Devil's Tower

It's just a two for one kind of day around here.... I already posted about life in Lingle, but I just have to post about our weekend in Devil's Tower!  

Our buddy Tim drove up from Laramie to join us for the weekend.  We headed out on Friday evening and arrived after dark.   

We awoke the next morning to the tower looming above our campsite, it's splitter pillars calling our names.

After a short hike on the tourist-friendly paved trail, we ventured up to the base of the tower itself.  

Looks pretty impressive close up, doesn't it?

Kelby leading the classic and mile-long Assembly Line (5.9) pitch.  The columns of the tower make for some of the longest and most sustained pitches I have ever climbed. 

A couple of goobers on the belay!

Team Harris-Long-Scott on the Summit! All the tourists asked us what it was like up there- well, it was just a big grassy hill, covered in ants.  Not so glamourous.  But we signed the summit register, took some photos, ate some granola bars, and rapped down.  It was a hot day, and once we were back on the ground, we headed straight for the river.  

  The boys, cooling off and admiring the tower. 

After our swim, we were playing hearts at our campsite, and a friendly park ranger came by and told us about the evening program going on that night. A man named Buffalo Bill Boycott was going to be playing music and telling stories, and to quote the ranger, "It's just going to be a lot of fun." 

We headed out to have dinner, which ended up as a bust.  The KOA campsite had a diner that served buffalo burgers in the shape a buffalo.  Not so good.   

But Buffalo Bill, he was good.  He played the banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle.  He told jokes and bits of cowboy poetry.  He did Native American sign language storytelling, and told us history of the wild west.  It was a great show!  We went to bed exhausted and happy.  

The next morning, we climbed a bit more- attempted the classic El Matador (5.10d), and then headed over to the slightly easier but still classic Soler (5.9) and Walt Bailey (5.9).  We were battered and tired at the end of the day, but another river swim, and a real burger for dinner worked wonders.   

What a dreamy weekend!  

Life in Lingle

Cody and I are currently in Lingle, Wyoming, with the Greenwald family. Our good friend Kelby Scott spends his summers working on his sister and brother-in-law's farm.  He invited us to come work with him for a week or so, and he and Cody have been hard at it all week!    

The Greenwalds grow corn and alfalfa, and also run a feedlot of about 2000 cattle.  This is a photo of the freshly swathed alfalfa field outside of the house.  Kaylee swathed it herself!  She even let me do a row-  I managed to drive the swather in a nice straight line.  After swathing, the hay is baled and fed to the cattle.  

Did you know alfalfa has purple flowers?  I didn't either!

Acres and acres of corn!  The Greenwalds use "round-up ready" corn, so they can use round-up to kill the weeds, but not the corn.  The corn is almost 7 feet tall, and will grow to 10 feet when they harvest.  The feed almost all the corn to the cattle come harvest time-  They keep some of it to eat themselves!   

  

Kaylee and Makenna raise goats for their 4-H club.  This is Peaches, a nigerian dwarf goat.  Currently, she's about as wide as she is tall,  and is expected to have her babies sometime this month! 

After milking the goats, we funnel it into clean beer bottles and feed it to the kids.  The Alpine goats give   about 2 gallons a day!  We made some fudge from goat milk, and attempted to make cheese, but the recipe didn't work out...  We'll try again this week! 

Some hungry kiddos!  These guys drink 2-3 bottles of milk every morning and night.  They've grown so much in the past week!  

There are lots of baby animals around.  These barn kittens will handle the mouse population when they get a bit bigger!  

Sweet Emma-  one of the family Welsh Corgi's.  

One of the many beautiful spots around the farm!  

The Wonders of Wild Iris

We love just about everything about climbing at Wild Iris. 

We love the hike to the crags. 

We love the climbing itself.

(This is a route called The Devil wears Spurs, a fantastic 5.10d)

We love the wildlife.  

We found this picture-perfect nest in a limestone pocket along the trail. 

Wildflowers.  

Enough said.

Did I mention the wildlife?

These are some curious baby pronghorn antelope, coming to say hello.  They were less than twenty feet from us before they trotted off.  Don't miss their adorable furry rumps as they run away.

When it comes to living the dream, there isn't a better place than Wild Iris.

ps.  Congratulations to Bryan and Charleigh Wolfe!

 They had a beautiful day for a wedding, and we wish them all the best!

pps.  Wild Iris is about 30 minutes outside of Lander!  

Love in Lander

  

  Cody and I are currently in Lander, Wyoming, to see our good friend Bryan Wolfe get married to a lovely lady named Charleigh.   Their wedding is fast approaching!  Only two more days until they will be Mr. & Mrs. Wolfe.  Cody is one of Bryan's groomsmen, and I can't wait to see him all dressed up!  

 

Charleigh and Bryan took us and another couple, Jason and Jolene out on a four-wheelin' camping trip to Shoshoni Lake when we arrived.  We had some fantastic weather-  Wyoming summertime is pretty fantastic.  

Who says happy cows come from California?  These Wyoming cows look pretty happy to me!  They taste good too-  The Ganett Grill serves awesome burgers made from local Wyoming Beef.  Yum! 

The wildflowers are in bloom up there!  Just beautiful.  

We ended up turning around before we reached the lake, because there were some lingering snowbanks blocking the trail.  The snowbanks lining the trail (the ones you can see in the photo) were melting, and we were riding through a creek for quite a way!  

Charleigh admires the view of the Lander Valley.  

The Wyoming state flower dotted the hillsides along the way.  

So much love blooming all over this town!  Even the rocks are feeling it!