johnfulwider dot com

We spent Day 13 on the road to Highlands, North Carolina, stopping in Atlanta for a three-hour shopping spree at Ikea and dinner at my favorite fast-food burger joint, Checkers.

Here was the day I’d been waiting for, when my cousin’s daughter Krista would show up. Aunt Laura made some fantastic BBQ beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, ham … the list goes on.

The end of our first full day at the Fulwider Party Barn in St. Augustine found us at Outback Crab Shack, where the boiled dinner gets you a platter groaning with crab, crawfish, clams, potatoes, sausage, corn, shrimp, and other goodies. Here James grabs the first bite o’ crustacean. Outback is so popular that we had to park a quarter mile away and take a shuttle van the restaurant provided.

Friends and family, you’ve been clamoring for more photos, so here is a rough draft slideshow with 139 photos from our trip. No titles or captions yet, so you’ll just have to guess at what we’re doing.

To get you started: Above I’m at the top of a climb at Summersville Lake, West Virginia. I’m just a one-minute rappel and walk from a cool, refreshing swim in crystal-clear water. Can’t get that at many crags!

We arrived at the Fulwider Party Barn Friday afternoon, where the world’s longest dock led out to a beautiful sunset we enjoyed after wearing ourselves out playing with Gareth, setting crab traps and scoping for gators.

We took a slow travel day to South Carolina, stopping at the Welcome Center in the rain (note lens cap captured in this hastily taken photo). We stayed at the halfway point to Florida in Summerton at the Deluxe Motel, a place whose name was half accurate. Coming up on Day 10: Partying with the entire fam for the whole weekend at Camp Fulwider in St. Augustine, Florida. I can taste the seafood boil already.

Feeling a tad sticky, we headed for Summersville Lake in West Virginia’s New River Gorge. There you climb right next to a sparkling-clear lake and can take a dip after a tough send. Also available are deep-water soloing, ropeless climbing where falling is refreshing, and cliff-diving. Above, Jami leaps off a 40-foot waterfall in Pirate’s Cove.

We spent a long lazy morning packing up and saying goodbye to Miguel’s, the coolest climber’s campground ever, before hitting the road for West Virginia.

After four straight days of climbing (with no Fulwider epics!), we were tired. But not as tired as this dog, the mascot of Mike’s Mountain BBQ in Torrent Falls.

Muir Valley boasts excellent sport climbing you can approach with a light pack because your lunch lies ready to pick along the trails. Fueled by blackberries, Jami did her second lead — on a 5.8! — and Jamie did her first at Rebel Camp Hollow. Later we drove down a long and winding road (da da) to Solar Collector and Gold Coast in PMRP, where the real climbers go to feel the pump on ridiculously overhanging 5.12, 5.13 and 5.14 (!) routes. We saw the route on the cover of the Red River Gorge climbing guide, which we’ll definitely have to try sometime when they invent antigravity boots.