Given we were in Cochise for two weeks, we had a few rest days. On a couple of those days, we spent some time in Tombstone, Arizona.
What an odd town with and interesting history.
I took the following information from the city's website: http://www.cityoftombstone.com/
Tombstone, aka "The Town too Tough to Die," was one of the most renowned of Arizona's old mining camps. It is named Tombstone because when Ed Schieffelin came to Camp Huachuca with a party of soldiers and left the fort to prospect, his comrades told him that he'd find his tombstone rather than silver given the aggressive Apaches in the area. In 1877 Schieffelin named his first claim the Tombstone, and rumors of rich strikes made a boomtown of the settlement that adopted this name.
Days of lawlessness and violence, which nearly had then-President Chester A. Arthur declaring martial law in Tombstone and sending in military troops to restore order, climaxed with the infamous Earp-Clanton battle, fought near the rear entrance of the O.K. Corral, on October 26, 1881. Over the course of 7 years the mines produced millions of dollars in silver and gold before rising underground waters forced suspension of operations.
So, really, it's big claim to fame is a big gun fight at the OK Corral where people died in the street. It's so romanticized. Today a gunfight in a city would have people appalled, crying about how we should return to the good old days, and demands for justice against the thugs doing the shooting. Yet here, this gunfight prompts tourism.
Another unusual aspect of the town were the people there. There are grown men and women walking around in period costumes. Though, I don't really think they view them as costumes always. No joke.
Other people - clearly tourists - were wearing contemporary clothes with their gun holsters and pistols displayed. They looked like geeky Yosemite Sams or something.
To be fair, I'm sure they looked at us like we were odd. It was clear we were not from there.
** Finally I'm getting these photos up. The photos on this page are from Dave and Mike's climb on Abracadaver. I'll put up another entry with all other photos...**
The major objective of going to Cochise was to climb of course. While there, we did many routes. Many I can recite the names of (thank goodness for pen and paper), many I cannot since we never figured out what we were on! In some cases, what was on the wall and what the guide book and notes said were completely divergent. On some walls, the grid-bolting surprised me given Cochise is considered and "old school" climbing area. When we couldn't make heads or tales out of what route was what, we just hopped on something and took off.
SHEEPSHEAD
We did several climbs on Sheephead. It is located on the West side of Cochise and provided a beautiful back-drop to our camping. As already mentioned, we did Peacemaker on the first day. Depending on the source consulted, the route is listed as 6 or 7 pitches. In one source, all pitches are 10a. In another source, the pitches vary in grade though none are greater than 10a.
Another day on Sheepshead where we climbed "Climb too tough to die". Obviously this is playing on the nickname of nearby Tombstone Arizona (known as the city too tough to die). In my notes, I see grades for this long multipitch as 10b, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8.
On the day we left, we headed back to Sheepshead to hop a quick, easy and fun 5.8 called Ewephoria. It was a route that started up a nice, slick, polished water groove. Niiiicccee. It was not as easy as I thought a 5.8 would be. This grade would make a new 5.8 leader poo his pants for sure!
ROCKFELLOWS
On the West side of Cochise, one can see what I think is the most striking formation there - the Rockfellows. Getting there involves either a looong hike with the standard nasty vegetation constantly trying to impale, or a shorter but very steep hike. I did the long hike each trip. Dave did the steep hike one day, but did the long hike the others. On the Rockfellows, we did many nice pitches. In fact, two pitches here were some of the best of the trip IMO. This includes the classic Forest Lawn (5.9). At the top of Forest Lawn, we veered right and did Pair a Grins (10c). These two pitches were very fun and very non-Cochise like in my opinion.
Dave's second trip to the Rockfellows was without me. He headed the steep way up with our new friend Mike (from Boulder) and they climbed the uber-classic Abracadaver (11a). Both returned with huge grins (and slightly less epidermis here and there). The photos you see on this page are from this climb.
Given that the Rockfellows constitute the best climbing in Cochise imo, we headed back there one more time. Once there, we did a route next to the uber-classic route called End Game. This route - called Welcome to the Machine - starts to the right of End Game, then crosses it, and terminates to the left of it (not counting all the section that is exactly the same). I can't remember the name of this climb. It was okay. Dave says he'd give it two stars when End Game (he'd done it on a previous trip) was a three star route for sure.
OTHER WALLS
On the other days, we went to a multitude of other walls/domes. One day while in the Rockfellows, we climbed the classic What's My Line? This is pretty much a solo on fun chicken heads. The approach was by far the crux to this climb!
