Continued...
We had one last day before heading home and decided to do some rock
climbing/scrambling in Joshua Tree, tagging a bunch of summits found on LoJ.
The LoJ collection was taken from hundreds that can be found in Randy
Vogel's Rock Climbing Joshua Tree. The trick would be to see if we could
find a scrambling route (almost never described in the guide book),
occasionally pulling out the rope and gear when it seemed necessary. All of
these are very short hikes from the various pullouts and parking lots along the
main park road, and we found them all quite enjoyable. Today we drove both
vehicles in from the Twentynine Palms entrance because we planned to exit
through the exit to Yucca Valley at the end of the day.
Skull Rock
This is found just southeast of the park road between Live Oak Picnic Area and
Jumbo Rocks Campground. resembling its namesake is a popular
photo op. We were there first thing in the morning, before 8a, so there were
only a few people around. The easiest ascent is up the west side
, or mantling up . There is then
some on the two highest boulders to reach the
small .
Jumbo Rocks
This named feature on the topo map is a collection of granite blocks and
boulders sandwiched between the park road and the Jumbo Rocks Campground. We
simply walked the 1/3mi from the roadside parking for Skull Rock. We
approached the highpoint from , going up, around, or over
that get ever larger as one ascends. A bit of
is needed to reach .
The Headstone
is located east of the Ryan Campground, a one-minute
to reach the base. This was the hardest of the day's collection,
definitely not a scramble. Iris and Tom had been up it previously, so they were
throwing me a bone, but they also thought it was super-fun and worth a repeat.
I would agree, though I was initially nervous. We scrambled up boulders on
to reach of the massive block
forming the headstone. We would use the easiest route, the 5.6 Southwest Corner.
The looks nearly vertical and intimidating, but the holds
are good. There are two bolts below the cruxy step, and two others
. Tom went up first in fine style, then belayed myself and
in turn. I'd have been a wreck trying to lead it, but it was quite
fun with a toprope. We off and
scrambled back down the way we'd ascended. About an hour and a quarter from,
and returning to, the campground.
The Manure Pile
We next to this small formation on the south side of the Ryan
campground. This is an easy up
, taking all of 15min to and
.
John Yablonski Rock
These next two features are found near the intersection of the park road and
Keys View Rd. John "Yabo" Yablonski was a prolific climber in Joshua Tree,
Yosemite and elsewhere, one of the original Stonemasters and, sadly, a tortured
soul who ended up taking his own life. There is some good reading about him
to be found on the Supertopo forums. We approached the rock
and found lots of fun scrambling on .
Iris and I into rock shoes for a
the .
Cap Rock
This is another iconic photo rock, much like Skull Rock, but way taller and more
serious. We found what seemed the only reasonable route up from
, through boulders to reach another
. Tom soloed this and explored some above to
determine it was the crux, but Iris and I balked at following him. He came back
down and we retreated for rope and gear, then
for a second effort. Once past , it's class 3
up to the cap and then a low tunnel under it to ,
where it's easy to get . We the
using one of the available anchors, then worked our way back
to the east side and to the parking lot.
Peewee Rock
We next headed to Hidden Valley where these last three are located.
is a small pile of boulders just west of the park road's
junction with Barker Dam Rd. Approaching from the west, we noted a ramp on
rising to the left, but first circled the feature (and
finding no easier way) before giving it a try. This was one of the easiest on
the day, . There are two boulders vying for the highpoint,
though appears higher than .
Chimney Rock
Found at the southeast corner of the Hidden Valley CG, this is one of the more
vertical features in the area. It is named for the huge chimney found on its
. It looks like it
might be a scramble via the chimney,
but a few sections looked hard from below. We walked around the feature and
found another possibility on the north side. up to "check it
out", reaching in less than five minutes. He then came down
to help Iris and I work through that made this
quite enjoyable.
Outhouse Rock
is located at the north end of the campground. We
visited it after Chimney Rock, but had to return to the vehicles for rope and
gear after finding no scrambling route. There are two 5.4 routes on the feature.
We chose to go up . The chimney grows steeper
higher up, and there are two bolts to protect the face climbing above the
chimney. Tom , then and I in turn. I had
my back against the right wall and chimneyed my way up in this fashion until it
was time to exit - a fun exercise. The summit is from the
rappel/belay anchor. We for a while as the sun
started to get low on the western horizon, mostly hidden behind thin clouds. We
the west side, collected our gear and
to , finishing up by 4:20p.
We said our goodbyes before starting for home. I would get about three hours of
driving in to get me near California City off SR58 where I spent the night. I
then finished up the remaining five hours of driving in the morning to finish
an enjoyable week in the Mojave...