First time at the Gunks with my new TC Pros. I really like these shoes. They climb cracks as well as my Aces, and they edge like nobody's business. Met up with Katie and Adam and their friends. Mark, Adam and I warmed up on Pas De Deux then climbed Graveyard Shift, Coexistence, and Welcome to the Gunks. No big deal.

It goes without saying that Mark led all those climbs. But I was able to follow them. Didn't get any cleanly, but Graveyard Shift went with one hang. Co-ex had me struggling at the crux. Welcome to the Gunks might have gone clean if I was fresh and didn't biff the sequence on the finger crack in the left facing corner. Anyhow, all three climbs were stellar. STELLAR!!! Finishing the day we hung out with Amy and Tom for a bit, then went to dinner in New Paltz.

Did an early morning run up Yellow Ridge with Katie and Adam. Then went for a very brisk swim at split rock. All shiny clean, I drove to Poughkeepsie to meet Molly at the train. We did our best to meet all movie style, but I'm going to consider the camera angles and lighting so the whole thing is even more perfect next time.

We hiked up the stairmaster and went straight to Beginner's Delight. Ok... delight us please! We enjoyed p1 of the climb, then went back to the DEC to set up camp before dark. We enjoyed a lovely level site far from the road. We made gnocchi from scratch then burrowed into our sleeping bags to watch Hunger Games on Molly's kindle. I do know how to rough it. Our night was completely undisturbed. Except for the fact that we each drank a huge mug of tea just before bed. Herbal, so the caffeine wasn't a problem. But that much liquid exceeded our bladder capacity by a factor of four. And Molly was opposed to my use of the pee bottle while she was in the tent. But other than constantly getting up to pee, our night was completely undisturbed. Except for those people who walked by our tent at 3am. What on earth were they doing? Thanks for making sure we could see, but if I had wanted the tent to be lit at that point, I would have used my own headlamp.

After a pancake breakfast (still roughing it) we went to the parking lot and did crossword puzzles while waiting for Ryan to meet us for the day. Ryan didn't have a harness, so we had to toprope and switch off our two harnesses. We went to Ent's Line (obviously) and climbed Sleepwalk, Ent's Line, Ant's Line and then Ent's Line again. I love that climb!

Molly and I had planned to climb for the whole week, but torrential rain was in the forecast and the forecast would prove to be accurate. Though we had several more gourmet meals planned (and a trip to the Bistro!) we decided to cut the trip short and return to our respective homes.