Another day, we headed to Trad and Glad Rocks. It was broiling hot this day so we didn't climb for long. We did manage to get up four routes (two on each wall). Who knows what the names are. I do have in our notes that they were 10b, 10c, 8 and a 9.
Yet another jaunt took us to the East side of Cochise where we hiked up to Teenage Wasteland on the Wasteland Dome. This is a good example of a place where figuring out the climb we wanted was nearly impossible since there are literally routes everywhere. We are still unsure what the heck we did. We think we did a few pitches (though not in a row!) of the intended route. But we also did some things (including a very difficult roof) that remain a mystery.
Another venture took us to the Muttonhead formation. For some reason I continue to call this the Mullethead which I find really funny. :) This dome is located next to Sheepshead. Here we climbed a nice route called Mystery of the Desert (8, 9, 7, 9, 9). It was nice though there was definitely one section I could have lived without doing. I left a good portion of my ankle bone on the wall there. When done with this climb, we ran up the first pitch of Tour Buses Welcome (10a). This pitch I consider one of the best we did (along with Forest Lawn and Pair a Grins). Very fun
Zappa Dome provided a ton of fun for me the day Dave and Mike climbed Abracadaver. This dome is on the East side and consists of many single pitch, steep (some with roofs!!) sport climbing. We did seven pitches (your guess as to what they were is as good as ours!). It was a great time climbing with Diane and Vicky there.
Dave had been ogling Mt. Chaktar during our stay. At least from a distance, it looked to be very nice. So up we hiked past Sheepshead and past Muttonhead to this monolith. Once there, we saw it looked better from a distance! Lots of thrashing to do three mystery pitches of something that was clearly new. We joked we must have been making the second ascent. With every move, a little piece of that gritty route fell to the ground! In one instance, I took a nice size chunk of a dike off the wall and deposited it on the ground. I think we'd both agree that this mystery route was the most marginal route of the trip. After this day, we referred to Mt. Chaktar as Mt. Chosstar.
I feel like I am forgetting some routes. For instance, I can't believe we didn't do some other things on Sheepshead. When they come to me, I'll update. Clearly Cochise offers quite a bit of climbing, and really quite a bit of variety contrary to my sometimes feelings that it's ALL slab! :)
We had two weeks in the Cougar at Cochise. This is plenty of time to experience what life is like in the fifth wheel. Our verdict is that life in the trailer is pretty dang nice!
There are many reasons we arrived at this conclusion. First, the fully stocked kitchen. This enables us to make some sweet meals (e.g., lasagna), bake cookies (this was done most nights!), access water easily (at least Pente finds this to be a really big plus). ability to bake cookies was big one for Dave.
Some of the other comforts the trailer offers are priceless. Perhaps our favorite is the full size enclosed shower with a skylight (no photos - haha). And it almost goes without saying that an indoor toilet is always a good thing.
The trailer also allows some nice entertainment opportunities. We enjoyed movie night. BTW, we watched "Who Killed the Electric Car." What a great movie! If you've not seen it, we both recommend it highly. Aside from movies, the stereo (to which the movie screen is connected) is great. I found an NPR station while in Cochise so I could get my fill of news given I'm a news junkie. The best part was listening to the election returns. At that moment, I must admit I wished we were in the streets of DC celebrating! And of course, the trailer offers many good places to read - the bed, the dining room or the couch.
Aside from the fun stuff, the trailer has a practical side. Dave conducted multiple business meeting via phone while there. I also engaged in a dissertation defense and a job interview while in the trailer. Very convenient!
We put the trailer into storage yesterday and I have to admit I was a bit sad. Too bad the season is over already. I look forward to getting it out again in the spring and hitting the road.
Yeah, I've been asked (and taunted) by more than a few people about this. Why don't our climbing trips ever show me leading climbs?
The answer is really simple - it's because I've not been leading much lately. And I'm bummed about this. I feel like a big loser, or even worse, one of those girlfriends.
We've all seen those girlfriends. The ones that the boyfriends or husbands drag up everything. Somehow we view them as not a real climber. And this is likely not a fair assessment. But it's what many people think. I don't want to become one of those girlfriends. I like leading. I want to get back to it.
Why haven't I been leading? Well, mostly because the stuff we climb here out west is very, very different than what I'm accustomed to. Nothing is steep. Nothing is overhanging. Holds all seem to be vertical (instead of horizontal). Plus, Dave climbs far harder stuff. Should I try to lead some of what we've gotten on, I'd be a bloody smudge on the side of a rock somewhere by now.
