Mojave Desert Wildlife

Most people in the rock climbing community probably know what you are taking about if you say you are climbing in Red Rocks - but, most of our family aren't rock climbers, so maybe I should tell you a bit more about where we actually are. 

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is 195,819 acres of conserved land, which is all apart of the Mojave Desert, and is located only 17 miles west of the Las Vegas "Strip" in Nevada. Once you enter the conservation area there is a 13 mile scenic drive loop, which gives us access to all the different trailheads and climbing routes.

Las Vegas (the tall buildings in the center is the Strip)

The desert landscape of this area is vastly different from what we are used to on the east coast, but we have slowly been learning about the local plants and wildlife. There are a few herds of wild burros that live around the conservation area, as well as wild horses - although we have yet to see any wild horses, as they are much fewer in numbers.   The Black-tailed jackrabbit and desert cottontail are a couple of animals we see on a regular basis while driving at night or early morning - those, along with the  Kangaroo rat and pocket mouse. One night we were lucky enough to see a coyote as well. During the day, the most common animal you will notice are all the lizards, which dart about at your feet and over rocks - to name a few are the Chuckwalla, zebra-tailed lizard, Whiptailed lizard, and desert iguana. Unlike the lizards, the Desert Tortoise are the more atypical reptile of the Mojave - as they spend 98% of their lives underground in their burrows. The Desert Tortoise is a federally threatened animals, as its populations have been dramatically declining due to human encroachment, competition with grazing livestock, and invasive species. 

A Gopher Snake passing through our climbing rope.

Wild Burro itching near a Joshua Tree.

                                                (More climbing talk and photos to come...)

Epinephrine

I don't know where to begin - do I try to describe the sheer size of this climb or how I am perfectly sized to shimmy my way up the chimney pitches? Or perhaps I should start with the kindred sense of camaraderie among the four of us climbing together. I still don't know, but speechless seems like an appropriate beginning, as this was our initial reaction after climbing this route. 

First light on the rock. (Photo by Adam)

Our alarm sounded at 3:45 AM, the noise barely penetrating the thick night sky, which still hung low in the canyon. I was already awake - excitement coursing through me like caffeine. We were getting ready to climb Epinephrine, a 2240' climb up Black Velvet Peak. Having a hard time picturing exactly how big this looks? You know Half Dome in Yosemite? It's taller than that! We have had our eye on this climb for quite some time now, so when we ran into a couple of my friends from the Adirondacks and they asked us to climb it with them, it was easy to say yes! So, there we were, hiking into the canyon by headlamp - ready to start the climb at first light. 

Me in the chimney. (Photo by Adam)

 After a first short pitch of sporty face climbing you start up three glorious pitches of chimney climbing - something we had never done before! And let me tell you, as I watched Dustin, Jack, and then Adam slowly and awkwardly fight their way up the rock, my hands started to sweat. (Props to Adam for leading all the pitches except the first!) Cursing and yelling could be heard the whole way up. 

Dustin in the chimney. (Photo by Adam)

But to everyone's surprise, I am perfectly sized for those chimneys, and quietly scooted right through them. After you top out on the last chimney pitch you are standing on top of a large tower. From here we continued up on some high quality face climbing until we were just below the summit. At this point it was a couple 4th class pitches and scrambling until the summit of Black Velvet Peak.

Jack, Dustin, myself, and Adam standing on the summit of Black Velvet Peak after climbing Epinephrine.

We reached the summit at 5:40 PM - just under 7 hours of continuous climbing - and couldn't be more psyched! We hung around the summit just long enough to snap a few pictures and switch from climbing shoes to hiking shoes, at which point we started the 2 hour hike down the side of the Peak and back to the car. Despite being tired and hungry, everyone wore grin to grin smiles the whole way down. As we reached the car (just before 8:00 PM) the sun was just setting - we couldn't have asked for better timing. The whole day was a huge success and easily the most epic climb any of us have done thus far. 

Here are some more pictures from the day...

Me seconding as Adam belays. (Photo by Adam)

Great exposure as Dustin second's up the pitch. (Photo by Jack)

More exposure! (Photo by Adam)

Red Rocks, Nevada

We made it to Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area - our home for the next few weeks and one of the top climbing destinations in the U.S.!!

On the outskirts of Las Vegas, it is quite the interesting spread of people here. On one end of the spectrum you have the super wealthy people that drive through for the day and take pictures from their car window. (I saw this man sit in his car combing his hair for at least 5 minutes, only to get out and take a picture of his car instead of the view behind him.) Then you have the community of rock climbers who live out of their cars and cook dinner in the parking lot of the visitor's center - people like Adam and I. We are slowly getting used to the area though and getting our systems dialed - we found showers, the best places to sleep, and the best location with free WiFi.

As for the climbing...it has been awesome! The first afternoon we got here we climbed "Hop Route" a three pitch 5.7 trad route in Icebox Canyon.

Icebox Canyon as seen from Calico Hills.

The following day we climbed "Man's Best Friend" - a two pitch 5.7 sport climb in Calico Hills. It was another super fun, easy climb, which was great for getting used to the rock and getting some great views of the surrounding canyons. 

Me leading the first pitch of "Man's Best Friend" (photo by Adam).

View from "Man's Best Friend".

Yesterday, we hiked in to Pine Creek Canyon to climb Mescalito via the 5 pitch trad route, "Cat in the Hat". When we got to the base of the climb there was another couple getting ready to climb the route. They were super friendly, however, they were much slower climbers than us so we ended up spending a significant amount of time waiting for them to finish a pitch before we could continue on behind them. As a result, we didn't end up getting off the wall until 7:45 (we shared ropes to rappel, which saved some time) and we didn't get back to our car until 8:30. We were exhausted - we drove to the campground, cooked dinner, and instantly went to sleep. It was another really fun climb - a combination of crack climbing and juggy face climbing. We gained about 650' of elevation and could see all the way into downtown Las Vegas from the top.

Adam belaying me from the first pitch anchor.

Organizing the rack for the next pitch. (photo by Adam)

Me cleaning gear as I climb up the first pitch.

The only problem we have run into so far is the sun. It's been so sunny everyday (between 70-80 degrees) and there really isn't much shade in the desert - especially not while climbing. But if that's our only problem, I think we are doing pretty well. Besides, Adam came up with a great way to keep the sun off his neck and ears while climbing - he taped a bandana to the back of his climbing helmet. It's not only extremely functional in preventing sunburn, but it is also extremely fashionable.