Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona

Lonely planet list Bear Canyon in the Sabino Canyon park as one of the best hikes in Arizona. Unfortunately I was there the wrong time of year and there was no water and so no seven falls.

I wasn't about the let the lack of water or triple digit temperatures stop me from getting in some hiking. I decided to just wander around and see if Sabino Lake had any water, it did not. I made my way along the trails and then down the creek bed to Sabino Dam.

I liked how this area of the desert has so much more life than here around Yuma. So many more cacti and bushes.

  

When I arrived at the dam, there was no water behind it, but there were some small pools of stagnant water below it. Despite their small size the pools had minnows swimming around in them. I found it kinda funny that there was water below the dam but not behind it, seems to kinda defeat the purpose of a dam, Near the damn there was also a shady little picnic area that I took refuge in from the sun for a while as I decided if I should hike any farther.

 View of the Dam from the trail

 The Dam

 Survey Marker on the Dam

 Pools below the dam

Dam from below

I will need to head back during the late summer monsoons or in the late spring to do the seven falls hike and enjoy the pools.

-James

Lele Kawa

Red Rock Rendezvous

This turned out to be one of the best experiences I've ever had. If you ever get the chance to go you should.

For just over $100.00 you get two nights of camping, 10 hours of open bar (pouring New Belgium beer and Cliff family wines), dinner, breakfast, classes from some of the worlds best climber, a great atmosphere and a bunch of free stuff from the different vendors.

We arrived Friday afternoon and after checking in set up our tents. Then it was down to the vendors and bar. Most of the vendors were having contest of one sort or another, with awesome prizes. Beer in hand, I headed over to the slack lines of the Yoga Slackers. Their set up was looser than I an used to, but I still managed to walk the line. As the night went on we played some giant Jenga at the New Belgium tent. I lost the second game due to some high winds, and was punished with a small spiderman costume and wig until the next game finished.

Saturday morning I was up at 6, as is my nature. I was able to grab some coffee before sitting to watch the sun come up over the hills. After that is was down to the slack lines again while I waited for my afternoon Self Rescues class. After some advice from one of the Yoga Slackers I was able to get the sitting to standing for the first time on the line.

I was slightly disappointed in my self rescue class. More than anything else it was a knot class. Since I am good with knots and many others are not, I did not get too much out of the class. Their were a handful of small bits that may some day prove useful.

By the time the class was over the bar was open again and dinner was being prepared. Spent some time talking with two local climbers over dinner, then it was time for the auction and the final contest. It was getting pretty cold and the wind was kicking up by this time. After all the contest were over there was a small dance party on stage.

The wind only continued to pick up until morning. There were gust of over 50mph. This did not go well for my ultralight backpacking tent, as some time around 2am one of the poles snapped. I was again up before sunrise, but less because I wanted to be this time. After a quick breakfast we packed the tents and gear up in the car before heading off to the days class.

Sunday's class was Intro to Traditional climbing with pro climber Rob Pizem. This class was a lot more useful. The main focus was placing protection and setting anchors for climbing. Rob held nothing back he fielded any question we sent his way. Also Rob's knowledge of gear was clearly evident, at a glance he knew exactly what piece would fit every crack. This is an ability I also want to gain some day, through experience.

Even saw some wild burros on the way back.

Such a fun weekend, other than my tent breaking, and not getting any climbing in between classes, I can't imagine things being any better. Next year I will take an extra day or two off work so I can put all the knowledge I get at the clinics into work.

-James

Lele Kawa

Palm Canyon, AZ

The Yuma climbing club confined for the first time, and took a trip out to palm canyon. Rockclimbing.com speaks of a 3 pitch water streak in palm canyon. I had never been to palm canyon, so I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find this climbable water streak.

 View up the canyon from parking lot

There was a promising looking water streak at the opening of the canyon. The approach was a little rough. Once we reached the water streak we found it to be pretty chossy. The surrounding area was more chossy, than the water streak, but the streak still wasn't good climbing.

 The climbing club at the bottom of the water streak

After the first water streak didn't work out too well, we continued up the canyon trail, looking for the 3 pitch route.

 The Palms

A little ways up the canyon we stopped at this promising looking spot. The bottom 15 feet or so were not too chossy. We spent a little bit of time bouldering here. 

In the end we never did find the climbable water streak. We will have to contact the guy from the forum to find out more information on this climbing spot. Not sure if it is worth while to climb here since it is almost just as far away as Valley of the Moon, which has much better climbing. There is some good hiking and exploring to be done in Palm Canyon, but not so much with the climbing.

Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, NV

While I was in Vegas, I made a trip out of the city to visit Red Rock canyon. It happened to be Veteran's Day weekend, which was one of the national parks free weekend, an added bonus.

I didn't have my climbing gear, so I couldn't take advantage of the climbing. But I did explore the red canyon a bit.

View from visitors center

The first stop we made was at Calico II

At the High Point Overlook of the drive, Las Vegas in the background

Also took a walk along Lost Creek trail to one of the waterfalls, but it was barely dripping. The hike details can be seen at the bottom of this post.

No falling water today