”
    • The theme continues – no information about what’s actually happening or has happened, but I start hearing rumors that something happened at the end of the Boston Marathon.
    • As the calls flow on, I learn more and more: I slowly put together a picture of what had happened… learning about the explosion, the second explosion. Hearing that my friend who ran the race was ok. Learning how many had been hurt, and that thankfully none of my group of friends had even been in the area
  • But… I was an hour away, at max speed. And being back in Boston wouldn’t help anything… so I continued on, exploring more of the crags and scouting out a few possible new places to climb.
  • I do sit down and try to get some Artisan work done, but unfortunately for my trusty Netbook, the water bottle that I’d brought alone didn’t have a particularly secure lid… and the water had spilled down onto the keyboard. Thankfully a few days of drying cleared it out, but it was out of commission for the time being.
  • With the Netbook out of order, hiking is the option of the day. I roll out and explore to the far end of the State Park, taking my time and chatting on the phone as calls come in.
  • As darkness sets I head back to the car, having a nice drive back home as the sun dropped down below the horizon.