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Early wall

 

Early_wall_rtes.jpg (79086 bytes)
 

Named for its eastern aspect, this is a good place to start on chilly mornings. The right end gets shade early in the summer, well before noon. The rock is best on the upper tier, which intersects the ground at Two Wheel Drive (#9). However, the "pillowy" basalt at the base of the right side is surprisingly solid and tends to be ergonomically rounded (slopers). There's room for lots more climbs on this wall, especially on the ride side of the upper tier.

The approach may be made from either The Grotto trail or by starting left of the boulder field below the wall. The left approach starts at the right end of a shelf that sits about 15 feet above the arroyo. Traverse left on a faint trail to a cairn at the base of a trail leading up the hilside. Another 50 feet of elevation gains another shelf where petroglyphs are abundant. Please respect these relics by not walking on them or touching them. The trail continues up the hilside several hundred more feet, then divides with one path continuing to the top of the mesa and the other veering right just below a large boulder, and on across the talus to the base of the climbs.