Jake McCrary

November 3, 2023 to November 5, 2023

Holy Boulders: The Pilgrimage 2023

Another trip to Southern Illinois to climb at the Holy Boulders

September 15, 2023 to September 17, 2023

Governor Dodge: Boulder Bash 2023

The Wisconsin Climbing Association hosted a bouldering festival / competition at Governor Dodge park. It was great!

September 7, 2023 to September 9, 2023

Climbing at and near Smith Rock, Oregon

Jenn and I took a trip to Bend, Oregon for a wedding and snuck in three days of climbing!

June 9, 2023 to June 11, 2023

Climbing at Picture Rocks, Iowa

Weekend trip to Iowa to climb at Picture Rocks.

November 4, 2022 to November 6, 2022

Holy Boulders: The Pilgrimage

I participated in the annual Holy Boulders competition in Southern Illinois. It was a blast.

October 14, 2022 to October 18, 2022

A beautiful fall trip to the Red River Gorge

A long weekend with Jenn climbing and camping in the Red River Gorge

May 5, 2022 to May 8, 2022

Spring trip to the Red River Gorge

A rainy, long weekend trip to the beautiful Red River Gorge

April 22, 2022 to April 24, 2022

Climbing at Pere Marquette State Park and First Ascent Peoria

Jenn and I take a second trip to Pere Marquette State Park

March 26, 2022 to March 27, 2022

Climbing at Pere Marquette State Park

A short weekend trip with Jenn to Southern Illinois to clime at Pere Marquette State Park

September 19, 2021 to September 22, 2021

Climbing at Seneca Rocks

This was an extremely fun two days of multi-pitch trad climbing. It felt adventurous.

May 22, 2021 to May 22, 2021

Day trip to the Red River Gorge

A flight in friend's new airplane to Kentucky enabled a day trip of easy rock climbing in the Red River Gorge.

October 25, 2019 to October 27, 2019

A Fall weekend in Red Wing, Minnesota

A short weekend trip to Red Wing, Minnesota.

October 14, 2019 to October 14, 2019

A day trip to Devil's Lake

This was a beautiful fall day spent flying and climbing in Wisconsin.

August 24, 2019 to September 1, 2019

Nova Scotia Cabin 2019

Another year and another trip to the Nova Scotia cabin.

August 3, 2019 to August 3, 2019

Flying to top rope climbing at Devil's Lake

This was a very unique experience. Through a friend, I've managed to connect with a pilot and the three of us flew to Devil's Lake State Park and did some top rope climbing. This was my first time climbing at Devil's Lake.

July 12, 2019 to July 14, 2019

Deep water soloing at Banks Lake, Washington

I was out in Washington and helped my friend Sara celebrate her birthday by traveling to Banks Lake and doing some deep water soloing.

May 24, 2019 to May 27, 2019

A hot Red River Gorge climbing trip

This was a hot extended Memorial Day weekend trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

May 15, 2019 to May 18, 2019

Climbing in the Red River Gorge

This was a sport climbing trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

February 1, 2019 to February 5, 2019

Bouldering Competition and Downhill Skiing near Bend, Oregon

This was a short trip out to Bend, Oregon with McKenzie to watch a bouldering competition and go downhill skiing.

September 17, 2018 to September 27, 2018

Trip to the Nova Scotia cabin

Another trip to the Nova Scotia cabin. The entire time it was only Preethi, Steve, and myself. This is the latest I've been at the cabin and as a result I got to be part of getting the cabin ready for winter.

August 31, 2018 to September 3, 2018

Climbing in Red Wing, Minnesota

We took advantage of a long weekend and drove north to Red Wing, Minnesota and climbed some rocks.

August 22, 2018 to August 23, 2018

Tattoo tourism in New York City

I flew to NYC when Davee Blows was guesting and got my first tattoo. I stayed with an old college roommate and was able to visit with another.

July 27, 2018 to July 29, 2018

Denver SUP and scooter

This was a tacked on weekend before a work trip in Denver. I spent it with my brother and we did a variety of activities including stand-up paddle boarding. This was my first time riding a rental electric scooter. It was a ton of fun.

July 13, 2018 to July 15, 0208

A weekend birthday trip to a cabin on a river in southern Illinois

McKenzie planned a surprise birthday getaway for us and rented a cute cabin in southern Illinois. It was a wonderful, relaxing escape from Chicago.

April 24, 2018 to April 29, 2018

A terrifying adventure in the Red River Gorge

An extended climbing trip in Kentucky takes a terrifying turn.

April 13, 2018 to April 15, 2018

Climbing in the Red River Gorge

Another short weekend trip to Kentucky to climb in the Red River Gorge. This time the group was McKenzie, Alina, Christine, Nori (Alina's Dog) and me.

