Day 33

Mother Nature again abided and blessed us with another perfect summer day at the mountain (probably the best all trip). The jump line was again pristine and today, with a little more effort from the park crew, held up late into the afternoon. Alex and I were finally getting loose on jumps and stringing together some pretty hot lines through the park. Rarely do us east coast kids get to ride such an epic jump line. We ran into a friend from Penn State and counselor at Windell's snowboard camp, Steph (Dirty D). She invited us to a real scene bbq with a some pro snowboarders, skiers, Windell's counselors, and local scenesters.

Didn't know anyone but still having a grand time

The scene made a guest appearance

The babes of Mt. Hood, rarities among the sea of dudes

It was pretty weird but Alex and I had fun anyways. A girl named Ashley hosted the shindig but her landlords came and made us all leave. It sucked we had to split but we had bro'ed out for long enough. We returned to camp for a healthy fire with the king of all campfire treats, smores.

Day 31

Boarding, boarding, boarding. The rain finally subsided and the sun even made some guest appearances on Mt. Hood (it was a mixture of full sun and thick, blinding clouds throughout the day). The jump line in Timberline public park was pretty sweet with 4 jumps in a row of 15 to 35 foot tabletops. The snow was a little slow and sticky since it snowed several inches the night before (a very warm, heavy snow) and provided an awesome view of the mountain totally blanketed in the white stuff.

Mt. Hood after a late June snow

Spins, flips, grabs, and shifties were thrown in every direction. We rode until our legs couldn't take anymore (the lift closed at about the exact same time) and went back to camp.
We decided to treat ourselves to delicious Volcano Cones in Govy after a hard days riding (I prefer strawberry cheesecake and galaxy (chocolate, peanuts, caramel and other goodies) flavors)

The Scene was hanging out there too

Jared's friends had shown up finally and they were getting loose. We sat around the campfire just watching their zany antics. I wrote some haikus in a girl's notebook. We played hot potato with fiery red coals. I got a haircut from one of the girls, Mandy.

My hair (and life) in handy Mandy's hands

We talked about dinosaurs, music, friendships, and general Oregonian knowledge. Rachel and Mandy were a couple of loud bff's that liked to party. Their boyfriends Matt and Greg were a couple of zany characters with all kinds of tattoos and piercings. Sal was a good guy and only talked when he wanted to, or maybe he was just drowned out by the omnipresent yelling/laughing/joking of the girls. Jared, Alex, and i completed the campfire circle until some dude named Steve (30-something, single, combat boots, beer gut, works at a plastic silverware distributor) showed up from another neighboring camp. He was looking for a a fight, or maybe just an argument. He apparently stole a scooter from a kid and was upset about accusations of child molestation during his last stint in the slammer. This guy was a social wreck. Alex's camera is way better at capturing at night so check his site for all the racy pics.

Day 20

Another day of soul boarding. Bluebird, warm, and epic. I was starting to feel pretty loose again after finally getting back in the rhythm of riding. The jumps were nice and firm in the morning and then they started getting sloppy later in the day so we hit up the rail scene. I could do all my stunts again! Summer snowboarding, yum! we ate pitas in the way out of town and drove to Yosemite National Park.

Ashburys+ beaded Croakies=scene

We made it in with our annual National Park pass for about 10 minutes before a cop pulled me over for speeding. I got off with a warning but while he was checking my id we saw a big coyote.

Pigs

Onward we went to Yosemite Valley, the heart of the park. The rock is simply amazing here. Towering granite slabs over 3,000 tall. We took pictures of half dome, El Capitan, and cathedral peak. Itching to get out of our car we hiked/ climbed to the base of El Cap. It was hard enough to make it through the endless scree slope with no gear let alone a full trad rack that the climbers have to carry. We stood beneath The Nose of El Cap, just staring at all 34 pitches of finger splitting crack climbs. There were 2 parties on the wall that appeared as tiny specks on the huge wall.

El Capitan

We saw a huge 8-point whitetail buck in velvet beneath el cap

Half Dome

Yosemite Falls

Cathedral Peak

It was dark by the time we made it back from our car and all the park's campgrounds were full. We headed out to find camping somewhere and ended up sleeping on the pavement of a campground parking lot.

Day 19

We left Bishop's bumpy Buttermilk road behind to do some snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain. Mammoth is a resort known for its terrain parks (huge jumps and big jibs) and it was a real treat to ride it in June due to the snowpack of the Sierras. The mountain still had a ton of snow and the park was still in great shape.

Driving up to the mountain

Mammoth lodge with the slopes in the background

They had a full-size half pipe, 2 kickers, a loooong flat box, and a solid down rail. It was a sick setup that we played around on all day. Awesome times! We bro'ed out with the liftie, Chris at the bottom of each run. He told us about some local hot springs that we could soak in and camp at. After boarding Alex and I went to discover these pools. After exploring every dirt road in the foothills of Mammoth lakes, getting cheap gas in a town with an official population of 13 and a half, and finally finding some springs that you had to pay to use, we drove back to Mammoth to camp.

Welcome to Benton hot Springs

Sierra Sunset