Scott: "I think we are gonna go hit the upper Youghabezi instead today"
Curt: "That sounds like the upper Yough at high water"
Scott: "It is"
Curt: "Cool"
Unfortunately I forgot my camera for the Top Yough at 850 cfs and the upper Youghabezi at 3ft. But dang it was sweet. We had some good lines and 16 miles of great paddling. The 5 miles of flatish water between the Top and Upper Yough were an almost welcome rest from the raging pushy water in the rapids.
The next weekend, Feb. 15th-18th, I took Friday off of work and met Billy down at Old Rag for some climbing and camping. They were calling for nice weather and the mother nature delivered.
Nightime bouldering session
We packed up all of our gear at the Berry Hollow parking area and headed uphill with some heavy packs full of food, water, camping gear, a trad rack, a rope and other climbing gear. We ate a small snack at the top, Billy's sleeping pad blew off, he retrieved it from a tree in the gully below the summit. We eyed the guidebook for a while and decided on heading to the God's Area, in particular Oh my God Dihedral. What an amazing sight! The name only begins to describe this 50ft of rock. Determined to climb it, but not comfortable enough to lead the 5.10c dihedral, I did some bushwhacking to get a toprope setup on this beautiful piece of granite.
Billy and I did multiple laps on this route and marveled at our tattered forearms and hands from the course stone. By the time I did my third lap and cleaned the toprode it was starting to get late, so we packed up and headed for the hut on the other side of the summit. Making jokes the whole way about how Brett better have a fire waiting for us, it was a nice surprise when we saw his crashpad outside of the hut. Brett was already cold and working on a fire for us, what a guy. We made some dinner, drank some Nighttrain, did some headlamp bouldering, analyzed life and all its intricacies, enjoyed the fire and eventually slept. We were greeted with a beautiful sunny morning and headed for the crag after a few gallons of Mate made from melted ice out of potholes in the rocks.
Oh My God Dihedral
After the dose of morning mate we headed for the southeast facing Whale's Lip area to catch the morning sun. As with most climbs here, we got to the base of the climb only after a good amount of honing in and bushwhacking. I got geared up and led a route called "Crab Crawl." It was eerily similar to the route I injured myself on in NC...a slabby trad route with an unprotectable start and lots of footwork. But I stuck it out and it turned out to be a fun climb with a great view. Brett pointed out a bald eagle soaring below while I was belaying Billy up.
We topped out and headed towards the summit to get in some bouldering. It was nice and sunny at the top. We then headed back for our bags and decided to head down the mountain. We were all tired and wore out, my ankle was hurting especially bad from all the scrambling.
Brett and I headed back to Bethesda and Billy went home to C'ville. On the way home I was making plans for the next two days.
I met Scott, Tyler, and John Greer in Friendsville Sunday morning and we got a run on the Upper Yough in at 2.3ft. This was another first for me on the Upper. 2.3 proved to be a fun level also.
Scott at Swallow Falls, Top Yough
What a great 4 days of playing in the woods. By the time I got home Monday evening, I had driven 850 miles, my hands were shredded, i had two blisters from paddling and I smelled like I had been in the woods for 4 days.
