Given the expected crowds and capacity limitations, the Parks Service has dolled out reservations for entrance times at Red Rock Canyon this year. Nine o’clock was an ambitious choice for the day after Thanksgiving, and — surprise! — we didn’t make it. So we went around back behind Red Rock Canyon to Calico Basin instead.
We started at one of the few sport bolted walls in the area. I got in a lead today that felt good. It was an easy climb but after my trepidation at Great Red Book, it was a confidence booster. All I gotta do is come home and do it a million more times.
It was also frigid in the shade, with a wind whipping by even at ground-level. So we moved on. Brent got it in his head that we needed to try our hand at one of the more famous boulder problems in the Basin — Plumber’s Crack.
It’s a chimney climb, which is fun. And for a bouldering problem (read: no ropes or protection), it is rather high. Mike and Evan finished it. Jay, Brent, and I each gave it a go.
A good final climb day that we can all feel good about. Tomorrow, we head off in different directions on the long way home.