Born on the 4th of July!

It’s true, I am an independence baby, firecracker, and red, white and blue child. It’s a fun birthday to have too because as long as I’m in the United States I get the day off work. If I’m really lucky, like this last weekend, I can even squeeze in an extra day and go off into the wilderness for 4 days!

Mike and I made the treck to Stanley Idaho for a climbing adventure weekend in the Sawtooths. We took the shuttle across Red Fish Lake and were greeted by a string of red ribbons and notes from my mom. She had snuck across the lake on an earlier boat and surprised me with a little scavenger hunt. Well done mother!

So the three of us Mike, Mom and I hiked up to the Elephant’s Perch and Saddleback Lakes in the Sawtooth Mountains. It took about 3 hours and in the last mile we gained about 1400 ft of elevation. The lakes though, and the views… wow totally speechless! We had an amazing campsite at the base of the Perch, I slept so well, we ate well, and took a mellow start to our climbing day.

Although Myopia, a 9 pitch 5.11a, has great reviews and is a supposed three star route, it was not exactly my cup of tea. The majority of it was laybacking, and blocky, and I was just not in the mood for it. Luckily Mike’s attitude and the views saved the day. We made it to the top after 3 luna bars, 3 tubes of shot blocks and 3 liters of water in 10 hours. It was a long day… I’m okay with days like that though, it was hard, it hurt and at times it made me want to cry or punch things, but we made it in good spirits and smiles. Not all days will be perfect, but there are shiny spots and we chose to hold on to the shiny spots. Oh and we saw a huge mountain goat!

The rest of the weekend was full of skinny dipping in alpine cold water, naps, walks, photos, fishing, and fun conversations. I have had a fair few birthdays now and I feel lucky to say I have spent the majority of them in the mountains. It’s a great way to recharge, reflect, stay grounded, and re-caliber my perspective.

I am so thankful for the mountains and their fresh air, my mom and her amazing light, my boyfriend and his killer attitude and climbing skilz, and my birthday for providing the best possible day for me to celebrate life and adventure.       

Time

Something we’re all familiar with, have our own thoughts about, use, lose, and chase. Something we love, curse, crave, and fight with. Something we try to control, try to let go of, bend, adjust and trick. There are a lot of ways to look at and think about time. According to google time is “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.” It’s also a measurement, plan or schedule.

My relationship with and definition of time is constantly evolving. I usually think about time in relation to a balancing act, as if I only have so many eggs I can juggle, set down, toss in the air, or hold in my hands. I’m not all that good at juggling in real life so the metaphor of juggling eggs might not be the most appropriate... But what if I was to say those eggs are plastic easter eggs with sweets inside?! That way if they drop and break open, I have one less egg and a sugary treat! Dropping too many eggs would obviously lead to a risk of diabetes, or I could take the time to set all my other eggs down and put the broken egg back together treat safely nested inside.

What I’m getting at with this very convoluted metaphor is that I have recently come to the conclusion that the perfect balancing act of time is unrealistic. Sometimes my energy will feel evenly distributed, but most of the time not and that’s okay. I have to be okay with dropping an egg once in a while and then giving it all of my attention. Right now that egg is my video project of my climb at Smith Rock.

I received a Live Your Dream grant from the American Alpine Club earlier this year and completed my climb of the West Face of the Monkey as part of my project. It was an amazing day, I got some great footage, and I have been putting all of my extra time and energy over the last week into finishing the video trip report.

Video is a whole new beast for me, and it has eaten up my entire existence since I started. However with my new found acceptance and relationship with time, I’m not beating myself up about not taking advantage of the sunshine or missing out on one climbing trip, because the summer is long and there will be more time for those things. Right now my video egg has the spotlight and I am giving it all of my attention.

I have to have these sorts of conversations with myself often, silly metaphors included, because I love to do so much in so many different directions. I want to take on as many eggs as possible! I want to participate, adventure, relax, read, celebrate, sleep, cook, paint, dance, climb, and squeeze it all into one day! Sometimes it's possible, and sometimes I have to remind myself that it's okay and that regardless of how I try to spend, use and take advantage of my time it will carry on indefinitely.   

 

Falling is Part of the Process

Falling, failing, missing the goal, shot, net, hole, hold, catch. Losing, tripping, crashing, hitting the ground, all of these things happen and all of these things are part of the process.

