The Gravity Vault - Upper Saddle River, NJ

I wandered into New Jersey to meet a friend for  Lunch and decided to get some climbing afterward.

I visited during the day and the place was pretty empty. The staff told me it can get pretty busy during the after work hours. There is ample floor space in the gym so I doubt you'll feel too crowded.

The bouldering wall is split in to two areas. One of the walls can be topped out although many routes don'r seem to be set up with a top out in mind. The gym has a decent bouldering area but the real fun seems to be on the ropes. The roped wall seemed to have a good variety of climbable surface.
There are also few exercise machines and a lounge area.

Over all the gym was well maintained and the climbs were o.k. I wouldn't go out of my way for the gym but if you are in the area it's not a bad gym.

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Gunks - Bouldering

Location:
Shawangunks, also known simply as the "Gunks" is located 2 hrs north of NYC near New Paltz, NY. The following map shows the parking lot to access the Gunks.

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Access:
To climb at the Gunks you need to pay the daily usage fee of $15 for climbing. If you will be visiting the Gunks often you can purchase a season pass for $85.

Boxcar Boulder

Approach:
There are handful of bouldering areas but majority of the problems are located in Trapps bouldering area. To access the Trapps bouldering Area after you park your car hike up the fairly well maintained on dirt and stone steps trail till you reach the carriage way. Once you get to the carriage road approach to many problems should be very easy. The whole approach can be done in flip flops but some might prefer to have better shoes for the initial hike.

Guidebooks:

According to the guys at Rock and Snow the best guide book for bouldering in the area is "Bouldering in the Shawangunks". If you have a hard time finding the guide book you can just go to Rock and Snow in new paltz on your way and pick up a copy.

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Where to Stay:
I made the Gunks a day trip from NYC. For much more detailed information on where to stay check out Mountain Project. The Mountain Project website has a very comprehensive list on everything you need to know about climbing at the Gunks.

The crash pad welcome mat at Andrew Boulder Problem

Food:
Bacchus is an excellent place for dinner. The food is pretty good and the beer selection is pretty awesome.

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Wi-Fi:
There should be plenty of cafe's with wi-fi access in New Paltz.

Links:
mountainproject.com
rockclimbing.com  
The Virgin's Guide To Gunks Climbing

Brooklyn Boulders - NYC

For a big city there are surprisingly few indoor climbing options. There are some normal gyms with climbing walls but there is only one real climbing gym.

Brooklyn Boulders

Brooklyn boulders is the only true climbing gym in NYC. BB is a fairly new gym that is still under construction. I came unfortunately on a day that more than half the bouldering areas were not accessible. The routes on the steeper wall were being replaced while the padded floor on the main bouldering walls were being repaired.

Routes being replaced

Fortunately when I told one of the guys working there about my cross country travels he decided to give me a free day pass and even gave me a quick tour of the gym that is still under construction. The part that is still under construction looks very promising.Once complete it should provide almost double the climbing surface.

 Slack line!

Besides the standard sport, lead and bouldering walls there is a slack line, gymnastic rings and campus boards. They also have a water fountain! No need to buy over priced waters at the front desk.
I was there during the middle of the day so it was pretty quite but I've been told it gets really crowded and busy after the work day is over.

 The rope climbs on the left, the bouldering on the right.

The vibe is fun and the climbs are interesting. If you are in NYC and don't have time to hit the Gunks definitely get your climbing fix at the Brooklyn Boulders.

Entrance to the fun!

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A 8 year old just kicked your ass...

We've all experienced it before. We are working so hard on a project and a kid walks up and just crushes it... The one thing is they usually aren't only 8 years old... 
http://www.deadpointmag.com/articles/view/8-year-old-girl-sends-power-silence-v10

Ashima Shiraishi recently sent Power of Silence V10. When I first saw this I thought it was an April Fools joke but after some further research it's true and there is a video to prove it.

http://www.deadpointmag.com/videos/watch/ashima-shiraishi-age-8-power-silence-v10
Wow, pretty impressive. So next time you are bouldering watch your back, Ashima might just pop out and kick your ass!
Go Ashima!

Finally NYC!

It only took about 1.5 months but I finally got to NYC! NYC is a special to me.Not because of the museums, not because of the night life, not because of all the hustle and bustle but because of all my friends in NY. NY has  truly become my home away from home and it was good to be home :o)

Rainy and windy day!

Eric and Caroline and home cooked food!

Sara!

Crustinis!

Salmon and couscous!

Leo's Steak Shop - Folcroft PA

 On my way to NY from my Maryland I decided I needed to get some Philly Cheese Steak! I was initially planning to hit up Pat's and Gino's but after reading some reviews I decided to check out  Leo's instead.

Leo's!

Leo's is a pretty small cheese steak place with no indoor seating. Usually that would not be a problem since they have ample seating outdoors but when it's cold and rainy like the day I visited it's a bit of a bummer.

One of the many plaques of awards on the walls.

The whole place smelled pretty amazing. I ordered a large mushroom cheese steak with hot peppers.

A large cheese steak wrapped up in 2 sections! That's a lot of Philly Cheese Steak!

The cheese steak was pretty tasty but the cheese was not mingled in with the meat. Since the meat is not seasoned I recommend that you order extra cheese to make sure you can have cheese in ever bite. Is it the best of Philly? I can't say but it is pretty tasty.

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Restful, relaxing and fun times in Virginia and Maryland!

I just wanted to say thanks to all the wonderful people in Virgina and Maryland that has made my trip pretty awesome. Thank you!

McAfee's Knob - Crag Beta!