January 8, 2018 to January 25, 2018

Traveling to India

I was invited to speak at IN/Clojure 2018 and turned it into a multi-week trip to India. It was a great time.

September 15, 2017 to September 17, 2017

Climbing in the Red River Gorge

Another weekend trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. This time with Alina, Christine, Edwin, and Nori (Alina's dog). We stayed at Lil Abners and climbed Saturday at The Gallery in the PMRP and Sunday at the Secret Garden in Miller Fork. Read more for details of the trip.

September 8, 2017 to September 10, 2017

Climbing in the Red River Gorge

A short weekend with Seamus climbing in Kentucky. Drove down Friday and climbed Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we climbed in Muir Valley at the Inner Sanctum crag. Sunday we climbed at Purple Valley.

August 6, 2017 to August 13, 2017

Trip to the Nova Scotia cabin

Another visit to the cabin in Nova Scotia. This year we spent some more time with Arne (and his daughter Erin) and did some island exploring, fishing, and oyster collecting. While I was there, we started on building better paths. We also found a large cliff and figured out a reasonable path to it. While looking for the cliff, we found a large boulder that might have a few doable problems on it. This year I overlapped with Steve, Sara, and Nathan. I briefly met Preethi in the Halifax airport.

July 29, 2017 to July 30, 2017

Deep water soloing over Kinkaid Lake

A small group of us went down to Kinkaid Lake in Southern Illinois and did some deep water soloing. We rented a pontoon boat from the marina and enjoyed our time out on the water. There is an obvious cliff jumping section on lake where boats gathered for swimming near, climbing up, and jumping off the cliff. We camped in the Johnson Creek recreation area. This was a pretty nice campground.

July 15, 2017 to July 18, 2017

Chicago Mackinac Race

I sailed my seventh Chicago to Mackinac Island race on the T10 Talisman. We placed fourth out of the 17 boats in our section. It took us 65 hours, 59 minutes, and 32 seconds to finish the race. It was not a comfortable race. Most of the race was spent with a jib up. This is not a pleasant situation for a Tartan 10. 8 out of 17 boats in our section retired early from the race. 97 of the 297 boats retired early from the race.

March 20, 2017 to March 30, 2017

Climbing in El Chorro, Spain

Trip report from spending some time climbing in El Chorro, Spain.

July 23, 2016 to July 25, 2016

Chicago Mackinac Race

Placed fourth in the T-10 fleet sailing on Talisman. Took 44 hours, 9 minutes and 22 seconds. We arrived at the island at 7:29 AM on Monday.

February 13, 2016 to February 20, 2016

Climbing in El Potrero Chico, Mexico

Trip with Alina, Christine, and Nate to climb in El Potrero Chico. This was some epic limestone climbing in a beautiful area.

July 11, 2015 to July 13, 2015

Chicago Mackinac Race

Sailed on the T-10 Talisman and we placed second in our fleet. Our actual race time was 53 hours and 12 minutes. We landed on the island on Monday at 4:22 PM.

July 13, 2013 to July 16, 2013

Chicago Mackinac Race

Placed second in the T-10 fleet sailing on Talisman. It took 73 hours, 29 minutes and 32 seconds to get to the island. We were only 16 seconds away from first place. We nearly caught the first place boat at the end. We arrived at the island on Tuesday at 12:49 PM.

July 21, 2012 to July 23, 2012

Chicago Mackinac Race

Placed tenth in the T-10 fleet sailing on Talisman. We arrived on Monday at 11:04:42 AM after sailing for 47 hours, 44 minutes and 42 seconds.

January 27, 2012 to February 1, 2012

Climbing in Red Rocks, Nevada

A trip to Las Vegas where we stayed at the Cosmopolitan and then drove out to Red Rocks for climbing. A fun mix of outdoor adventure and eating delicious food in Las Vegas. We became too familiar with the Cosmopolitan's lobby bar. The climbing was great, even if we managed to make a very short approach much longer. We took a rest day and drove to Death Valley to see the sailing stones.

July 16, 2011 to July 18, 2011

Chicago Mackinac Race

I was sailing on the boat Talisman and we placed third in the T-10 fleet. We arrived on Monday at 5:47 PM after spending 53 hours, 57 minutes and 43 seconds racing. This year there was a terrible storm with 75 mile per hour winds. The boat WingNuts capsized and two sailors died. These were the first race-related deaths in the history of the race.

September 21, 2010 to October 1, 2010

Journey to the top of Africa

A trip to Tanzania with five friends to hike Mount Kilimanjaro.

July 24, 2010 to July 27, 2010

Chicago Mackinac Race

Talisman placed fourteenth in the T-10 fleet. We arrived at the island on Tuesday at 1:52 AM after racing for 62 hours, 2 minutes and 15 seconds.