Hermosa Beach and Bishop

After Joshua Tree Miles and I decided to take a break for a few days and do some surfing in Hermosa Beach with Miles' uncle Bennet. We had a great time, but after three days we were more than ready to get out of Southern California and hit the open road. Here are a few pictures from our time there.

Bennet's back yard

A killer steak dinner

From Hermosa beach we had a six hour drive to get to Bishop. As usual we couldn't make it all the way without something going wrong with the RV. We were driving along when all of a sudden we heard a crazy flapping sound coming from the side. Turns out the skin on our door had ripped off and was flapping in the wind.

Our stupid door

The fix

After the episode with our door we finished the drive and spent the night in Bishop. We woke up the next morning and climbed at the Happy Boulders. We had a fun session before the heat forced us to find shade. The rest of the morning was spent doing errands in town before heading to the Buttermilks for the evening. We spent the night by a mountain stream, our first since we left Washington. It even had some fish that I caught for dinner. Protein that we didn't have to pay for. We were pretty excited.

Miles building a fire at camp

The next two days we climbed in the Buttermilks. We got on a few warmup climbs and then got on Iron Man, a cool traverse. As of right now we are both close to getting it and can't climb anything else until we get it. Hopefully, tonght will be the night that Iron Man releases its grip on us so that we can blow skin on other climbs.

Miles on Iron Man

After three days of climbing we felt that it was time for a rest day. In the guidebook there's a painting of the Bishop area and it shows that there are some lakes up above the Buttermilks in the mountains. We decided to check it out and it ended up being a great day.

It took us three hours to make it to the lake. It was still partially frozen over, but incredibly beautiful. We relaxed and ate our sandwichs before deciding that we had to go for a swim, naked of course. It took all my strength to make the dive and I screamed like a little girl afterward, but it was so much fun. To see some great pictures check out Miles' website. After our little swim we hung out for a little bit before heading back to the RV and making a big dinner.

A mountain above the lake

Now we are hanging out in the town of Bishop until the evening when the temps are better. We'll be here for a few more days before we head to Yosemite. I can't wait. We have been doing tons of homework on the Nose of El Cap and are ready to tackle it. It should be an experience that's for sure. Stay tuned.