In March, my good buddy John and I attended our second Red Rock Rendezvous rock climbing event at the Red Rocks National Conservation Area. Last year, John introduced me to his colleague and good friend Dan when the three of us attended our first Rendezvous. After 3 days of great weather, free Fat Tire beer, the most amazing Costco frozen hamburger patties hidden under layers of Kraft singles and slathered in ketchup, and climbing the prodigious Red Rocks with the best sponsored climbers and alpine guides in the world, we vowed to return for this year’s edition.
Dan cancelled on us this year at the last minute due to an unexpected and unfortunately timed visit from close family friends who had been living out of the country. Dan’s married. As the good husband that he is, despite the call of the Red Rocks, he bowed to his wife’s wishes that he stay behind to play humble host. As the good guy friends that we are, John and I immediately peppered him with emasculating commentary and taunting. This of course included repeated voicemails and text messages from Vegas offering to purchase, loan, FedEx or otherwise provide Dan with a new pair of testicles.
I haven’t met Dan’s wife Kat. But I strongly suspect that she is a discerning woman who supports Dan’s many hobbies and adventures in much the same way that my fiancé Lisa supports mine. From what I have heard, she also often participates in many of the adventures with Dan. Lisa does the same with me. One such event that Lisa has attended with me for the last two years is the Avenue of the Giants Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10K road race in Humboldt County on the extreme Northern Coast of California. This year though, our third, Lisa was 8 months pregnant with our third son and because we had registered for the early sell-out, non-refundable event nearly a year in advance, we had to find an alternate to attend in her place. We invited John. He attended with us last year and he is, after all, the person who got me back into running a few years back when he came to visit me in California and proceeded to hand me my testicles and a photo of my beer belly at the finish of an 11 mile trail run through the Santa Cruz Mountains near where I live. John agreed and promptly booked his flight to arrive in the wee hours of the Friday morning before the race. After Vegas, as consolation for his emasculating cancellation, Dan’s wife gave authorization for him to sign up and fly out with John to attend the race as well.
As with previous years, I was signed up for the half marathon. Unlike previous years, this time I was prepared. I ran the Skyline to the Sea 50k Trail Race on April 10th and therefore had a good 6 months of rigorous training leading up to this race. John, as the badass and overly dedicated daily trainer he is, is always prepared. Dan, on the other hand, had not been doing any endurance running of any sort at the time he made his decision to join us. This left Dan with only about 6 weeks to go from 0 miles to 13.1 miles, and to do it without dying or otherwise crippling himself in the process.
The race is on a Sunday. Due to the limited lodging in rural Humboldt County, we also booked our room a year in advance. We have been staying at the same place for the last three years running, no pun intended. The Best Western Humboldt House Inn (www.humbolthouseinn.com) is a modest, but clean place in Garberville, about 20 miles south of the start/finish line for the race. Outside of the booming marijuana industry, Humboldt County doesn’t have much to show for commerce. Because of this, the annual immigration of several thousand athletes 6 months before harvest is an economic boom for the otherwise sedate region of California. The Humboldt House Inn boasts clean suites and is ideally suited to groups with up to 3 queen beds in a room. There is a pool and hot tub on site; although, I have never taken advantage of them so can’t attest to their cleanliness. They cater well to the running crowd, offering free wine and cheese each evening from 5 to 7 and providing a large free breakfast every morning. For those who plan to only stay until the day of the race, they set up a couple of their rooms as shower facilities as an alternative to offering late checkout on Sunday. Or, for the ambitious, run your race in under 2 hours and you shouldn’t have a problem making it back to your own room and showering ahead of the 12pm checkout time. John, in his endearing frugality and corporate dedication, scheduled his departure from SFO for 6am on Monday morning, in order to make it back to Atlanta in time for the remaining 4 hours of his workday, placing us the group of the ambitious runners with a penchant for showers and on-time checkout on Sunday.