 Mickey Mouse Boulder

Location:
McAfee's Knob is located approximately 20 minutes north west of Roanoke VA. Here is the turn by turn directions from Mountain Project.com
"From I-81 take exit for Rt. 311 just south of Roanoke. Follow 311 S and park at the top of Catawba mountain, where the AT crosses the road. There is a large gravel lot on the left."

 The parking lot on the left

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Access:
There is currently no access issue.

Snow!

Approach:
Just park your car in the parking lot, start heading down the hill to the left until you see a gated fire road. The Roadside Boulder should be visible on top of the hill and if you keep heading down the fire road it should lead you to the rest of the problems. Since most of the problems can only be accessed after 3.5 miles of hiking so comfortable shoes are recommended. 

Guidebooks:
To my knowledge the only guide book available for the area is the Dr. Topo guide. The guide is still accessible from Dr. Topo's website. -link-

Where to Stay:
I stayed at a friend's place in Roanoke but if you are looking for camping options according to rockclimbing.com:
"There is camping on the main trail on the way up there. Camping at the very top is prohibited. Otherwise camping is allowed anywhere on the Appalacian Trail."

Food:
There are many food options in Roanoke. If you are craving a biscuit or two Tudor's Biscuit World is the place to go.

Wi-Fi:
There are many cafe's in Roanoke that have wi-fi access. Tudor's Biscuit World also has wi-fi access.

Links:
drtopo.com
rockclimbing.com
mountainproject.com

McAfee's Knob - Bouldering!

My back was still not 100% but we still decided to finally get some more bouldering in. We decided to go to a spot near Roanoke VA called McAfee's Knob.

Jennifer getting ready for a climb!

We started our day at the Roadside Boulder which has a very short approach. The rock is visible from the road!

Jennifer on Flake Problem V0

Since it was Jennifer's first time bouldering outdoors and since my back was still not 100% we decided to hop on Flake Problem V0. I flashed the problem but I found it to be a pretty stiff V0 with the sit start. The crux is the sit down start and the top out. I also climbed Roadside Arete V2. The trick to the climb is to keep both hands on the right and move your right hand further to the right for better holds. There were many other climbs that looked like fun but I decided that it was probably better to play it safe rather than risk messing my back up any more.

I think that this photo is of me on the same problem...

The next cluster of problems was located 1 mile up the road. The boulder was called Mickey Mouse Boulder and once you see it you'll know why it's named Mickey Mouse Boulders.

Flashing the Mickey Mouse Left V3 on the Mickey Mouse Boulder.

The boulder really does look like Mickey Mouse! Needless to say I was all giddy when I saw the rock. Both the Mickey Mouse Right V2 and Mickey Mouse Left was a lot of fun even if the Mickey Mouse left's top out was a bit scary.

Jennifer worked the climb right below the left ear of Mickey Mouse called the Tornado V1. After some tries she got it! And it's definitely not an easy V1!
After the Tornado we started running out of time but there was one more climb I really wanted to do. I have been eying it ever since we got to the MM boulders, a V3 dyno called the Flake Dyno. A dyno is probably not the best thing for a injured back but I couldn't resist.

Look ma! No feets!

The climb was the perfect Dyno. Very solid starting hand hold, decent foot holds and a reachy and fairly decent hand hold to latch onto. Since Dynoing is not my strong suit it took me a while before I was utilizing my body well enough to really launch for it. I pushed hard with my legs, pulled my body close to the rock and let the feet cut loose. It took me many tries but I got it! What an awesome way to end a bouldering day!

Tudor's Biscuit World - Roanoke VA

For breakfast we decided to head on over to the Tudor's Biscuit World.

 I decided to order 2 biscuits, a standard sausage biscuit and a biscuit called the Cavalier. Both were pretty tasty but the Cavalier was the clear winner. The Cavalier's crunchy hash brown, tasty sausage combined with the cheese was a sure fire win.

  Perhaps not the healthiest of breakfast but it is delicious! Also they have wi-fi access which makes it a great breakfast stop.

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Henry's Memphis BBQ - Salem VA

After the puppies and a decent amount of driving we were getting mighty hungry. Luckily for us there was a BBQ joint right off the road!

 Henry's Memphis BBQ!

On this trip I have been eating a lot of BBQ and I was unsure how well a small bbq place in Salem VA would hold up to the other big hitters. I must say it wasn't the tastiest BBQ by any means but it grew on me very quickly.

  Mmmm~ Meat~~

I ordered the memphis dry rub with brunswick stew and fried okra. The meat could be a bit more tender and the dry rub seems to have been rubbed on after the rib was cooked and not before. I usually like my memphis dry rub without any additional sauces but this time around the ribs were tastier with sauces. They have 4 different sauces available and all of them tasty pretty good but I think the ribs goes best with the south carolina sauce.

 I would not recommend you go out of your way for the ribs but if you are near Salem, VA this might be a good place to stock up on your meat quota.

Grayson Highlands State Park - No Bouldering!

We were not initially planning to go to Grayson Highlands State Park but were not too far so we decided to go check it out. The park is not open during the winter and as you can see in the photos below there was a bit too much snow on the ground to do some climbing.

None Shall Pass!!

But the detour was not a loss! We were driving back when we saw something we could not resist, big fluffy great great pyrenees!

The puppies were only 5 months old and they are already huge!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww~~~!

The nice lady who owned the dogs let us pet the puppies! If the lady was willing to part with any of them we were ready to make room in the car to take one of them home with us! Even without any bouldering this detour was so worth it! It just goes to show that sometimes the unplanned portion of your trip can be just as awesome as your planned portion.