Some crag in the middle of nowhere on the side of Hawkins ridge

[dima]

This Sunday, after a nice night at Deer Spring camp, Taco, jeko1034, Ali and I went to climb a crag on the West slope of Hawkins ridge. This would be a first ascent. Taco and Jeko1034 checked it out earlier, and I don't know the details of the planning; they can comment on that here, if they want. Ali and I mostly were along for the ride. It was Ali's first time doing any rock climbing of any sort! He did great, and is excited about having to now go out and buy more gear.

We biked up Mt Hawkins road a bit, just past where it crosses Snowslide canyon. It was getting hot, and we got lots of water here. Very soon after the Snowslide canyon crossing, we arrived at our gully:



This is the view up from the road. The gully runs straight, directly to the crag (seen in the photo). We stashed the bikes and started climbing up. It sucks. The rocks are just the wrong size: painful in both directions. The views opened up as we ascended



Eventually we arrived. There were 5 bighorn hanging out at the crag, and they went off someplace else when we got there. The rock this crag is made of is surprisingly solid. The whole thing looks like this:



Taco and Jeko1034 excitedly checked out the rock from all directions, and made a plan.



Taco led the route, set up an anchor at the top.



Then the rest of us took turns top-roping up. It all took a while. Here's Taco throwing down a massive boulder.

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Eventually we were done. Taco cleaned the route, and we started the annoying descent. While belaying Taco, some dirt he kicked down ended up in my eye, and I spent the rest of the day trying to get it out, without success. I walked past a bee hive on the descent, and to improve my eye situation, a bee stung me in that same eyebrow.

We got back to the road, drank water, and descended to the cafe to get some burritos. Jeko1034 and I were denied: Adam said he didn't have them, or something. Then Taco showed up, and magically that problem was resolved, and he got his burrito. This crag should be called "special treatment".

Taco and Jeko1034 can comment on the grading and naming and such.

[Matthew]

When you've been a rock climber for quite some time, you start to look away from the classic climbing spots like stoney point, horse flats, joshua tree and look far and wide for new rock to write your name on. Most people would say stuff like, "there's no climbing in la county thats why I stick with joshua tree and black mountain." Or you would get the people who say, "everything in the angeles is choss except horse flats." I look at people like Taco and Mikey Wally who are constantly out there trying to climb new rock and just have fun with the sport without constantly grade chasing and climbing climbed shit and getting stoked. Taco is out here establishing climbing on new crags around the twins and crystal lake while Mikey is developing John Henge and lower Horse Flats aka Native Lands.

Here I am just trying to learn trad while following and bellaying the "CHOSS KINGS" of our generation on some new shit.

This new crag is big with bigger potential all around it. There's SOME choss but mostly surrounded by good rock, some protectable and some MAYBE boltable. The views from these lines easily beat out Stoney Point and maybe even some JTree spots.

This is all my opinion but I truly believe all of that to be true.

[wesweswes]

Got any info on the route(s)? How long, what grade, 1 pitch, all gear? Looks like a fun time, but hard to beat the established high Sierra spots like the needles, Yosemite, tuolomne, etc.

[dima]

I don't think anybody is comparing this (Taco: we need a name!) with Yosemite. But it's infinitely closer, and has infinitely more exploration potential.

[Nate U]

With my wife ripping up the town for Pride weekend with her friends, I was the caretaker of my 4-year old son Forest for the weekend. Hearing that some climbing pirate types were convening in the high country, it was excuse enough to go camping with my son in the mountains.

After claiming a walk-in site on the upper loop of Crystal Lake (so frustrating the road there is closed, but at least they let you walk in) we headed to the lake. Forest was very excited about this, and quickly began wading in the sun-warmed water, along with close friend duo 'Monster Trucky' and 'Monster Trucker'

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There were other families doing the same thing, and never one to be shy of strangers, Forest happily joined them in their wet reverie.

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The mood was festive and playful, with dancing and merriment abounding in the warm afternoon mountain sun. Once the super soakers came out, Forest and took full advantage with his new friends. I think my son shows promise as a mountain pirate!

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In a change of dry clothes, we stopped by the wonderful crystal lake cafe for one of their signature big ice cream sundays.

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Back at the campsite, Forest set up camp for his trusted companions, including 'tiny baby kitten' who joined us for the night.

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Hearing the distinct sound of another young child, Forest ran over to the neighboring campsite and made a brand new friend in fellow 4-year-old Isaac, and Fo and Isaac spent nearly an hour bouncing on air mattresses in Isaac's tent, while parents were given a chance to set up their respective campsites.

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What more needs to be said? No camping trip is complete without a few toasted marshmallows.

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We shared a cot underneath the stars, as is my preference for SoCal camping. I had never tried this with Forest before, but he did great, drifting off to sleep to our favorite show Battlebots, and sleeping better than I did through even when a bear wandered through our campsite, pushing over the neighboring campsite's water cooler dumping ice all over the ground before running off to the sound of everyone yelling BEAR! BEAR!
And the night sky was brilliant, I saw numerous shooting stars.

