I wanted to find a new place to climb. Somewhere we hadn’t climbed before.
The climbs around the Castle Rock at Belle Campground looked promising. Castle Rock, which is in the middle of the campground, has some moderately graded climbs. There is a 5.1, a 5.3, two 5.4s and a 5.6. I thought this would make a fun day and give us lots of options.
The Belle Campground is closer to the northern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, in the town of Twentynine Palms. But we drove into the park through the West Entrance at Joshua Tree because the house we were staying in was close to the West Entrance.
I knew we’d have to drive past the turn for the Geology Tour Road, which is where the Towers of Uncertainty are, but I wasn’t sure how far past. We drove Park Boulevard through the park and when we got to the North Entrance, it was obvious we’d missed the turn.
Belle Campground is on Pinto Basin Road and I had been watching for a road sign for this road but didn’t see one. The turn for Pinto Basin Road is about 4.5 miles from the North Entrance. We turned around there and watched the mileage markers. When we saw the 4-mile marker, we started watching for a turn-off.
The sign for the turn does not identify the road as Pinto Basin Road and it does not mention the Belle Campground. The sign did indicate Cottonwood as one of the areas accessed down the road. I knew the Pinto Basin Road led to Cottonwood so I assumed this was the right road.
We seemed to go quite a ways down the road and I started doubting whether it was in fact the right road. Then we saw a sign that said there was a campground in 500 feet.
It was the Belle Campground. We drove into the campground and Castle Rock was right behind some campsites in front of us.
There was parking near the front of the campground in a small parking area for day hikers. We walked all the way around Castle Rock, looking at the routes and the walk-off.
The walk-off looked tricky. It was a full-on scramble with some exposed moves getting from the top of the climbs to the top of the “walk-off”. Joshua Tree veterans are probably fine with this but folks who are not used to the terrain, like us, need to consider whether to protect the traverse over to the walk-off.
We hiked over to the easier climbs at the far end of Castle Rock. The climbs looked ok except for the 5.4. The 5.4, called One Point Crack, followed a crack that went halfway up the rock face and stopped. We weren’t sure how you could advance to the top with nowhere to place protection and seemingly featureless steep slab to climb. We weren’t sure how this climb could be graded only 5.4.
The 5.3 called Half Crack went up the very end of the rock. We hiked back away from the rock so we could see the top. It looked like it would be difficult to find a way down. The walk-off was at the other end of the formation so a walk-off from here would involve traversing the entire length of the formation. This would include a tricky-looking climb onto the high point. We decided to skip this climb.
At the other end, near the walk-off, the 5.4 Diabetics and the 5.6 Diagnostics, looked good.
In the photo, Diabetics, 5.4, starts behind the boulder by the red backpack. There are two cracks.
The 5.6, Diagnostics, starts on the far left side of the photo in a left facing corner with a crack at the back. It then goes up the dark flake to the top.
Diabetics – 5.4
The crack for Diabetics stops just short of the top. There is a bit of slab to scramble up at the top. I thought it looked ok, not too steep.
I decided to lead the 5.4. It looked like there would be ample gear placement opportunities up to the end of the crack. Then I figured I would be able to make a few easy scramble moves and be at the top.
I loaded my harness with gear and tied in. I climbed up onto a boulder to get to the start of the climb. Before leaving the boulder, I placed a piece of gear as high in the crack as I could reach. My first few moves would be protected.
The bottom of the crack was a bit blank for feet but I found good hands and carefully crept my feet up. As I moved up, I found a few places where the holds were not great and I had to commit to a big move on less-than-optimal hands or feet. It had looked so featured from the ground.
Then the worst part came. The top of the crack and no more opportunities to place protection. I looked up at the slab and it seemed impossibly steep and high. My eyes searched for potential holds – chicken heads, features, bumps – but I couldn’t find enough to make me feel comfortable moving unprotected over to the top.
I considered my options. I could lower down, pull the rope and carry it up the “walk-off”, set up an anchor and rappel down over the route to clean the gear I had left there. That would be preferable to trying to climb the slab.
