Desert Road Trip
A First Climbing Excursion South of the Border
Why not just rent a camper van and drive around the southern states climbing in some of the most iconic locations is what I suggested to my wife, Rachel, when we were trying to brainstorm vacation ideas to escape Toronto’s frigid winter. We had been climbing in the gym for a while now, steadily improving our skills and fitness in the hopes of someday transferring what we learned pulling on plastic to the great outdoors and real rock. I come from Toronto where
we have excellent indoor climbing facilities, which kept us busy through the winter months, but there is only so much chalk one can breathe in before the allure of climbing outside can’t be ignored.
After days of contemplating locations and logistics and with climbing videos playing on YouTube in the background for inspiration, we devised a plan that would take us on our first-ever outdoor climbing adventure. We would fly into Phoenix, Ariz. before driving through and stopping in Sedona and Flagstaff en route to the Grand Canyon. After soaking in the scenery, we would drive back south to Red Rocks Canyon before our final destination in Joshua Tree. An ambitious undertaking for our first outdoor mission with 10 days on tap, but we like to stay busy and are always up for a challenge.
While singing our own rendition of Sister Christian blaring on the radio and the windows down, we drove the infamous Route 66 from Phoenix and stopped several times to take in the fantastic Arizona sunsets and gas up our hard-to-miss PacMan-themed camper van. Climbing wasn’t on the schedule until we reached Vegas and Red Rocks Canyon. Driving past Las Vegas and seeing the strip is cool. It truly does look just like you see in the movies, but for us the real sight was pulling into Calico Basin on our way to the Red Rocks campground. We felt like we were on another planet. Compared to our Ontario home Red Rocks Canyon is an insane desert landscape littered with giant boulders and red cliffs everywhere you look.
After the initial awe and checking into
“With sore hands and giant smiles on our faces we rose early the next day, primed for our first rope climb.”
our campsite, we still had a few hours of daylight we wanted to take advantage of. We brought a single crash pad for bouldering and heard that there were tons of boulders within minutes of our campsite. We headed off, filled with excitement about finally pulling onto rock for the very first time. The only problem was we didn’t actually know where the boulders were. We had the Red Rocks Canyon guidebook, but only for sport routes. Fortunately, parking lots are great places to meet people. I spotted a solo climber clipping his shoes to a well-used crash pad and figured I would stir up some friendly car park conversation. Ten minutes later we had an addition to our crew an extra crash pad and a guide to the moderate boulders we were looking for.
Hiking the trail from the Calico basin parking lot we could see what I thought were boulders in the distance. As we got closer the boulders got bigger and so did our excitement. There are boulders literally everywhere. Opening the Mountain Project app on my phone and looking for pins was futile because we were standing in a sea of boulder problems. We didn’t bring any warm up aids. Mostly because we don’t ever really warm-up, but in Red Rocks it doesn’t matter because you have a selection of easy warm up boulders to choose from. This really was an amazing place to pull onto real rock for the first time. There is a selection of easy-to-climb and easy-to-descend boulders that help to establish a comfort zone and get your skin used to the surface without tearing it all off in the process. The stoke was high for our first ever evening of climbing and we ticked off a few moderate problems before the sun set, including the famous Plumber’s Crack which our new friend Seth cruised for a photo.
With sore hands and giant smiles on our faces we rose early the next day primed for our first rope climb. The Red Rocks campground is located ridiculously close to several iconic crags and as a result is always packed with climbers. I hadn’t noticed the night before, but just about everyone in the campground were climbers and organizing gear in the morning. By the time we were rolling out of camp at 8:30 a.m. there was hardly anyone left in the campground. Luckily there was also no one at our proposed route when we got there. After eyeing up the toprope setup on a 5.6 we thought would be good for our first route we opted to switch it up and climb the
5.8 beside it. After all, we didn’t spend all those hours in the gym to walk up a slab. Rachel tied in first and sent before I did the same. After basking in our toprope onsite glory we decided that was enough for now and headed into Summerland for supplies.
Part of the appeal of road-tripping is meeting people along the way. Kentucky Pete was one such individual who we still believe to be homeless, but was willing to share beta for the climbs we had in mind. Not only did he indulge us with a footwork clinic in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts and made sure we knew where the local cannabis dispensary was in case, we needed to acquire payment for his belay services. Thanks Pete, maybe next time. After employing Pete’s useful beta to some of the Cannibal Crag climbs the next day and another boulder session, our time in Red Rocks was coming to an end. One night at Treasure Island and a walk down the strip marked the end to our Vegas odyssey and the beginning of the road to Joshua Tree.
“The following day was spent exploring Joshua Tree in search of a few specific boulders that turned out to be extremely abrasive on the skin, but well worth the hot mid-day hike.”
The road from Vegas to Joshua Tree goes straight through the Mojave Desert. A vast expanse of pretty much only sand and yucca trees the road seems to stretch to infinity with no end in sight. Every roller we crested was replaced with another in the distance until we finally came upon some small residences spread thinly across the land. Driving past the derelict desert homes, it almost seemed as if time had left this place behind. The same can be said for the town of Joshua Tree. I was expecting a bigger town, but the main junction features little more than an eclectic trading post and the Joshua Tree Saloon which serves as a popular post-climb watering hole. Driving through Joshua Tree was like stepping onto the set of a Flintstones movie. In fact, the Hollywood movies were shot close by. The native Joshua (yucca) trees are a unique tree that looks like a cactus and are spread all over the park. Soaking in the unique scenery was great but we needed to find a place to sleep and the park was full. Thanks to the kind staff at the trading post we found an off the grid trailer park that had plenty of space, toilets and showers.
The following day was spent exploring Joshua Tree in search of a few specific boulders that turned out to be extremely abrasive on the skin, but well worth the hot mid-day hike. I couldn’t help but feel like we were in an amusement park instead of a nature reserve because Joshua Tree is just so unique-looking. Not only that, but the boulders there are quite different than what we climbed in Red Rocks. The sandstone is far less forgiving on the skin and as a result our hands were feeling the effects of our first outdoor trip. Luckily, we had conquered all we set out to, and the trip was a success. We spent our last night under the stars in Joshua Tree reflecting on the previous days adventures before heading back to Phoenix. Our flight from Phoenix back to Toronto marked the end of our first outdoor climbing trip, but certainly not the last.