I just got back from another one of my trips to the mountains. The place that my climbing buddy and I always go was on fire recently and the rangers burned an additional 1200 acres as a preemptive strike. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that Linville Gorge and Tablerock are both covered in wild Rhododendrons. Apparently when Rhodies are burned they produce toxic smoke. I am not sure how true that is but I really didn't want to try and disprove it in person. So, with the fire(s) leaving us scratching our heads, we decided to try out a different place called Crowders Mountain. It is about 30 miles west of Charlotte in the Gastonia area. We had a great time and will likely go again but probably only in the cooler months. The climbing areas were nice but were southern-facing which meant that in addition to the 80 degree days, we also had direct sun all day long. It was HOT! I didn't get too many pictures while we were there. I did get a few of the area from the top of one of the climbs and several of some friends that came with us. They had never climbed before and they got to experience REAL ROCK for their first time. Not only did they do their first climbs, but they also did their first rappels too. All-in-all, not too shabby for the "noobs" (a.k.a. "newbies").