Canyoneering at Little Santa Anita

This week I did NOT go climbing, but instead went to Little Santa Anita Canyon to try a canyon run for the first time! Although a number of technical challenges are the same as climbing, it had a very different feeling and pacing to sport climbing. Canyoning is a lot more of constant action to climbing hurry up and wait. But let me get onto our journey…

At the start of the trail: Jenny, Justin, and Alex.

My brother Alex has been trying to get me to go with him for months now, ever since he went to Zion National Park. One of Alex’s climbing buddies, Justin, said that he had run Little Santa Anita before and really enjoyed it in the spring time.

I should also mention that some people are keeping up this area, all of the webbing that we used was brand spanking new! All of the bolts and closures worked and looked really nice too. It is always a good thing when you can trust all of the equipment that is supplied. That is one thing about climbing and rappelling I always love and appreciate is that this is all done by people that love the sport, with very little praise or reward. Most of the people that set routes don’t get paid for it, or even to climb professionally. It is simply done out of love.

Now, usually Alex likes to climb at the very crack of dawn. I’m saying that usually when Alex plans a climb, we get to the crag at 6 am. So when Alex told me we were leaving his place at 12:45 pm from his place, to drive to his friend Justin’s place, meet up with them and then drive to the trail, I was a little shocked. Actually very shocked. But as it meant that I got to sleep in a little, I was ok with it.

At the head of the Mt. Wilson trail is a cute little fake old timey diner, tucked next to a playground in a neighborhood. The trail itself is pretty steep, like doing a  light stair master. I am really glad I have been working on getting stronger, because this trail still kicked my butt! It’s about 2 miles to the side trail that takes you to the beginning of the Little Santa Anita Canyon. I have to describe to you now what our expectation was of this canyon: mild hike into the canyon that was nice and cool and dry, 4 or 5 rappels, a total trip of about 4 hours. This did not turn out to be true. But at the beginning we were unaware of this.

After walking up the two steep miles in the glaring sun, down in the dell of the canyon was amazing. It is so green and beautiful, even without much water. We stopped and put on our harnesses, then we were ready!

Glaring sun of the hike ^

Cool valley:

Here is Alex modeling his new Eldrid Men’s harness. So stylish!

The beginning of the canyon had only one big puddle, and the rest was just swampy. I loved finally getting to see some fall colors!

The first rappel is nice, pretty long, and you could see all the way to the bottom. Really easy to follow the line of the rope, and during this trip it was all dry rappels. I learned a new word for rappelling by the way: to abseil.

A picture of me abseiling.

This is looking down the first rappel.

There was some water on the rocks, enough to keep some moss and lichen alive. And enough to attract some bees! I love bees! These poor little guys were so thirsty, and the water was just right for them.

The third rappel was interesting because you had to make a choice: The hard way- Fancy footwork and maybe losing your balance, or the easy way- looking goofy and sinking into the crack in the rocks. I chose the easier, if goofier, way.

Fourth and Fifth rappels were all nice and pretty, we were really getting into our stride and feeling good. We were all thinking “ok, we hiked for a half hour or maybe more, we have been in the canyon a couple hours, we must be about done! This might be our last rappel!”  We were all incorrect. It was so pretty though, we did not mind. Also, Alex started using a trick with his figure 8 device (a rappelling mechanism like an ATC) with a clove hitch that allowed us to do a single line abseil. This technique allowed us to only use half the rope, and keep the other half coiled and ready- a huge time saver! Please note that this is an entertainment blog, not a teaching or technical blog. Canyoneering is very dangerous, be careful!

The sun was setting and everything was starting to get a little dark and we were happy to think we were almost done with our trip. We had done our five descents and were ready to hike out.

But we had several more rappels to go.

So

Many

Rappels

Some of these were really short, and most of them had just enough of a hike between them that we really really believed “this is the last one”. NOPE! We really liked them, we were having a good time, but it was dark by this time, and we only had Alex’s one headlamp, so things were starting to get a little sketchy. Even if you aren’t descending very far, it is way better to be able to see where you are going.  Also being able to see where you are hiking is helpful.

