Holiday Recap Pt. I

Action Report - Success on Cathedral ...err Arlington Peak
Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara, CA
December 28, 2008

Michael, Amber, and myself atop Arlington Peak

After spending most of the holiday week either with family or prepping Amber's car to take over the role of Adventuremobile from the Golf *tear*, we needed some release. We had planned to go to Mt. Pinos for some winter action, but that plan fell through due to exhaustion. Sunday was our last day in the Santa Barbara area, and we needed some release before heading back to work.

Hang glider soaring over the Santa Ynez

We met up with Michael, and decided to tackle the Cathedral Peak trail, one of the most beautiful 'hikes' in Santa Barbara, and possibly the toughest. I say 'hikes' because there is a lot of scrambling and bouldering involved, and during an earlier attempt this year we turned back due to time. While the route is occasionally class 1, much of the time is spent on class 2-3 terrain; a maze of boulders and manzanita brush.

The "trail" is the ridge leading to the summit

The Cathedral Peak trail is one of the only trails in the Santa Barbara front country that feels like a real mountain experience. It's rarely exposed in any dangerous way, but once you climb up on the "Dragon's Back" the terrain drops off to the left and right. Essentially you pick your way right up the east ridge of the mountain. It's about 3000 ft. of elevation gain in 2 miles, most of that the latter half of the hike.

Arlington Peak is on the left and the "Dragon's Back" route is the rocky ridge leading up to it from right to left

Amber had a hard time getting warmed up. I think we were a bit drained and also had perhaps too-heavy a breakfast. We estimated the hike would take about 4 hours, but it ended up taking closer to 6. Mike was a powerhouse the whole time, he never has to slow down (except to wait for us). If you're looking for a hiking partner who can keep a blustery pace, get in contact with this guy.

View down to the trailhead (yes, there is a reason it looks straight down!)

As we got closer to the top, Amber got her energy back and was really trucking along. Soon we were on top of Arlington Peak, and although I have been to many vistas in the Santa Ynez, this one is worth the trouble. On top of that the storms earlier in the week and winter air made for one of the clearest days I have seen in Santa Barbara. We could see practically all of the Channel Islands, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Santa Barbara and Ventura coasts. We also had a good vantage point to see the fire scars from both the Tea Fire and an earlier fire in Goelta.

View to the Channel Islands


Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands


View through the gap between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands


Land scarred by the Tea Fire

Though the sandstone tooth of Cathedral Peak was just across the way from here, the hike to Arlington is the bulk of the trail and very strenuous. We decided to call it a day there, have a snack, then head downhill to feast on Mexican food. Needless to say, all the scrambling and high-stepping (plus a few holiday pounds) left us all sore for days. Amber and I recovered just in time for the next holiday adventure...

Photo Album:

Cathedral Peak (Santa Barbara)

Indian Cove Turkey Days

Trip Report - Joshua Tree National Park
Indian Cove area
November 27 - 30, 2008

The park is named for an abundance of these goofy-looking trees

Climbers' Holiday

Earlier this year, Amber and I decided that since it wasn't a good time to go to Texas this year for the Holidays, we'd spend one holiday with her family, and for the other, do something for ourselves. As it turned out, we'd be doing our own thing over the break for Thanksgiving, and in October, got invited along to Joshua Tree with the D.O.A. and some of their friends.

Kenenth, also invited, rode down with us and we met up with everyone in the Indian Cove area of Joshua Tree National Park. Indian Cove is a sheltered nook in the rocks just south of Twenty-nine Palms, outside of the 'main' park road. It's a good spot because the campsites are reservable, and Indian Cove is lower elevation and more sheltered from the wind and cold. There is a lot more climbing in the 'main park' but Indian Cove still has boulders and walls as far as the eye can see; more than enough to keep you busy.

Landscape typical of Indian Cove

We thought at first the place might be pretty empty, but, as it turns out, Thanksgiving is a popular climbers' holiday in Joshua Tree. There was a large proportion of climbers camped all throughout the campground, and the group areas were full of climbing clubs of varying degrees of formality. Luckily it had just rained the day before, so some people still bailed on their plans. It was close to full but not packed, and it was never too hard to get on a climb.

After arriving post-sunset on Thanksgiving Day, we feasted on stove-top stuffing, gravy, and foil-packet chicken. The we headed over to the Rock-Rendevous (a Bay Area club) group site, to share and feast on delicious pies. Throughout the weekend we had an excess of pie. Never before has there been so much pie consumed on a camping trip. If you like pie, I suggest going camping at Thanksgiving. Everyone will bring pie.

