A Slow Hike

I took a day off from work this week to go out and spend a little time on the trail.  I set my sites on the Hunts Loop trail off of Highway 7 north of Hot Springs.  It's only a 4 mile trail, so I decided to head up the Ouachita Trail for a mile and visit the Moonshine Shelter along the way, making the round trip just over 6 miles. My ulterior motive was to map the trail for addition to the Arkansas Hiker app.  Here's a few photos I took along the way.  It was fun to move slow and really focus on what was out there.  Of course I could only force myself to do that for the first mile!

10 Years of Hell

How in the world has this thing gone on for 10 years?  Easy, it's the best climbing competition in the country!  A combination of competition, Halloween costume party, family reunion and frat party, it is tough to beat 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell. I've been there for the past ten years and competed in every 24 Hour comp, plus the 12 hour competitions that were added 3 years ago. I am the only idiot to compete in 7 years of 24 and 3 yrs of 36 hour competitions. Why?  I have no earthly idea. It's fun for awhile.  But then it gets to be totally absurd around 3 a.m.  Followed by a couple of hours of "Why in the hell did I do this again?"

 I could go into all the training and preparation that goes into a successful year. Except there really wasn't any this year. Schedules and life prevented us from following our old routines.

We simply showed up and got dressed; drank a couple of beers and went climbing. We didn't start the day with any preconceived ideas of what we would be able to do.  We just climbed.

When we felt good we would climb something hard.

When we got tired we rested until we felt better. 

Super glue and tape kept my fingers from being completely trashed after 36 hours on the rock.

And when it was all over I told Andy never to let me climb the 36 again. 

Of course I emailed him the next week and took it all back.

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

The camaraderie of hanging out with other like minded fools is what makes it so great.

And the new friends who kept us awake and moving through the darkest hours of the night.

And the great party.  Who could miss it?