Random thoughts

I Heart New Jack

Up to the last minute, I hadn't decided if I really wanted to go to New Jack with Marc and the rest of the gang, but when I woke up Saturday morning, I finally caved in and packed up my stuff for the day trip. New Jack is about 2.5 hours from LA, and we wanted to get an early start, so Marc and I rendezvoused at 8am, had the car's oil changed, then started the sleepy-eyed drive to Barstow.

Our goal was to do 5 routes, and we started off with a tricky 5.9 that made me feel a little frustrated. From then on though, things got a lot better. We did three 5.10s that felt so damn good and offered great views of the area. Then Marc and I tried a 5.11 that we both choked on, but finished anyway. Lucky Douglas, who actually almost on-sighted this climb!

We only did the climbs in one of the rocks in the area though, so I'm still intrigued by all the other areas. Plus, I have to come back and actually lead the 10s that we did, since I mostly topped them. Hopefully around mid-March we can take another trip out there again.

The rock quality in New Jack is less gritty than the rock in Joshua Tree, and I'm really grateful for that. My hands didn't get any fresh cuts, but my knees did have the usual sore spots from pressing too hard against the rock.

All in all, it was a fun trip, one that I'm glad I went on, and one that I wish to do again. Too bad that there's really no good camping area around. But it was definitely worth the 2.5 hours of sitting on my ass!

posted by Cathy at 11:23 AM