Country Mouse Visits the City

It has been a while since I have posted and a lot has actually happened this past month. I seem to have to take time to absorb my experiences and mull them over before I am able to write about them.

Planet Granite event

So about a month ago The North Face and Paradox Sports invited me to speak at an event in San Francisco. I was the opening act and Cedar Wright, a climber for The North Face, was the main event. It was so amazing meeting Cedar. He is the epitome of what I consider the climbing community. A very laid back, funny, enjoyable person to spend time with. He also happens to be an unbelievable climber and athlete.

I did my presentation about my El Capitan ascent of course and he did his about various things he has done. The one I most wanted to hear about was his trip to The Faroe Islands to do some first ascents. You should Google his name and the Faroe Islands. It was a really beautiful trip with some interesting moments, like getting puked on in the face by birds haha.

After we had presented members of the crowd wanted to talk and ask questions, which was a really cool experience. I really enjoyed the little kids coming up and wanting to talk and get my autograph. Yup, I said it people actually wanted my autograph haha. That was very odd. I kept thinking I am just me but it made them happy and it was really awesome to be asked. One little boy, in particular, approached me with his mom and wanted to tell me about his climbing trip in Yosemite. He told me he had climbed 60 ft and was so super proud of that. I told him that was awesome and he and I should climb together someday and he lit up. I think that is the best part of all that is happening in my life. I have the opportunity to inspire kids and adults alike to go for their goals and dreams.

Another interesting moment came while talking to people. A man walked up looked at me and said I am your biggest fan. He then looked at Cedar and said do you work here? Cedar replied no I am a pro climber. I was thinking there is no way this guy knows me and not Cedar. He then asked pro climber Cedar to take our picture. Cedar and I talked about it after and agreed it was quite hilarious. A couple days later I had a free day which I will talk about in a minute, but during my day out in the city, I met that same guy. He said the exact same thing and it became apparent that he really didn’t know who Cedar is. I am still totally baffled by that.

Homelessness In San Francisco

This is a tough issue to talk about but it has been on my mind ever since I left San Francisco. It was very obvious at times there is a huge homeless population in the city. The two major moments that stick out in my mind are when I went to get breakfast one morning and when I accidentally took a wrong turn trying to get to the waterfront.

There was a deli at the bottom of the hotel where I was staying. I went there for breakfast every morning. While sitting in line one morning a very short homeless lady with wild, bushy hair, pants that were five sizes too big and a shirt of the same size walked into the establishment. I saw her because she stood right beside me but she appeared invisible to a lot of the other people. She was holding up those oversized pants with one hand and all of a sudden she let go, letting them drop to the floor. She then lunged forward and grab someones food off their plate. It was a muffin of some sort so when she grabbed on it basically exploded in crumbs all over the floor. A woman from behind the counter screamed “Get Out!” while running around to the front of the counter. She stopped in front of the homeless woman and screamed again while cocking back her arm and letting a fist fly squarely into the woman’s face. She knocked her to the ground while still screaming to get out. I, of course, had never seen anything like this and was quite frightened as to what might happen next. A man in front of me who was about 6’5″ grabbed the woman off the floor helping her to stand. He said her to “Momma you don’t wanna act like this let’s go outside.” She screamed back “Don’t help me!” He then just carried her outside with the cashier in tow still screaming. I watched the scene through the window and the man was able to calm the situation enough to get the homeless lady to walk away. The cashier came back in shaking and everyone seemed to care more about her than the woman who had just been punched in the face and needed food.

I have thought about this moment over and over and realized that I didn’t do anything to help that woman either. Maybe it was out of fear or sheer shock but it occurred to me later that I could have bought that woman a muffin for two dollars and she would have had at least that amount to eat that day. A few days after getting back to Maine I read this article: https://www.today.com/news/philadelphia-pizza-lovers-pay-it-forward-homeless-one-slice-time-2D80445156

It is a pizza place in Philadelphia that started a movement to feed the homeless that hangs out around where the business is located. Patrons of the store can pay ahead for a $1 slice of pizza or more and they will put up a post it notes of what they purchased. A homeless person can then walk in and ask for something that is on a post it. They just take the post it down and give them the food until all the post its are gone for the day. This made me wonder what if every business had that type of policy. We could buy hygiene and medical products at a pharmacy and leave it for someone or food at various places like the pizza place. Businesses could even offer a small discount if that is where the purchase is going. Food for thought at least.

san Francisco bay trail

As I mentioned before I ventured out on a free day to try to get to the waterfront and see some of the tourist areas of San Francisco. I initially was going to push myself the whole way but turned down a street that left me feeling very uncomfortable about being on my own. It happened to be the tenderloin district and as I started down the street I witnessed two men fighting over a box threatening to kill each other over it. I overheard that one of the men slept in that box and was accusing the other man of taking his stuff. After this incident, I decided to turn around, go back to the hotel and come up with a new plan. Luckily there was a concierge at my hotel and he hooked me up with the ins and outs of the public transportation and where to go. I have to say the public transportation in San Francisco was amazing. I was able to ride the trolleys and the buses quite easily. It was also very inexpensive. I started out at Pier 39 and visited the Exploratorium. A definite must if you have kids and it was still very interesting as an adult. I ventured on and pushed myself along the bay trail just admiring all the sites through Fishermans Wharf. I stopped at one spot and it happened to be the sea lion center. There as so many people but that was because there were so many sea lions. They were laying all over a bunch of docks mostly just sleeping. Still, a pretty awesome sight to see. My main goal was to get to the wave organ about a 4-mile push from start to finish. I was doing great until I got to the entrance of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. There was a super steep hill, imagine that in San Francisco. haha. I sat there for a minute and decided there was no way I pushed all that way to not get where I wanted to go. I turned around and went back the way I came for just a short distance to a side road with a much more gradual hill. I ended up adding about a mile on to my push but I did get where I was going. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the tide was low so not much sound coming from the organ. The one amazing part about it was I was the only one there. In a city of millions, I had found my own spot to relax. It was the most beautiful place I had been all day. Not that I want it to be overrun with people but you should check it out if you are ever in the city.