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The next morning after breaking camp, we hiked further up to crash the obscured Eis Piraten camp at breakfast time. Forest hiked further and higher into the mountains then he ever had before, but thats what you gotta do to track this crew down.

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And when we did find this band of bike-packing pirates, none had woken up yet other than jfr, but slowly and surely they emerged from their minimalist sleep systems, groggy before their coffees. Forest had been VERY excited to finally meet daddy's hiking friends, so sporting his polar bear fleece jacket in the crisp mountain morning air, he was not at all shy in getting to quickly know all of the ice pirates in quick succession. (No matter that they were all barely awake!)

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Fo was adamant that he join the climbing team to "find the big rock" putting on the backpack and trying to get on a bike of his own.

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He gave Taco some tips on his bike set-up, complimenting the large tires. "You can bike in the sand when you go to the playground!"

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Then the crew were off to "find the big rock" and myself and Fo hiked back down as the sun rapidly became hot again.

jeko1034 brings up some meaningful points about perceptions surrounding variations in outdoor terrain. I for one have never met a mountain range I didn't love. Every mountain or even square foot of natural land is a joy to me, and I love the unique character found in every mountain range I have had the privilege of exploring. The San Gabriels are unequivocally no exception. This ragged and pulverized towering mass of plutonic rock we Angelenos have in our collective backyard offers immersive adventures along serrated ridges and hides innumerable secrets in its boulder-filled canyons. Ripped along the San Andreas fault, earthquakes have indeed shattered the rock, making the cracks in the cliffs all the more mysterious, enigmatic, and enticing to a certain kind of explorer. The more time I spend exploring the varied landscapes of the San Gabriels, the more people and adventures I discover that surprise and delight me. It is a place that is really beginning to feel like home.

[Taco]

Thanks for posting this up, Dima. Sorry about the dirt in the eye, didn't know it was from my vertical gardening!

I would say the thing I lead was 5.easy, and the other stuff was 5.8+. I don't like grading stuff much anymore cause everyone argues over it and it ruins it for me so I just make it generic or whatever the word is, where it's just a sorta range.

Wes, it's less than 30 meters, sorta easy but runout with often crummy pro, all gear. All the routes I do are always gear only, no bolts. Not a religious stance, just the way it is.

Yeah, it's not the Sierra, but nobody else is here, and that's huge. I lived in Yosemite for a bit and climbed around the Sierra and often things got crowded. I wasn't into climbing around other people I don't already know and I like it less as time goes by. I'm bummed that climbing is more popular now and not as punk as it once was. Now it all feels like numbers and sports and tight clothes and money and sponsors and instagram instead of saying outrageous insulting things to each other to get a laugh and hard work with bushwhacking and bugs in your eyes (Dima) and swearing and blood and sweat and runouts and shit where you think you're gonna die, and first ascents where you don't know shit other than what you can see from below so you just go figure it out. It's all paint by numbers now. People read a book (or their dumb hand-computer) and it says all the shit, all the moves, all the gear you need, and then people say it wasn't 5.9 it's 5.7a- or something. Makes me wanna go as far away as I can and climb some dirty bullshit with my homies so we can say absurd things and laugh and throw rocks and be real.

It's also scarier and more dangerous than most established places. Climbing here is risky. Well, one could bolt it but then why bother.

I think there are one or two other 'lines' worth climbing there but I won't be going back to put more work in on other things. I will be scouting another nearby crag, however.

Peace and love and all that, guys.

[AW~]

I answered "San Gabriel Mountains" once to my "home". The ranger said "Where? Ive never heard of it"
Oh great....but now she has! She gave me a chance to clarify...as to say my background. She was waiting for Sierras,etc...but it was next question please. It basically was 'How do I know you wont be dead from this trip'...tell me something good...that you are a rugged outdoors person. So I can have confidence in signing. So did she sign? Begrudgingly.
That was a trip noone had gone on before...so I was crazy...dont want to give the Sierras a bad name.

So yeah, San Gabes as good as any to blame it if something goes wrong. Darn, if I had told her that Id been on many of the training routes...but then those are complained to be secret routes. Whispers in the dark. Dont get ever any credit for those..(sarcasm).

[wesweswes]

Sounds like a fun time; wish I coulda made it!

Much of the local climbing I've found in the San Gabes is super chossy and so not inspiring of confidence. I much prefer solid rock where I won't die from it fracturing off from my weight, but can still die other ways. Anyway, I hear you about the crowds, Taco: it's the worst part about climbing, but really I've only had to deal with that crap on sport routes, bouldering areas, or valley classics. Most of the other multi pitch trad is surprisingly uncrowded, probably because of the commitment factor, extra skills and gear needed, etc. Then there are lesser known areas that burned, like the needles, which are epicly good and almost no one goes partly because the exposure and grading. Anyway, there's still a lot out there without the yahoos, but cool you all found some local stuff too!!

[tekewin]

Cool looking crag. Pretty strong stuff doing first ascents on unknown rock.

Sorry about the bad luck, Dima. Dirt plus bee sting sounds pretty awful. It will be part of the legend.