maybe a little too much happened
November 2nd, 2025
I tend to have notable Octobers, being my favorite month in my favorite season, but this October was unlike anything I've ever experienced. So many things happened all at once, good and bad, piling up at my doorstep as the month seemed to stretch on and on and on and all I wanted to do was bury myself in my bed. Well, at least it'll make for an interesting blog post.
Right off the bat, my october started with the government shutdown. The NRG Natural Resources department was wiped from existance, as I was Thanos-snapped back into unemployment and total boredom. Luckily, that following weekend was a queer climbing festival called the Chatt Kiki, and after my roomate dipped last minute, I carpooled down with a girl named Anabelle to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The rock there is weird... it resembles a pile of square Minecraft blocks. It very enjoyable to swing for jug after jug, after a season of getting my ass beat by the New's gritty crimps. We sport climbed at Denny's Cove and Foster's Fall, taking a dip in the beautiful, freezing pool at the base of the waterfall. Compared to the other queer festivals I've been too, this one was VERY lesbian heavy, and god bless. It was my first time down south since I left Houston in 2019, and I suprisingly felt a pang of longing. I don't know, it's just cool to see queer people live and be so truly happy in the deep South. Me and Anabelle stayed an extra night in the Crashpad Hostel, and I enjoyed a day of thrifting in the city. Chattanooga is a cool, a vibrant community that's not too big or small, with easy climbing access and plenty of things to do. And T-Wall, one of the East's best trad crags, is climbable in the cold months! If the stars ever align, I think I've found the perfect winter getaway for a future season of dirtbagging.
When I arrived back at the New, I was suprised by a text message from my boss telling me to get back to work. Even though the government was shutdown, me and the other ACE interns were still tasked to do random-ass stuff every day so we'd still get paid. My co-interns were upset that their term had been cut short, but I was silently very enthused. Getting paid the exact same to do a quarter of the work? Dream come true! We hiked for an hour every day, taking photos of plants or flipping logs to look for salamanders. One especially nice Monday morning, I took shrooms and hiked the entirety of the Glade Creek trail. The water was jade green, glistening in the sun as I took a cold dip in a swimming hole. Just for that moment, I could say with confidence that I was the single happiest person. On Saturday I was recruited to help the interp rangers for an eleven hour shift on Bridge Day, an annual festival at the New River Gorge where base jumpers leap off a giant steel bridge that stretches high above the valley. Bridge Day brings in so much money for West Virginia that the state had emergency funds to keep our park open, which meant everything was in full swing. Thousands of visitors crowded onto the bridge, and I watched from below as the base jumpers landed on the beach of the Fayette Station put-in, although some would smash into the river, prompting rescue by the river rangers. I got to use my NPS privilege to catch a ride in the press boat, dodging jumpers as they'd pummel down around us. The other half of the day I spent on the bridge itself, browsing the rows of merchant stands. There were a lot of people, a lot of 3D printed dragons/AI art/lafufu's, and no water aside from a truck handing out free pink Monsters. It was hot, crowded, and I was slapping my dogs against miles of pure concrete. Bridge day was fun for maybe about fifteen minutes, but not so much after that.
As fall continued, I started to feel a bit weird. I became paranoid about not having any friends, spent my days worrying about my directionless future, binge eating through the night and gaining a ton of weight. A bit early for seasonal depression, ain't it? I can identify what sparked it all: I began the month being pretty good friends with a campground permie named Delia and her old pittie Sam. One chilly Sunday, after a morning getting coffee at Rangefinder, we decided to go bouldering. At the crag I kept chucking a stick into the forest of pine trees, Sam blasting after it with joy, full speed ahead. Upon one long toss, Sam ran straight for a downed pine tree with a sharp protruding branch, and impaled herself on it. She had a deep hole right in the middle of her chest, and was rushed to an animal hospital in Charleston where she passed. I replay this moment a lot in my head, me throwing the stick, her yelp as she runs straight into the tree. I think about it over and over. It was an accident, maybe, but it was one I directly caused. I still feel really guilty about the whole thing, and haven't seen Delia since. That week, we also got a new foster puppy at the house I'm renting, a rambunctious pittie mix named Shenzi, who looks remarkably like a hyena. I debated inviting Delia over. Would it hurt her to hear about another dog? Would it cheer her up to meet a new puppy? Whatever decision I made, it was definetly the wrong one. I really don't know how to interact with other humans, and at this point I don't know what to do about it. Often these days, I feel overwhelmed by thought of just existing. It's exhausting.
I finished out a seriously insane October with a trip to the Red River Gorge, for yet another queer climbing festival. That's my fourth one this year, if you've been keeping track! As I get my guiding license, and all the routes I want to put up are ones no one else can climb or take down, I'm thinking this might be my last. At the Red I whipped my brains out on this climb called Snozzberries, where you dyno out of a hueco, and side-pulled my way up a splitter crack called Tradisfaction. I also caught the tail end of the annual Kentucky Wolly Worm Festival, where they race caterpillar's to determine how long winter will last. Highlights included a gun raffle, fried oreos, and a chonky Elvis impersonator. To end the season on Halloween, I attended my last day of work, and watched Over The Garden Wall with Andre, his girlfriend, and Grayson. As I write this in the present, it is T-minus five days until my SPI exam, and a week until I leave for Colorado. Several things run through my mind. Discomfort, dread. Just as I was getting comfortable, my life is going to completely flip on it's head once more (I write this like I don't have free will!). In case you're new here, I like to spend every half-year of my life in a different place. I've been on the East Coast for three years, and it's time for something new. If there's one thing I know how to do, it's pull the trigger on a life-changing desicion, tetris all my shit into my car, and move across the country. At the RRG, I happened to run into this Korean former pro-climber, past his prime and rocking a cerulean glass eye. He tells me: 'There's no money in climbing here. Go West.' Thank you, Korean Gandolf. I'm already on it.