Our campsite, nestled amongst the rock

Lazy Lead

Feeling a little blown out from the drive, and not wishing to repeat the depletion of the last few trips, Amber and I decided to take it a little easier, since we were "on vacation". We went for a scrambling hike partway up rattlesnake canyon, which really helped loosen me up. Later we were ready to start climbing, but everyone had taken off so we had to find something the two of us could handle on our own.

Joshua Tree is primarily a trad climbing area, so we looked for something easy enough for me to lead. The rock there is awesome, similar Quartz Monzonite as you find in the Alabama Hills. Its a rock with great friction, but rough on clothing and skin as it has huge, sharp quartz crystals. The main difference to the Alabama hills, besides some differences in weathering, is the lack of bolts at Joshua Tree. There are few bolted climbs, and even fewer with top anchor/rappell bolts. It's important to scope out the descent before you head up and always take enough gear to build an anchor.

So we found this 5.3 "Double Crack" on the short wall that seemed easy enough, but turned out to be awfully awkward. It tested my skills as a leader, and even though I've worked leads on harder routes, was the hardest lead I've done to date. The main issue was awkward stances, and me spending a lot of time trying to get solid placements in the irregular rock. Amber also had some difficulty while cleaning. She slipped onto the rope a bit at one point, but that's no big deal when you're roped from above. Just as we finished, our friends showed up from their climb, and Amber and I really enjoyed the notion we had done that short climb "all by ourselves".

Kenneth leading the 'Double Crack' the next day

Leading ate a lot of my mental and physical energy up, and I was a bit shaken by how difficult that climb had seemed for a 5.3. As we later learned, no one takes the numbers too seriously for the low-grade climbs at Joshua Tree; turns out they're extremely inconsistent (for a variety of reasons). Obviously we eyed up the crack ourselves and we're comfortable with it but some of the harder rated climbs on the same wall may have been easier. Enough frustration (and joy) for the day, it was time to head back to camp and recharge with a belly full of chili and wine.

Rocky Relaxation

After a great nights sleep on our new 'car camping' pads, we were ready to go at it again. We tried to find some friends of Kenneth's in the main park. They didn't show, but we found the war zone aftermath of the CHAOS (Berkeley club) campsite. The wind had thrown their chairs in the fire and the stragglers that morning looked a bit shell-shocked. We took some pictures of the park, grabbed a snack and firewood at the gas station, and headed back to Indian Cove were the weather was much, much nicer (i.e. not windy and cold).

Stunning view of San Gorgonio from inside the main park

We did a couple more climbs on the short wall with Kenneth (he didn't lead much the day before so he wanted time to play with his gear). One was a fist crack that turned out to be super fun, and not nearly as awkward as the day before. It was a good mixture of climbing and relaxation for the weekend and I was glad I didn't beat myself up too much.

Belaying attentively, with the not so bad 'crowds' in the background


Amber giving it to a fist crack... Look at that awesome fist jam!

Since we'd had a late lunch, we screwed around a long time at camp that evening. Kenneth, Amber and I made up a gear placement practice drinking game. Well it wasn't much of a drinking game, but it was still fun. Our campsite was surrounded by features and boulders, flakes and cracks, and we were able to find placements for almost everything we pulled off the racks. It was fun and we all learned a little bit by having each other test the placements.

Kenneth cleaning up after all the fun

That night around the campfire, all the climbers traded the days stories, and shared thoughts and tips about climbing (and a lot of beer and wine). It was a great trip, but we'd wished we could have stayed a little longer. Especially as that would have helped us avoid the horrendous holiday traffic on I-5 the next day. Despite the fact it took almost 11 hours (3 hours extra) to get home, we stayed cheerful and upbeat as we rode out of a near-perfect holiday weekend.

Photo Gallery:

Indian Cove (Joshua Tree)

SoCal Climbing: Stoney Point

Action Report - Climbing at Stoney Point
Los Angeles (Chatsworth), CA
August 3, 2008

[[ fyi... action reports are brief versions of trip reports or other updates from Amber and I when we don't have a good reason to do a full write up or don't have pictures (like when we're the only climbers), etc... ]]

We made a trip down to the LA area for Amber's little nephew's second birthday party and decided it would be fun to do some rock climbing on the way out of town. Turns out one of the popular LA crags is smack dab inbetween her brother's house and her parent's house!

We picked up Chris Owen's guide to Stoney Point (allegedly the most scenic place in Los Angeles) and hit the crag Sunday morning. We set up an anchor and climbed an easy chimney route on the back wall, then played on one of the boulders. Climbing on the sandstone in the heat was a bit of a pain, but it was still a fun day. We stopped on the way out of town to stuff ourselves on chicken nachos and fish tacos, then hightailed it back to the bay area.