I told Dan I wanted to come down. He suggested I place two good pieces of gear to lower off of. I added a second piece beside my top one and lowered down to the ground.
Dan decided that he would give it a try. He pulled rope and clipped the gear I had placed on his way up. It was good to get his feedback on my gear placements. Also, he agreed that some of the moves were committing. We both agreed that this 5.4 was a lot harder than the 5.6 we had climbed the session before.
Dan was able to place another piece in the top of the crack. He got a nut into the thin top section. He paused for a while to consider the moves up the slab. Dan worked up some courage and went for it.
It was a big commitment because it would have been hard to stop part way. It would have been a difficult down climb and with the last piece of protection below his feet, it would not have been possible to lower off. Still, he went for it.
Dan made the top with no problems and built an anchor.
The top of this climb and the 5.6 beside it come up over the top of a flake. There is a shallow trench between this top edge of the flake and the rock formation behind it. Dan built a gear anchor here. He added a directional piece so the rope would hang down the 5.4 route.
He then lowered and cleaned the gear.
I went up again. I wanted to climb the entire route. At the top of the crack, I looked up at the slab. It was intimidating, even on top rope. I moved slowly and carefully, using any feature I could find, smearing my feet in shallow dished-out parts of the slab.
At the top, I removed the directional piece and shifted a couple of the cams to aim in the direction of the 5.6 climb, Diagnostics. I re-tied the sling to equalize the pieces in their new direction.
Then when I was lowered, I went down the 5.6 route. It looked interesting and challenging.
Diagnostics – 5.6
The 5.6 follows a crack from the ground to the top. At the bottom, the crack is in a corner that allows a nice layback with both hands in the crack. Feet can stem the corner. This is one of the most challenging parts of the climb because the left side is smooth, with no features and the right side becomes overhanging pretty quickly.
As you move up, the right side overhang becomes more extreme and eventually, you come up from under it, onto more vertical, featured climbing. This is an easier part. I found it a good place to rest. Then comes a section with fewer features and fewer holds. This is the other challenging section.
Above that, the steepness eases back and you climb nicer features to the top. I climbed it on top rope and wanted to do it again. It required a lot of shoulder and arm strength which is something I’d like to build. Also, the movements were interesting and fun.
Dan tried it on top rope as well. He wanted to lead but first, he wanted to be sure he could place gear in the bottom challenging section. He ended up doing the whole thing on top rope and when he got back down, he took some time to consider if he wanted to lead it.
Eventually, he decided to go for it. He pulled the rope and led the route. It was his most challenging lead on the trip so far.
Then he brought me up. I climbed it again and enjoyed it again.
At the top, I secured myself to the anchor and Dan changed my belay so I could move across the top of the rock formation, towards the walk-off, on belay.
In the photo, the top of the 5.4 is visible on the lower left side. The top of the big flake is hard to distinguish. It is below the horizontal crack that divides the lower dark section and the top lumpy lighter section of rock.
You are supposed to walk across to the right. You move on top of the big pale rock jutting out on the upper right side of the photo. Then you carefully downclimb the pale section and then the black plated section on the right ending on big boulders on the ground.
As I went across, I placed gear in the horizontal crack. When I got to the large flat rock, I placed a solid piece and clove hitched to it. Then I put Dan on belay.
I had forgotten my belay device on the ground so I used a munter hitch. I don’t often use the munter and it was nice to practice with it in a situation where Dan didn’t really need a belay, the terrain was easy and he felt comfortable. He told me he didn’t need a belay but the munter was quick and easy and it gave an added level of protection, just in case.
When Dan got to me, he secured himself and put me on belay again. I then completed the downclimb which I felt was a bit spicy but easier than it looked.
It was a good day and even though I didn’t top out the climb I led, I was happy with my climbing, how I placed gear and most of all with my willingness to commit.
After climbing the top section on top rope, I was glad I hadn’t tried it on lead. It was too much for me at this stage of my climbing career. I was happy that I had done some leading again, after two sessions with just top roping and working on crack climbing.
I hope to do some more leads before we leave Joshua Tree. We have two more climbing days planned for this trip.
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