After a shortened workday on Friday, I went by the house to pick up Dan and John and we headed out on our approximately 4 and a half hour drive north of the Golden Gate to Garberville. During late April and early May, that section of highway 101 north of San Francisco and along the Eel River into Humboldt County has to be one of the most majestic drives through California, if not the entire United States. The tall grasses covering the green hills were inhaling and exhaling with each gust of wind, the wildflowers in full bloom underscoring the impending arrival of summer. The drive went smoothly and quickly and we arrived around 4pm on Friday afternoon. Since there was still ample daylight remaining, John suggested we take Dan to the coast to see the black sand beach at Shelter Cove and do some bouldering. The drive is a beautiful winding 25 mile journey alternating between redwood groves, chaparral and rolling grasslands, with the occasional flock of wild turkeys or doe with her fawn doing their best to become hood ornaments or the next meal for the plentiful turkey vultures riding the thermals overhead. A steep downhill grade into town consummates the trip to the black pebble beach and crashing 10 foot waves of the Pacific.
The charcoal beach is dotted with large sandstone conglomerate boulders, calved from the brittle coastline by the powerful Pacific. We hiked up and down the beach, climbing whatever seemed solid enough to support our weight, unsuccessfully at times, as I did manage to break off a large chunk of rock above me which subsequently rolled down the face of the boulder and into my upper lip and nose. We concluded by snapping a bunch of photos of the picturesque coastline and trolling the beach for uniquely shaped driftwood and other flotsam. If one looks carefully, they might even find my $120 Raybans that managed a surreptitious escape from atop my head. Back at the parking lot, we hopped into the truck for a quick tour of town before heading back towards Garberville for dinner.
Dining options are limited in Garberville so we stopped a few miles short of our hotel at The Brass Rail Steakhouse in Redway (http://brassrailinn.com). “Steakhouse” is a bit of a misnomer for the establishment which serves only 3 cuts of meat along with pastas and surprisingly, a full Thai menu. Dan and John each ordered Thai while I opted at the last moment for a rib eye, based on the assumption that the probability of finding Thai food hidden amongst the redwoods comparable to any of my local authentic San Francisco Bay Area establishments was significantly smaller than the likelihood these country folk could cook meat and potatoes to perfection. Turns out that we were each wrong as all of our meals were mediocre at best and the service was horrible. My steak, while cooked perfectly, was a very cheap cut of meat, having none of the marbling I would expect in a rib eye, and at one point our server even exclaimed to herself openly in the small crowded dining room how incredulous it was that we had finished our meals so quickly. Obviously she hadn’t taken into account how eager we might be to escape this unappetizing mismatch of menus for something more tasty like gummi bears from the gas station market. Most importantly to me, was that had to pay $29 for a mediocre cut of meat and dry baked potato when I can get a premium brazed rib steak with locally grown vegetables at The Village Pub, a 2 Michelin Star restaurant, for around $30. Impressions from the other guys of the Thai cuisine weren’t much better. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel, downed a quick beer, and then turned in early in preparation for our 6am wakeup to head north to Eureka for some rock climbing and Redwood National Park for a hike.
Dan can out climb me and John any day. That’s why we count on him to select the climbing areas that we should visit on our trips. We also typically count on him to provide the gear, the motivation to challenge ourselves to more difficult climbs, and the testicles to take that first step. John and I are of about equal climbing ability, competent on a 5.8 or the occasional 5.9. John and I each have a fear of heights, but I tend to trust the gear a little more and therefore I am slightly more willing to push myself past my comfort zone; even if it means I have to grow a new pair of my own. Dan went online and found several suggestions for good places to climb north of Eureka so it seemed each of these abilities would again be put to the test.
John called me a couple days before he and Dan flew out to California to discuss the weekend and what they should pack. We decided that I would bring my ropes and gear and that all they needed was their harnesses and shoes, sparing them the checked baggage fees. Then, in my haste and desire to minimize my load, I forgot to pack my webbing for building top rope anchors. I of course only realized this after our pit stop at REI and when were well into the rural areas of northern California. Luckily for us, technology and fortune prevailed and Dan and his Droid zeroed in on an outfitter in Eureka that would potentially be able to compensate for our shortcomings. Located right on 101 as it passes through Eureka, Adventures Edge (http://www.adventuresedge.com) was not only convenient and open; it proved to be ideally suited to our needs. The two staff members were extremely friendly and knowledgeable and while one measured out two lengths of 8mm line for me, the other discussed climbing areas with Dan, ultimately directing him to a guidebook written by local climbers and perfect for a few newbies unfamiliar with the area. Moonstone Beach would be our destination.
to be continued...
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