This last weekend was my first real trad climbing trip to Index, that’s all we did, place gear and climb cracks. Our first climb was called Aries. It’s a 3 pitch 5.8 with a wide start, a flared chimney, and a bit of a roof. All things I’m not super stoked on or good at. So I was a bit stunned by Mike’s reply when I asked him who was leading what pitches. “You’re leading all of them” he said. Shit… I’m getting more comfortable with placing gear and climbing cracks, but a lot of it still feels foreign and up until now I had never taken a fall on gear before.  

I racked my gear, started up the wide section, placed a blue number 3 cam and tried to get my fists to fit in the crack. None of this was graceful by the way. I was cursing under my breath, huffing, pissed and staring at that cam thinking “I’m totally about to take a fall on this… Fuck it! Here we go…” I groveled my way up a few moves past my piece, was smearing with my left foot and trying to find something substantial for my right, but it was awkward. I was almost there, fingers touching the hold that would secure my passage on to the ledge in front of me, and my foot popped. Falling is part of the process.

I gave a bit of a frustrated cry as my gear and Mike caught me. I sat there in my harness out of breath, frustrated, panting, and a bit excited honestly. YES! It totally holds! I mean I knew logically that cams are supposed to work, but it’s another thing entirely to have the experience of one working. I looked down and had a very nice three tiered rope burn from my ankle half way up my calf with a definite bruise and bloody knee pending. Mike was stoked, I was stoked, we laughed, I caught my breath and got to the ledge my second go. The rest of the climb was great too, I had fun in the try-hard frustrating sense, but ultimately I felt really good about my performance and my efforts.

Climbing cracks still feels like another language in many ways, but I’ve got the falling figured out so it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the equation is translated.


Maitri Wedding

It's hard to say what my favorite part about my work is. There are so many elements to my process, image collection, cutting, arranging, organizing, collaging, sculpting, painting and of course delivering the final piece. With my Wedding series work I think the amount of time I spend with all of the smiling photos is a narrow second to delivering the final piece to the newlyweds.

I spend at least 30 hours with a 2x3 poster size piece and the majority of that time is spent smiling. It's a rough job really. I have to stare at, work with and arrange a couples most precious, joyful, happy moments they have captured on film and it makes me constantly smiley! As it turns out there is a little science behind the act of smiling. Did you know it's practically impossible to not smile back at a smiling face without conscious effort? 

Over the last month and a half I have been smiling at and with my friends Jess, Taylor and their radiant family. In my initial sketching stages, it was imperative for me to find an image that both symbolized and spoke to the fullness of this couple and their journey together. They are both passionate, strong, magnetic beings that draw people in like bug lights with a happy zap. They place an emphasis on growth and self-reflection and have the joint responsibility of nourishing four energetic children. 

Knowing what I do about their characters and intentions it was easy to see them and their journey reflected in the symbol of a tree, but I wanted to further emphasize the act of coming together to create something new. In this piece Maitri (which is a Sanskrit word meaning unconditional love and friendship with oneself and is also now their last name) I decided to have a bright seedling tree in the foreground to show the beginning of their relationship and a larger full tree in the background to show the inevitable growth and longevity of their relationship.  

Thank you again Jess and Taylor for allowing me to be part of your journey and share in your smiles! 


Weekend Warrior

Urban Dictionary has a long list of definitions for "weekend warrior." The most popular being "a person who regularly parties on weekends."  I certainly don't "party" in the traditional Urban Dictionary context, but I have my own malleable definition and try to celebrate every moment of my weekends in the fullest adventure style possible. 

To recap the month of May... 2500 trip miles, 615 photos taken, 11 days climbing outside, 4 states, 3 hot springs, 2 new phones, 1 yoga retreat, countless bruises, and more laughter then I have embraced in a very long time. My weekends, my evenings, all of my time is meant to be full of awesome! I have chosen to have what I call a big-girl job and that takes up about 40 hours a week, but there is plenty of time left over to "party!"

I'll admit it is hard sometimes to get home from a trip after midnight, unpack the car, make food for the next day, and shower only to get 5 hours of sleep and still get things accomplished on Monday. But it's worth it. It's worth it to have my ankles bruised to the point of limiting my professional foot attire, my muscles ache to the point of limited movement and my car/road-trip-rig smell to the point of limited breathing and almost embarrassment. I'm not embarrassed though and I know I'm not the only one that lives this way.

