Yesterday we (we being myself, Ngoc, J-fire, Susan, Alfred, and Fogel) met up at Castle Rock State Park, our "local" bouldering playground...."local" being just a hair shy of one and a half hours drive from here.  Save for a trip to Bishop, or more recently, Yosemite Valley, Castle Rock is the closest we can come to more than a day's worth of bouldering in one spot.

Castle Rock is often compared to Fontainebleau. Not that I've ever been to France, but I've often heard comparisons made between Castle's thickly canopied softwood forest and fairy-tale vibe and France's bouldering mecca.

Whether or not Castle is reminiscent of some place across the Atlantic, its chock full of grippy, slappy, slopey sandstone goodness. It is just as much frustrating as it is contemplative, and is quite the rude awakening to most loyal gym rats. We had a great time, got mad dusty, and drank our share of frosty margaritas afterwards.

Accolades to Mike for his first V4 send (skipped straight from 2 to 4!) of the sit start Sweet Honey variation to Honey Dip. Wow that's a mouthful. also cheers to Ngoc for an epic fall of the top of the Parking Lot Boulder onto a poorly protected landing, and to myself for Indian Traverse V5 (even though I "technically" skipped the final few soft moves and decided to top out early. I'm still counting it damnit!)