Thunder Bay

I got to travel the few hours north this last weekend to the lovely Canada! A last-minute climbing trip to Thunder Bay was decided upon, and gear was loaded into the car. Don't worry, I took my homework with to make sure that it would get done (early in the morning... monday... when we drove back at 6 am... and I did it the entire 5 hour car ride home... oops...).A half hour car ride over very very rough back roads got us to a place called Squaw Bay, which was pretty much the middle of nowhere and happened to include some beautiful cliffs that just begged to be climbed.
So we indulged them!My first multi-pitch climb was had that trip as well up a route called "Starlight Express". Multi-pitch climbing is where one person leads up a route, then sets up an anchor at the top of the route (our anchor in this case was about 60 feet up). The leader then belays while the original belayer climbs up to them- this is called "seconding". You now have two climbers at the first anchor, ready to go up the next pitch! Our climb was only 2 pitches, putting us a little over 100 feet in the air when we got to the top. I have to admit I was thrilled belaying that far up, looking out over Lake Superior. Isle Royale was just barely visible through the fog, and we were far enough out of town that you couldn't hear anything that even hinted at civilization.Our campsite was just as spectacular, with a lake right outside the back door of the tent. Delicious eats helped hungry climber stomachs, including steak stir fry with vegetables, french bread, and wine. Definitely can't complain about that.
Climbing the next day included more trad and sandstone crack that my hands fit into like a glove. We only had trouble with the rope getting caught in the anchors once, resulting in a fun tug-of-war game we were determined to win!All in all a fantastic trip, making it hard to go back to the real world. With winter coming in soon, there aren't a lot of chances for too many long, outdoor trips left.
Ah, well. You do what you can. :) Back to homework and Grad School stuff!
::note- knitting update soon- believe me. There have been issues...::