Greetings from beautiful Carlsbad, California!
Between extended periods of no cell service, long drives, and spending time with friends, I haven’t had a chance to post anything recently. Each recent adventure will get its own post, but I wanted to check in first and summarize what I’ve been up to!
To continue the thread from my most recent update, I got to do some climbing in the Inyo National Forest, outside of Bishop, California. My campsite was at the top of a steep dirt road, which was rapidly deteriorating after my initial re-supply runs. I knew the most recent run was my last — my car ended up getting stuck and I had to use rocks to rebuild the road and get enough traction. So once I ran out of water, I had to pack up and leave for good. (Full story to come).
Above was my campsite and the road I had to take to get there. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it was crazy steep — going up you only can see sky, I had to stick my head out the window each time to even see where I was going and dodge the suspension destroying rocks.
Leaving the forest, I found a climbing themed hostel in Bishop and stayed there for 2 nights. It was packed with other folks there to climb and snowboard. I absolutely loved the space. Walking in you are greeted with fun lighting and psychedelic art covering the walls. Off the main hall was one of the coziest living rooms I’ve been in. Floor to ceiling bookshelves were packed with VHS copies of all the best classic 80’s and 90’s movies. The fireplace, red carpet, leather couches, and wall of climbing gear completed the vibe.
One of my favorite parts was the smoking “lounge”: a shed filled with ragged old couches, trippy lights, a collection of random art (framed and unframed), and usually a couple people smoking and shooting the shit. It felt exactly like my house (or any of my friend’s houses) in college — I felt right at home. The place is called “The Hostel California”, abbreviated “THC”, go figure lol.
It was an incredible value: $30 a night for a bunk in a shared room and full access to the house, kitchen, free coffee, free parking, all the normal amenities. However they also had a fleet of bikes you could use for free to get around town, skateboards, extra climbing gear, workout equipment, games, and probably more things I’m forgetting.
Bishop and the surrounding area is home to some of the best bouldering in the world. Because of this, the hostel was primarily filled with international travelers, which I found cool. Beyond the space itself, I really enjoyed the ambient company — making dinner and chatting with others doing the same, watching Jurassic Park with some dude, smoking bowls with whoever was around — it was really nice.
After 5 days of perfect weather, the forecast called for various forms of precipitation across the entire state. Taking this as my cue to move on, I hit the road and headed south to Carlsbad, California (in between L.A. and San Diego, but considered “San Diego”). My friend Max relocated from Richmond to Carlsbad a few years ago, and he invited me to stay as long as I needed.
The drive there was rough. It was a constant torrential downpour (I kept waiting for it to let up and never did) — flashers on, 30-40 MPH, windshield wipers almost unable to keep up. Once I got to the mountains in San Bernardino, the wind was gusting so hard my dash-cam kept detecting an accident! Traffic crawled to a stop, and I checked the weather to see reports of 75 mph wind gusts. This traffic sign got split in half by the wind. It was nuts.
I finally got to Carlsbad and was greeted by Max, then promptly passed out. The next couple days was spent re-organizing my car, hanging out with Max, checking out San Diego, and going to the climbing gym.
To summarize the last week until I get a chance to write about it:
- Stayed 3 days at Max’s
- Went to L.A. and got to stay with Paul (and Wicket) for a night
- Picked up my friend Catalina from LAX
- Spent 5 days driving up the coast with Catalina
- Met Cadence in Santa Cruz
- Dropped Catalina off at the airport, then headed back to Carlsbad
Which leads to now! I’m planning on staying through this week at Max’s, taking advantage of a free 2-week climbing gym membership I got. It’s also nice to have a week of “normal” life: grocery shopping, using a kitchen, working out, doing some computer tasks and life maintenance, etc. Max’s is walking distance from both the beach and tons of stores (including grocery).
OB in San Diego, Max’s backyard, and the Public Beach Access
Not a bad spot to post up for the week!
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