It wasn't always this way. I used to lead all the time. And as you can see, there is photographic evidence of this. (A couple of photos are chopped off. If you click on them, you can see the full photo).
My hope on this trip was that there would be a lot of stuff I could lead. I'd even hoped that we could swing leads on some multipitch climbs. While there was no lead swinging, I did lead some stuff, though not much.
Why not? First, I didn't realize that Cochise is land of the slab. If one loves climbing slab, I say RUN, don't walk to Cochise. You will be in heaven. I hate slab. Yes, I can climb it, but I really, really don't enjoy it. I'm baffled as to why some people I know prefer it.
(Incidentally, while in Cochise, we spent some time talking with Peter Croft. One of the first things he said was that he doesn't care for slab. I somehow felt vindicated!)
This explains the lack of multipitch leading since this mostly occurred on Sheepshead - Dome o' slab.
A couple of days in Cochise, I did some leading. Once, Dave and I head to the Trad Rock area to get on some single pitch steeper stuff.
On our hike up to the wall, we saw out first (of many) rattlesnakes. Dave came very close to this beast. It took us a little time to figure out how to get around him and continue on our way. Nasty bugger.
While there, we did several climbs (all of which I don't recall the names). They were okay climbs. And at least I was leading!
While climbing there, Dave was silly doing is "rappelling accident" routine. This is an old trick he and some friends used to pull at Devil's Tower to scare the tourists. Ha!
Another day, Vicky, Diane (some women camping near us) and I went to the east side and climbed at Voodoo Dome. This provided about 7 pitches of steep - and in some cases overhanging - routes to play on. I lead them all. It was a great time and I even felt some fatigue in my arms. Glorious fatigue! I don't have any photos of this day since I didn't have the camera. Maybe Diane or Vicky can provide some.
So, while I did some leading, it wasn't much. Our next trip is suppose to be to Red Rocks near Vegas over Thanksgiving. That blog entry should provide lots more evidence that I've not become one of those girlfriends.
So, how did the birds do on this, their first camping trip? Mostly well. At least I should say 80% well since 4 of the 5 birds were well behaved.
Then there was Henri. Aka Onry.
It seems that by heading south with the ever so slightly longer days, breeding season kicked in. Mostly there was a lot of rooting around on the bottom of cages, and some parrot groaning going on. But there was also was Henri. Arking. All. The. Time.
(Okay, who am I kidding? This contributed some, but mostly it's that Henri is LOUD).
You may be wondering how bad can some parrot arking be. Let me assure you it can drive a person insane. How can such a small little being make so much noise? Defies one's expectations.
Unfortunately Henri thinks I'm his mate so he became very jealous of me. If I talked to Dave he arked. If I touched the cat he arked. If I looked at another bird he arked. If someone came to the door he arked. If a car drove by, he arked.
You get the picture.
Unfortunately this would sometimes rile up the other birds as well. Luckily we had cage covers that helped. Still, I hadn't expected that Henri would spend his entire vacation covered. Or in isolation in the bedroom.
We took him out as much as we could and this helped for sure. But we couldn't let him be out all the time. (Our next trailer will need to be bigger with a second bird bedroom - one that is acoustically sealed).
It made for some really stressful moments during the trip where I tried to keep him quiet. Where I tried to be a good bird mom. I did this to keep Dave from unhooking the truck and driving away never to return. And to maintain some sanity myself.
The stress took its toll on me. As I sit and write this weeks later, I am still covered in hives.
Nice.
Henri won't be camping with us anymore.
There were parrot highlights on the trip though. My favorite was one morning they all got wound up and bathed in their cages. I should have taken a video since it's so funny. I did get a photo of one wet Gabbie.
Also on the ride home, Grace enjoyed 'special bird' status and rode on Dave's shoulder. She loves to sit on his shoulder and often runs and hides behind his head when he tries to remove here. She enjoyed watching the raptors and crows fly around. (You can see Gabbie in the taxi behind them).
Today we loaded the entire family - cat, birds, Dave and me - into the truck, hooked up the fifth wheel and headed out to Cochise Stronghold. Cochise is in Southern Arizona in the Dragoon Mountains at an elevation of 5,000 ft. The area is covered with granite domes and it was served as the refuge of the Cochise (an Apache Indian Chief) and his people.