The picture is a little weird, but it was dark.

There are two ways to get out of the canyon, one is that you see one cairn and hike up a really crappy dirt-fall and get back onto the mail trail and out you go. A dirt-fall is like a waterfall, but with dirt. They are absolute crap to try and move up, the dirt is so loose it falls in your shoes, and there is no traction so every foot up slides back. I am not fond of dirt-falls.

The other way out is through three more rappels to the dam. This is way is illegal though, so be warned. After you jump the fence of the dam, you have to have a very good sense of direction to find your way through the winding streets of a neighborhood to get back to the start of the trail, and your car.

So we got back to our car in the dark after an extra long hike and fun canyoneering! It was a super fun day. While I liked it, I am definitely still a climber first. And I can’t wait for the weekend, because we are going to Red Rocks! Let me know your favorites at Red Rocks, ok?

Riverside Quarry

This week we went out to the Riverside Quarry, a new place for me. Driving out there was sort of nostalgic for me, I used to live in Riverside, and I learned to love the high desert. As for the crag itself … I did not entirely know what to expect. My older brother loves this spot, loves the climbs, and talked us into trying it. Unfortunately I just don’t think this was the right time.

To begin with, we did not get to Riverside until about 10:30 in the morning, which means that the sun was already out warming things up.  The weather channel had said it would be about 80 degrees, but I’ve been spoiled by an 80 degrees in Malibu Creek, or Echo. The Quarry is right next to a neighborhood, and you park on a street next to some houses. It is really easy to spot this area approaching, the hill has been split down to get at the granite, exposing the climbs. So the approach is really very simple, just follow up the dirt road.

This place has a very Mad Max sort of feel. There is rubbish laying around- old tires, sofas, broken glass, graffiti on the rocks, and people doing motocross. I thought about what a Bartertown would look like if they had set up in this area, and tried to hear the sax player before he got shot. Tina Turner would definitely class the place up some. There is no shade really in the whole area, and no where to relieve yourself, so be ready for that.

There were already a couple of groups on the crag, but they all seemed fairly well spaced apart, there was no clump of people standing all on one route, so I’m guessing that there are plenty of good climbs along the main part of the crag. However, we had a very hard time discerning where exactly we wanted to climb. We were looking for some pretty easy, accessible climbs, because I am still learning to lead climb. Our goal was actually the Schoolhouse Rock face which was described as pretty easy, but we met a couple of guys who had been there before, and were going to Fun City, just around the corner from the main part of the crag. So we decided to start there and come back to find Schoolhouse Rock.

I liked the climbs at Fun City that we did- Mass Production and Made to Order. But the thing is this, a lot of the holds were drilled and chipped into the rock, and then glued to stick like that. I have never seen anything like that anywhere else. It was weird for someone who is used to either natural rock or gym climbs, as this was both. On real rock, but designed by a person.

Ken Lee borrowed a guide book from some fellow climbers, (the ones we followed to the wall) and the book listed Mass Production as a 5.10b, but on Mountain project it is listed as 5.9. The moves are not that hard, and since they are glued they are all very obvious… but it is very pumpy and very very steep. This place is freaking  perfectly 90 degrees! And it’s so sheer. It made it really scary to clip because you can’t lean into the rock. You have to really trust your stance and be really clean. I was really proud that I lead this one.

The next climb I tried to lead, Made to Order 5.8, but got stuck after the first stinking bolt!

Because I could not find a stance that I could trust to stay on the wall. So Mattieu lead it and I top-roped it up to clean it. It was a very dirty route to clean (badum ching!)

(Thats the only thing I don’t like about outdoor climbing)

But there was this cool hawk nest! I have to assume that it was a hawk nest because we saw hawks flying around and there were rabbit pelts on the twigs.

I personally would consider this a little harder than the 5.8 its listed, but not by much. There is such a difference between climbs though, not only from different rocks to different grades, different kinds of holds. This had little ledges that were marked by the cement glue, but again, it is such a straight climb it feels very exposed. The granite that made up these climbs was friendly on your hands; it doesn’t cut into your hand like some of the sharp rocks at Texas Canyon, but I found it hard to make my shoes stick to it. It was a lot smoother than I was expecting. Still fun, but an added challenge.  Both of these climbs were amazingly well protected though! Someone put some love into making these climbs possible. There was seriously a bolt every couple of feet. I watched another climber go up Worker Bee (5.10a) and there was literally a bolt every 2 feet. So nice, it makes you feel so safe!

