I only have a few months till I'll be on the road with Travis and Graham. I need to get ready. I have books to write before I leave. I have books to read too. There are climbing techniques to learn. We're going to Yosemite. And there will be many days of rock climbing. It's time to train and get in shape.
My mind is pretty tough--writing days and book days will do this to you. But sitting all day is not the best for the body. I've been riding my bike more. And I've been climbing more. It's the only way. The best way to train for something is to do that something that you're going to be doing.
Recently, I've been climbing a lot with Travis. We've been talking about big walls. Yosemite has many great big walls. We've been climbing locally and also going on weekend trips.
One weekend trip took us to Old Rag. Travis and I went with Hilary and Graham. We drove down on a Friday, camped, woke up, then climbed to the top of Old Rag. We went up and over and found the rock climbing area. Old Rag is great for hiking, but you can also climb there. Anyway, Travis and I got up on the rock. Hilary was reading. Graham went off to explore. Then I heard a banging. Graham had found a dead branch and was banging on a dead tree with it. I heard this and I saw this from up on the rock. I really enjoyed his drumming. It was really beautiful. "Graham, that's beautiful," I said.
"I'm just banging on a dead tree," said Graham. "I might be getting bored." I told him to keep drumming, but he could only do it for so long. Travis knew a cool place, a nearby ridge. And Graham went off to explore the ridge.
Travis and I kept climbing. It was nice being up on the rock. We could look down and see Hilary with her book. And we could look off and see Graham on the rocky ridge. The sun was out. The buzzards were flying nearby. Everything felt right. And I could still hear that great hollow wooden tune that Graham had been drumming with a big broken branch and a dread tree trunk that was lying on the mountainside.
