6 Signs You Just Went on an Epic Rock Trip
Recapping my ten-day climbing trip in Red Rock National Conservation Area (NCA).
The skin on your fingertips is so sensitive it’s hard to handle hot cups of coffee.
There is dirt embedded under your fingernails. It's also in your shoes and at the bottoms of your suitcase and sleeping bag.
You have tender toes, heels, and soles of your feet from trampling over rocks, gravel, sand, and boulders.
Sore muscles. Everywhere.
Your clothes smell like bonfire smoke and are covered in mysterious stains from various sources, including but not limited to coffee, snot, blood, sweat, salsa, peanut butter, etc.
You experience lingering daydreams of pitches you climbed and the ones you want for next time.
If you have any or all of these things, well, then, congratulations– you just went on an epic rock trip.
My Trip by the Numbers
I’m not a big competitive numbers guy, but it can be interesting to look back at the objectives stats of a climbing trip to see how gnarly it was.
I climbed 8.5 days out of 10.
All of my climbing, including single and multi-pitch routes, totaled roughly ~5,000 feet. (This does not include the vertical gain from approaching routes.)
The routes I climbed varied from 5.6 to 5.11a.
I climbed six full-length, multi-pitch routes, with one going to a true summit. The route to the summit, Epinephrine (5.9), is roughly 1,600 feet long.
And 10 single-pitch routes.
Well over 12 miles of hiking on approaches and descents with countless feet of elevation gain and loss. (This is probably an underestimation.)
The Climbing in Red Rock is Nucking Futs.
The climbing in Red Rock NCA is one of a kind. It’s other-worldly. It’s 1,000% extraordinary. I’ve never climbed anywhere like it. Yet, I feel oddly
”at home” when I am moving through the mountains there.
That’s probably because I’ve been a desert enthusiast since I was a kid. I’ve always found the arid and pokey desert landscape to be endlessly beautiful and entertaining. Growing up, my family and I spent holidays camping in the Mojave Desert in California. The terrain surrounding our corral of camper trailers functioned as a perpetual playground. Add in dirtbikes, BB guns, and bonfires, and you’ve got the perfect combination of toys for a little boy like me.
(I do some reminiscing and storytelling of this part of my life in a series of personal essays titled “The Smell of Smoke” and “An Unlikely Inheritance.”)
On top of that, the climbing style in Red Rock NCA has always suited me. Red Rock offers a mixed bag of climbing styles and traditions. Many of the longer multi-pitches are trad. But some of my favorite pitches are mixed, meaning they offer the opportunity to protect the climb traditionally, and have modern protection bolts you can clip.
The climbing takes place on amazingly red Aztec Sandstone. About 180 - 190 million years ago, the rock formations were sand dunes. Through the process of lithification, the dunes were consolidated into epic sedimentary rock formations that tower thousands of feet high. The namesake of the NCA, “Red Rock,” comes from the red color of the stone. After exposure to elements, the iron oxide and hematite in the rock oxidized, or “rusted,” resulting in a red, orange, or brown rock.
In a lot of places throughout Red Rock, especially in the sections of whiter or beige-colored Navajo Sandstone, water precipitation formed circular iron concretions known as “Indian” or “Moqui-Marbles.” These iron orbs are highly resistant to erosion and function as incredible climbing features. In some sections, the iron concretions also formed into impeccable black and red exterior varnish. The varnish looks like armor or snake scales, protecting the softer sandstone underneath. The bulletproof varnish in Red Rock offers climbing akin to a jungle gym.
It’s glory climbing in its purest form.
Thanks to the grippy sandstone rock, the splitter cracks, Moqui-marlbes, and other wildly unique varnish rock features, the climbing in Red Rock is incredibly thought-provoking.
During one of my favorite pitches from the trip, I smeared one foot on sticky sandstone, jammed my other foot in a “crack” between two bread loaf-shaped hunks of rock, clipped a bolt, and then yarded on some epic face holds to get established below a vertical crack system where I could place a cam.
I mean, come on, people! Doesn’t that sound rad?!
Looking Toward My Future in Red Rock NCA
Based on how I feel when I am camping and climbing in Red Rock, I’m motivated to make it a part of my climbing life for the foreseeable future.
I am already looking forward to next Spring when I can return and continue exploring. In terms of weather, April seemed pretty perfect, but even March could do the trick. The sun was tolerable at high altitudes and with a breeze. In the shade, the temperatures were near perfect, if not a tad chilly. Additionally, witnessing the wildflowers and cacti bloom, as well as the lush green vegetation deep in the canyons, was spectacular.
In addition, I’m pretty much set on taking my final Rock Guide Examine with the AMGA in Red Rock. I think that if I can visit once or twice more before taking the exam, I’ll gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to climb and guide in Red Rock and feel more confident about my performance.
Who’s coming with me next time?
Thank You, Red Rock! (And my climbing partners)
I am leaving the desert with some serious mega-stoke. I feel filled up by the desert and by the experience I had there. I climbed well and accomplished many of the objectives I set out for myself.
From an artistic standpoint, I’ve already got two poems in the works inspired by the desert.
And thanks to my partners, Drake and Joe! We had some serious good times. We explored new crags and pushed our limits (i.e., Type 2 fun). We drank cold beers and epic scotch whiskey. We slept in the dirt, stargazed and burnt wood. We made new friends and deepened our bonds with one another.
Now–I am ready to settle into my climbing season here in the Gunks and share that stoke with some of you. Let’s get after it!
This newsletter is entirely reader-supported. If you enjoy my writing, you can make a one-time donation at Buy Me a Coffee. Your support means a lot. Thank you!
P.S. To see more photos from my trip, click over to my Adventure Gallery!
What an absolutely incredible couple of days climbing with you and hanging with Joe. Thank you, Teddy!