#selfie #top of the route #baking hot # pink cheeks #hashtag

By this point we were baking in the sun (see previous picture), the rocks were hot to the touch, so we went and tried to find Schoolhouse Rock, to see if maybe we could get some more breeze. Unfortunately we went too far to the left and almost got onto a different face. But after very close inspection, and wandering around for a bit, we did find it, it is the very last block of rock on the farthest right. We did not think it was going to be in any way difficult because of the low grades of the rock. The angle, especially after the near perfect vertical of Fun House, just seemed sad. Also, Schoolhouse Rock is all very short routes, only 40 feet maybe, whereas the next face climbs over would take the entire rope. Those to the right were easily 80/90 foot routes.

Oh, a note about crags, faces and routes: I consider the crag to be the over all location of the climbs, so all of the climbs fall under one crag. Faces are a group of specific climbs, or a wall of individual rock that has routes. Faces do not have to be connected or touching to be at the same crag. Individual routes are just that, a single climb. So you have route A on face/wall blah at the crag triangle. Or at Riverside Quarry on Schoolhouse Rock wall I tried the classic climb Schoolhouse Rock, and completed on top rope Tyrannosaurus Debt.

Schoolhouse Rock (5.8) is, unfortunately, the kind of climb that I have a really hard time with. It is low grade to a sheer bump, so if you got on top of the bump, you have to walk to the next one and clip there, but if you fall, you roll really bad or you could drop onto the rock you just climbed! I know it might be silly, but this kind of climb really scares me.

So, I climbed up to the first bolt and called it. Sadness was mine, and Ken Lee cleaned the route.

Tyrannosaurus Debt (5.9) was much more my alley! Although, I did again get stuck at the first bolt while trying to lead it. There is so little to hold onto after that first bolt! Nothing and more nothing, except one little foot hold under a lip of rock. Everything else was a smear, where you just put your foot on the rock and hope. It is all about the balance, which normally I can rock, but for whatever reason, I just couldn’t stick this move. I sat on the rope for a long time and tried this and tried that, and finally got frustrated and let Mattieu finish it. I did complete it on top rope, but I just feel like a 5.9 should be obvious enough to be pretty easy to climb (maybe that is just my ego speaking). All three of us had to sit and try several different moves and holds to get something to stick. It felt weird to project a freaking 5.9! But for all that it was a pretty interesting climb, really really good for learning and practicing balance moves, with one big move up over a boulder. There is a two or three bald patches on this climb though, where you just sit and think “WTF! There is nothing here to hold on to, nothing to put my feet on, where can I move?!” But, inevitably, there is something there, you just have to keep trying. One example being a really solid ledge half way up said boulder, you have to put your hand in just the right spot as you can’t see it at all. The end of the climb you just walk up to the anchors, but there are a lot of pebbles, so keep moving slowly so that you don’t kick them onto your belayer.

By this time the sun was about to set, and I could not believe how much time we spent out there! I think we spent too much time trying to find the right face. We headed out, but went on the wrong road (who was leading the group? I was. I lead us in the wrong direction) So we had to track back over the prickly brush, which is everyone’s favorite.

I think Riverside Quarry might be better for more intense climbers. Personally, I think it is sort of funny to have a man made face, with man made climbs that are chipped, etched, and glued into the rock. I want to come back to this place someday, when I am a stronger climber, and try some of the other places in the quarry.

Reasons I will go back:

1 Sheerness of the rock

2 Quality of the rock is unlike anything else

3 Length of the rest of the climbs is intense

Reasons I am not in a rush:

1 Ugly location

2 It is enough of a drive to Riverside that I want to be really excited to be there.

Is there anyone whose favorite place is Riverside Quarry? Did I miss the perfect climb on one of the faces that we went to? Most importantly- where should I go next?