All along the water tower

I know I said I wasn't a climber, but I hardly think bouldering on a water tower counts. And if that sounds random, believe me, I totally agree with you.

If you've been to Volunteer Park in Seattle (and if you haven't, why are you reading this? Go there, it's great! But not at night, that's when it gets dodgy), you've seen that giant round tower of bricks that looks like half of a castle. Well, turns out it actually has a purpose besides as a decoration - it's holding our water supply. Much more exciting than that, though, is the discovery that Steve and I made this weekend - it's climbable!

Unfortunately, the giant white splotches of chalk circling the tower (or standpipe as it's also called) make it abundantly clear that not only are we not the first people to discover this, but every single other person who's ever heard of climbing in Seattle has also probably attempted it. Strangely, though, there is not a trace of it online (except for this photo) oh, and (except for this blog mention), probably because it's totally illegal, as most fun things are.

Steve of course quickly figured out how we could top rope it by tying a rope to the metal banister inside and feeding it under the bars on one of the windows. I had visions of me climbing down the side like some crazy fair tale where instead of long hair, I had a chalk bag. Anyway, that dream was quickly dashed by Steve's largely irrational, deep fear of the law and we moved on to bouldering.

What if we could boulder around the entire perimeter of the 75-foot-tall water tower? This is a goal worth trying for!

We tried and we failed, mainly because of our sneakers and cold hands. But I was determined, oh yes. I returned today, with my climbing shoes. And even though my hands froze in under 20 seconds (it was 37 degrees) I made it around a full 20 feet without falling off! All while small children and their parents watched me with that there's-another-one-of-those-crazies-don't-touch expression.

Of course, once I made it 20 feet it got significantly harder because all my footholds disappeared and my hands really didn't have any feeling any more.

But I will persevere, oh yes! This water tower will not get the best of me!