Solar Fest, Taos & Questa Dome bouldering

We left Los Alamos this Friday to go up to Taos to see the BoDeans playing at the Solar Fest. Then we would camp around Taos to do some bouldering/hiking the day after. There were other bands playing before BoDeans but we did not pay much attention to them. Several food stands were put up within the festival area and I found a very nice lentil curry. The BoDeans, who are mostly famous for their "Closer to free" which was featured in the tv-series "Party of five", got on stage and the others wanted to closer to the stage. The most interesting thing about the concert was looking at the people. There were quite a few hippies and it seemed like I was one of the younger people in the audience.

After the concert we headed to the car to drive towards the ski hill to find the camping spot that W had found earlier that afternoon. There was a stream right there and the sound from the water was pretty loud. We had some beer and chatted a while. The conversations around camp fires always seem to be more interesting than conversations elsewhere. However, we did not have a fire but the conversations were interesting anyway. I was optimistic about the night time temperature so I only brought my summer sleeping-bag and it was apparently too thin since I woke up in the middle of the night shivering. Luckily I did bring long-johns and more sweaters so I put it all on.

In the morning Donna found that some creatures had stolen the tortillas for the breakfast burritos. We decided to drive to Questa to get some breakfast there instead. The cafe in Questa was old but the breakfast burrito was tasty. We split into two groups so Walt, Caroline, and I went up to the Questa Dome boulders while Donna, Misa, and Jae went for a hike by Red River. The bouldering area by Questa Dome has more than 100 established problems on granite. The last bit of the drive there was very rough and the guide book author was right about "4wd only". The hike from the parking to the first boulders was pretty short. At the first spot we stopped at we played around on a few V0-V3's. The granite was incredibly slick and smearing was not to think about. The next stop was at the Trail boulders where we spent the rest of the time. The problems here were quite nice with some cool moves. Some problems seemed sand-bagged.

Caroline on a V2 at Questa Dome boulders.

After the bouldering/hiking we met at Embudo Station for a bite to eat and something to drink. The others tried to hike further than the trail suggestion so they arrived after we finished our food and drinks.

White water rafting, Rio Grande

Charles organised a white water rafting trip to Pilar south of Taos. We were nine people heading up there. To start with the guides drove us upstream to a bridge across the Rio Grande where we started the rafting. The whole morning was very mellow and relaxing and my hopes for the afternoon on the so called Race course got bigger and bigger. They served us lunch by the river in Pilar. After lunch it did not even take a minute before I got splashed with water. There were a few nice rapids along the Race course but the distance in-between them were too long. The best part was the Souse Hole where we got soaked thoroughly. The last mile was merely transport to the pick-up spot. The guide made us try some trick with the raft where everyone gathered at the stern and he was pulling on a line attached to the bow while one side paddled forward and the other backward to make the raft spin. The guide almost fell into the water but apart from that it was not very exciting.

After the rafting one car headed home to attend some party while the rest of us drove to Embudo Station to have an early dinner. It is a nice place right by the river and they have good food and beer. A lot of cotton was blowing off of the cottonwood trees so it was a struggle to keep the glasses free of cotton.