Here is a quick history of the area in relation to Cochise taken from this site: http://www.cochisestronghold.com/. Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval. In 1850, the United States took control over the territory that today comprises Arizona and New Mexico. Not hostile to the whites at first, he kept peace with the Anglo-Americans until 1861, when he became their implacable foe because of the blunder of a young U.S. Army officer, Lt. George Bascom. In that year, Cochise and several of his relatives had gone to an encampment of soldiers in order to deny the accusation that they had abducted a child from a ranch. The boy was later proved to have been kidnapped by another band of Apaches. During the parley, Cochise and his followers were ordered held as hostages by Bascom, but Cochise managed to escape almost immediately by cutting a hole in a tent. Bascom later ordered the other Apache hostages hanged, and the embittered Cochise joined forces with Mangas Coloradas, his father-in-law, in a guerrilla struggle against the American army and settlers. The capture and murder of Mangas Coloradas in 1863 left Cochise as the Apache war chief. The U.S. Army captured him in 1871 and prepared to transfer the Chiricahua to a reservation hundreds of miles away, but he escaped again and renewed the resistance campaign. The following year after negotiating a new treaty with the help of Thomas Jeffords, his only white friend the band was allowed to stay in their homeland.
To find Cochise Stronghold on a map, look for Tombstone, Arizona. It's about 19 miles away from there.
Dave has been to CS a couple of times but has wanted to go back and spend two solid weeks there. That was our plan.
We made the trip in about two days sleeping near Socorro, New Mexico (thanks Walmart!). We spend a bit more time in Socorro than we had wanted since our darn water pump croaked on the trailer. The pump was about seven days old. Excellent American product there. Oh well.
Of course, there was no dealer within hundreds of miles of where we were. We did find "Charley" at an RV part in Socorro. He had a work barn/shed that was filled with all sorts of stuff. Rummaging around, he found three dead water pumps. With some time, from these carcasses, he created a new, sort-of-working frankenstein water pump that he installed.
While the pump worked, it was clearly ill. Everyday we wondered if the thing would give up the ghost totally. Happily, it survived the trip.
We continued toward Cochise arriving the morning of 10/25. We opted to camp on the west side of Cochise since it would offer more expansive views and a beautiful sunset each evening. The sunsets never disappointed. This was our first time taking the trailer on some "unimproved" and "unmaintained" roads. Rodeo driving is what we called it. We made it, but there was a bit of a mess in the back. Nothing earth-shattering, but we spent a little time getting things back in order and reattaching a few items (e.g., window covering). When all was said and done, it looked like new again (though the croaking of the water pump was clearly not a new sound!).
The birds did well on the drive. Henri road on my shoulder during the days (his ARKING broke me down very quickly to let him out of his pet taxi though I don't think this is safe at all). After sunset, Gabbie gets scared in his taxi so I would bring him out and he would lay on my chest and sleep. It was very sweet! Other than this, everyone else did very well on the drive.
As we were getting settled, our friends SteelMonkey and Felicia arrived in their pop-up. We'd been looking forward to meeting them for some time. Once we all get settled, we took off to go climbing. They went to the Trad Rock area, and we hurried up to Sheepshead, a large granite dome rising about 800' from the base.
On the hike we learned something new and very disturbing - - preying mantises are really pretty gross!
We also learned that the vegetation in this area is HOSTILE. Dave had been here twice before, but both times it'd been cold. This time, it was hot so we were hiking in shorts. We both suffered far more flesh wounds from hikes than from anything on the walls. Every friggin' thing in the ground there attacks in piercing ways.
On Sheepshead, there is a newish climb there called Peacemaker (10a) that we wanted to knock out. It was about 6 pitches. And once we arrived there, we discovered it involved a lot - and I mean A LOT - of slab. In addition, it was a very sustained climb. It was 10a all the way!
Bleck. Slab. Bleck.
Oh well. Dave did a great job leading this route (uh, slab? no way I'm leading that!). The hardest moves were right off the ground too.
We topped out as the sun was setting. At the top, the steepness went away. which allowed for a nice view of the ground. If you look at the photo of me topping out, you can see the truck and camper on the ground. Look at the right side of the photo about 2" down (if you've clicked on the photo) and there are two little white dots. That's our home!
Once I rounded the top, we managed to take this low light (i.e., blurry) summit photo.
After a quick photo, we raced down the gully back to our packs. Happily I had my head lamp so we hiked the mile or two back to camp with some light.
