After our luxurious one night stay at the KOA, we headed back west to Arizona. Cochise Stronghold was our next destination, a jungle of granite and Agave that was once a place of refuge for the Apache Indians in times of conflict with the US Army. We however were not there to hide. We had come to conquer the iconic slabs of rock that make this section of the Coronado National Forest so prominent amid the empty desert landscape. For two weeks we climbed day in and day out, learning how to create a simplistic but very safe system of protection that would allow us to scale each face. Occasionally shouting sayings like "Send it to the chains!" or "Bizzlin'!" or "Adventure!" we aspired to meet new goals and grow as a team in ways we never imagined. We ascended domes and cracks, slabs and crags. Bolted and trad, 5-1 to 5-10, the blue horizon was the limit. We learned to anchor, belay, lead, boulder, and rappel. We topped towering pinnacles and descended deep into drainages.
I was pushed to my limits at times, but it was well worth the indescribable views. There's also something beautiful about looking at a vertical cliff, climbing it, falling (falling again**) and finally, with all your strength, pushing over the mantle and arriving at the peak of the precipice.*** And looking down, maybe thousands of feet, you're not afraid. You're Rock Climbing.
The past two sections have been nothing less than incredible and I'm really kinda bummed that I haven't been able to share any photos with you all. Maybe its meant to be though. I have well over 1,000 and it would be difficult to choose only a few at this point, even if I had the time. Thats how it is out here in the wilderness; no such thing as time. Always moving, always packing, always cooking and eating. Its just like living, only you're actually immersed in every moment of life. Completely consumed by it.
Well, its getting late and I've got gear to pack..
I am alive and well. Thank you for your prayers and loving comments. See you all in a month and a half.
*Except for the cold. I will always hate the cold.
**and again
*** all with perhaps the most satisfying feeling of accomplishment you can imagine, burning in your soul.