Over a week ago, I took advantage of a break in crappy weather on a Thursday afternoon and went climbing with my little sis at Carderock. Shortly after setting up the line, rockclimbers materialized out of nowhere and virtually tied up every nook, crack, and face on the C&O Canal. What was even more surprising, was they all knew eachother. And they were very friendly and willing to share their lines. Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. There really isn't any information on the website, but they have a loose informal rockclimbing group that heads out to Carderock every Wednesday afternoon.
I was a trial member of PATC back when I first came home for the summer from college. None of my high school friends were around so I decided to make new ones. Through the net I came across PATC and went to one of their meetings. There I met five people who never actually joined the club but we ended up organizing white water rafting, camping, and climbing excursions. One PATC thing we ended up doing was a cabin building/camping trip. One hot August weekend I hewed logs the old fashioned way, using the tools our pioneering forefathers did (no power tools, sorry gearheads), and swung an axe. I was incredibly sore from that weekend, but it was fun. I was one of two girls, and we felt like we had just stumbled upon the Old Boy's version of boy scouts. Rather than drinking beer in the evenings, they sipped brandy, and drank boxed wine, with claims to livelihood ranging from stock broker to grandfather. It was positively surreal returning to civilization.
Bust out of the city, your age group and era, check 'em out.
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