Some people like myself live many lives in a week. I have my business casual life during the weekdays and on the weekends I have my wanderlust adventure warrior life. There are moments of frustration on sunny days behind my desk, moments of anguish on rainy days hiding under rocks, and moments of chaos when I can't seem to counterbalance my two lives, but again it's worth it. I learn more and more about myself as I transition between my two lives, reflect on the importance and benefits of each, and try to grow and adjust as necessary.

So for the time being I'm stoked on my business casual/adventure warrior juggling act and since nothing is really set in stone, if I choose to take an extended trip or spend the weekend at home in my hammock that will just have to fit into my definition of "party."


Spring Thing Slideshow

I can't believe it has almost been a month since the Smith Rock Spring Thing! I still have rocks stuck in the treads of my shoes, sage stuck to the back seat of my car, and photos on my camera that still need to be processed, but I have done a quick edit of my slideshow presentation!   

The Smith Rock Spring Thing is a rad fundraising and park maintenance day that rewards it's volunteers with food, goodies, raffles, and a live auction of awesome gear. This year Mike Doyle also gave an entertaining slideshow on his Smith Rock climbing endeavors and his epic battle and eventual triumph over Necessary Evil 5.14c in the Virginia River Gorge. Congrats again Mike!

 Thanks again to everyone who showed up to volunteer and if you missed my part of the slideshow, here it is... Sorry about the few "ums" I was a tad nervous. 

Smith Rock Spring Thing

The Smith Rock Spring Thing Volunteer Day is the annual fundraiser and project maintenance day for Smith Rock State Park. The park has over 1500 established climbing routes, and boasts a proud 651 acres. There is an educational Welcome Center open a few days a week, and a great staff of rangers and volunteers that keep an eye on the park year round. This year at the Spring Thing there were almost 200 volunteers! Cyber high fives everyone!  Dozens of projects were tackled throughout the park in just a day! Including: rebuilding rock walls, replacing steps, widening trails, building trails and putting in stair risers, just to name a few. 

The event has been going on for over two decades, and this year I had the pleasure of participating and presenting my new project. 

I sweat and played in the dirt building stairs and moving rock with my Voyage of the Cow Dog crew and met some fantastic energetic people who all care about making a difference and giving back to the park. After-which, we all enjoyed some tasty beverages, food, more good company and sunshine. 

Communities like this are what recharge my batteries and give me hope for the world. I have traveled in and out of the Smith Rock community for almost ten years. It was the first place I roped up outside, it has been the birth place of some lifelong friendships, it has fostered growth, helped me heal, made me laugh, curse, cry and scream with joy. Smith Rock is a special place, and it's people are just as special. 

photo credit Ian Caldwell

I cannot wait to spend the rest of the year putting as much intention and energy as I can possibly muster back into this place, and this community that has given me so much. 

With leagues of gratitude,
-Meg

Live Your Dreams!

Speechless excitement was my first response when I found out I had received one of the NW Live Your Dream Grants from the American Alpine Club this year. I had put so much time and intention into these big dreams it just felt so good to be rewarded for the effort. Receiving this grant was the extra boost of reassurance I think I needed to prove to myself that I am headed in the right direction, that this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing, and that these are the dreams I am after.

Here's a quick video I put together explaining my project and a little bit about the Live Your Dream Grant.   

About the #ConnectWithSmithRockProject

My two most prolific passions are climbing and art. I have the big dream to combine the two to promote state and national park awareness, aid in their conservation, and connect more people to their parks and resources. I also want to give back to the parks that have supported and fostered my growth as an artist and a climber.

Specifically I want to give everyone who visits Smith Rock the opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves. Everyone from the dirtbag climber, to the weekend warrior, to the wheelchair-bound person, can share their park story and photos by using the hashtag #ConnectWithSmithRock.

The final piece will be a 4 x 8 triptych mixed-media painting similar to my Traveling Mountains piece, highlighting both the people and the place that define Smith Rock State Park. The final piece will be finished by the end of 2015 and will then be on display in Red Point for several months before it is sold and 100% of the proceeds will then go back to the park.

If you would like to participate in the project, please submit your photos telling your story of our park by using the hashtag #ConnectWithSmithRock on Instagram or publicly on Facebook so I can find your photos. If you prefer, you can also email me your photos at connectwithmeg@gmail.com. 

Live stream from the Instagram hashtag #ConnectWithSmithRock