Way back in March a group of friends and I flew to Wenatchee and went rappelling at Saddle Rock. It was a great day then. Saturday was the same itinerary, and just as great. 8 of us met at Richland Airport and got in our planes. I was in the back seat, and surprisingly had more leg room than some of the commercial flights I had taken earlier in the week. This was my fourth day flying this week. I had a business trip to Seattle on Tuesday, went skydiving on Wednesday, had another business trip to Tacoma on Friday, and flew to Wenatchee for fun on Saturday. It was still a lot of fun flying, though. It’s a pretty quick flight, even though we’re only flying at 130 knots. The weather was beautiful and smooth, and we could see very far.
Once we landed, Emily’s family picked us up and brought us to their place, which is close to the trailhead. We waited for the people who were driving to arrive. Then we went to the beginning of the trailhead. I volunteered for the heaviest pack with the rope and harnesses because I typically have the most energy. I started off strong and with a good lead, but about halfway up had to make some adjustments (the pack was a little top-heavy), and after that slowed down a lot. I was still towards the front, but I didn’t make it to the top first, and had a very heavy sweat going by the time I made it.
Ryan and Craig set up the ropes and we put on harnesses and started down. I went down any time I could. It only took me a few moments to clip in, drop to the bottom, and un-clip, so I wasn’t holding up the process. I did try going front first again. I wasn’t scared because I had done it before, but I was a little frustrated that I couldn’t get myself going. I think I was just too light and the weight of the rope below me was putting on too much friction.
I did a bit of climbing, too, and had some good fun throughout the course of the day. After about 4 hours, we went back down to the house. Emily’s parents had made a great dinner with BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, salad, and chips. Since it was Emily’s birthday in a week, there was a cake, too. We found out that Lyndsey’s birthday is also next week, so they added her name to the cake at the last minute.
We left the house and got rides back to the airport, where we all switched planes and came back, arriving just before sunset. I went back to my apartment and settled in for a few hours of Scrubs before bed. It was a great day.