Two at the Kind

While Ashley worked on projects at Chaos. I spent a couple days last week at the Kind boulder. Showing it to friends, and hanging out between attempts on my somewhat contrived, lowball and circular "Kind Loopis" project. Friends, acquaintances, and visitors from other states and countries generally followed a similar routine. 1. Warm-up 2. Climb "The Kind" 3. Get on "Mr. Wimpy."
4. Only move on if you climb "Mr. Wimpy."
Thursday was a beautiful cloudy day. We got a few sprinkles, temps were good.
Todd doing step 2.

Ricky on step 3.


Saturday was sunny and hotter. I had a rough day on my project. Either it was too hot, or I hadn't rested long enough after Thursday. Negative progress, but I witnessed an interesting exchange. A group of guys I know from the gym was working on Mr. Wimpy. Their conversation went something like this. Marty: "My armpit smells weird since I shaved it. Tony you gotta smell my armpit."
Tony: "No. Why would I want to smell your armpit?"
Marty: "If you top out Mr. Wimpy, you have to smell my armpit."
Tony: "O.K."
Tony topping out Mr. Wimpy.

Tony keeping his word.

Me: "That's going on my blog."
Tony: "O.K."

Ashley had a really long session on Saturday. I waited for hours at Dream Lake not knowing what was going on while she was scoping out Upper Chaos. It was a longer talus hike than she had expected. The girls played in the stream, and I watched hikers. My mind wandered. I saw some things, and thought about how unfairly climber impact is treated. If we lived in a fair world, there would be exchanges on hiking message boards going something like this. Any resemblance between this fictional exchange, and real message board exchanges is somewhat coincidental.

Front Range Hiking Messageboard

Stashed TP at Dream Lake- by Hiker on the Trail
"I followed a couple social trails near Dream Lake, and found about 30 piles of stashed TP. It was so nasty! This sort of irresponsible behavior is going to get hikers kicked out of the park. I even saw hikers trampling over "Restoration Areas."

Re:Stashed TP at Dream Lake- by Lenny
"Not this issue again."

Re:Stashed TP at Dream Lake- by Sock Feets
"Hiker of the Trail is all over it yo! There was a time when hiking at Dream Lake was rare enough that TP could be stashed, and no one would ever find it. Those days are over. If I see stashed TP I'm packing it out. Follow my lead, bishes! W3RD"

Re:Stashed TP at Dream Lake-by Merton
"Most of the TP is left by selfish out-of-state hikers who will never visit the area again. It sucks that locals have to take care of this problem to maintain access to this world class trail."

Re:Stashed TP at Dream Lake -by NPS Ranger
"The rangers have noticed this issue, and they follow this message board. Hopefully hikers as a user group can find a way to take care of this issue themselves other wise the rangers will be forced to impose hiking restrictions."

Re:Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by bouldering boy
"Kick the hikers out!"

Re: Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by Ms. Hikewell
"I've contacted the rangers and organized a "Hygiene Hike." Meet at the trailhead at 8:00 on Saturday. We'll pack out stashed TP in the morning, and hike in the afternoon."

Re: Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by Hard Hiker
You weak legged losers are ruining my hiking experience. You don't hike in the Park much. Me and my buddies never see you out there. Hikers like you are bad apples ruining the taste of the cider. Ms. Hikewell you should go on Prairie Home Companion and strangle yourself while NPR listeners everywhere can tune in to your last choking gasps."

Re: Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by Sock Feets
"Dawg! That was out of line. Elitist Crud! Ms. Hikewell is doing a good thing. Mikey, please delete that last post. W3rd"

Re: Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by Hiking Honey
"The elite hikers at Dream Lake are doing hikes beyond the physical imagination of most of the hikers on this board. They shouldn't be expected to hike out their TP."

Re: Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by Estes Hiker
"The problem is the Marmots in Rocky don't eat the TP like they do in the Evans Wilderness Area. We need to introduce some Evans marmots."

Re: Stashed TP at Dream Lake - by K Why
"Bubble Butt hiker bappy blip TP hip. Cuddly Squeezes"

We don't live in a fair world. Climbers, boulderers, and the impacts they cause are put under the microscope while the impacts of hikers and other mainstream activities are completely ignored. Don't go off trail near Dream Lake if you can help it. The TP issue really needs to be addressed by someone. Messageboards are almost as disgusting, but I can't stay away.