It’s been over a month since our last post. We’ve been busy living rather than blogging, and my husband has some non-outdoor projects he’s been focused on. We also realized that we could be slipping into the dangerous area of focusing on creating content rather than enjoying life and what we love, a concept that Jon Acuff recently blogged about. So while our posts may be more infrequent for a time, rest assured, we’ll be back at some point or another.
A few weeks ago, we spent a gorgeous spring day exploring a local climbing area, Interstate Park. Unfortunately there was no climbing for the adults since we were both healing from shoulder issues.
The first few moves of Banana Cookie (with intensive spotting from me!)
And the minor detail of not yet owning a rope and anchors. That’s right, no free soloing for us. We were relegated to hiking and trying not to drool while watching others climb. This didn’t prevent our son from topping out on a first ascent of a boulder problem he named “Banana Cookie”. We are tentatively calling it a VK (for kindergartner) and for locals who dare to try it’s located off the Echo Canyon trail on the Wisconsin side of the park.
As we don’t yet own crash pads, the endeavor was accomplished with an intensive two spotter method. When I realized he was actually going to make it to the top and my arms couldn’t reach that high, my husband jumped in to spot from the bottom, and I climbed up the back of the boulder to be ready to reach down from the top if needed.
One move before the mantle finish of Banana Cookie.
So now my son, at 5 years old, is the first in the Cardwell household to climb (for real) on real rock and top out a boulder.
100 miles update
We are now down to 81.6 miles to go for the remainder of 2012. We’ve found out that we can actually do longer hikes now that all 3 of us have trekking poles. It’s a psychological advantage that we are milking for all its worth. Even though the little guy still really doesn’t know how to use them, he believes he can hike farther now. 
Banana Cookie Boulder Problem
