Rock Climbing in the Ocotillo Desert
Rock Climbing, Ocotillo Desert – San Diego
South of the Salton Sea and just North of the Mexican border is a little known desert area called Ocotillo, in San Diego. Why would we aim to climb in this remote, strange little area? Rain! For the second day in a row, my climbing partner, Jen and I woke up in the middle of the night to hike to our climbing destination, but were met with rain. Our ambitious goal of climbing the epic, Corte Modera in the mountains of San Diego were crushed again, for the second day in a row!
South of the Salton Sea and just North of the Mexican border is a little known desert area called Ocotillo, in San Diego. Why would we aim to climb in this remote, strange little area? Rain! For the second day in a row, my climbing partner, Jen and I woke up in the middle of the night to hike to our climbing destination, but were met with rain. Our ambitious goal of climbing the epic, Corte Modera in the mountains of San Diego were crushed again, for the second day in a row!
Early morning rain
If you climb, skydive, surf or…do anything outside that you’re passionate about, you become a meteorologist. You have 5 weather apps. You’re tracking cloud movement, including surface and upper air observations of temperature, wind, pressure and humidity, as well as weather satellite data, radar data and data from weather modules. You’re seeing swirling red, green and blue. You’re seeing white and grey and you’re making calculations dammit. Anyway.. Satellites said..they said..”uhh, hey, go to the desert”, so to the desert we went.
Getting there
The drive from the mountains to the desert was a 2 hour southeast drive. Pretty scenic and a nice little jaunt down the ‘ol winding highway through the valley. Spirits high, Clouds in the rearview (appearing oddly closer than they are – MEATLOAF!!), coffee flowing, full stomachs..ready to climb! But wait!!
We got to the edge of the desert and thought…Uhh, the desert is full of sand. So much sand and things my car will fall into and not drive over or drive through or or.. It was clear that we wouldn’t be driving into the sandy plains as far as the eye could see. It’s 7am. Obviously we’ll find some ATV’s in this desert ghost town of about a hundred people..
ATV’s
We were feeling pretty down and unlucky after days of bad weather, bad directions and circumstances that were holding us back from getting this climbing trip going! A big turning point that got our spirits back, was getting a phone call from a guy named Chris at Academy ATV rentals. After hearing our situation and what we were trying to accomplish, he graciously offered us some discount rentals (we ‘po) and encouraged us to come on by right away so we could get going. After all, it would be a 2 hour ride to our destination.
Chris Spounias
http://www.academyrentals.com
Getting there
The drive from the mountains to the desert was a 2 hour southeast drive. Pretty scenic and a nice little jaunt down the ‘ol winding highway through the valley. Spirits high, Clouds in the rearview (appearing oddly closer than they are – MEATLOAF!!), coffee flowing, full stomachs..ready to climb! But wait!!
We got to the edge of the desert and thought…Uhh, the desert is full of sand. So much sand and things my car will fall into and not drive over or drive through or or.. It was clear that we wouldn’t be driving into the sandy plains as far as the eye could see. It’s 7am. Obviously we’ll find some ATV’s in this desert ghost town of about a hundred people..
ATV’s
We were feeling pretty down and unlucky after days of bad weather, bad directions and circumstances that were holding us back from getting this climbing trip going! A big turning point that got our spirits back, was getting a phone call from a guy named Chris at Academy ATV rentals. After hearing our situation and what we were trying to accomplish, he graciously offered us some discount rentals (we ‘po) and encouraged us to come on by right away so we could get going. After all, it would be a 2 hour ride to our destination.
Chris Spounias
http://www.academyrentals.com
The Climb
Finding the climbing crag was so difficult and a real challenge to navigate to. A combination of GPS coordinates, landmarks and guidebooks eventually got us there. We hiked up and over enormous mounds of boulders that ranged from our knees to 5 times our height. The desert sun punishing, the leg joint acid pulsing and the dwindling water supply…well, dwindling. Wooo! Challenges were accepted.
Finding the climbing crag was so difficult and a real challenge to navigate to. A combination of GPS coordinates, landmarks and guidebooks eventually got us there. We hiked up and over enormous mounds of boulders that ranged from our knees to 5 times our height. The desert sun punishing, the leg joint acid pulsing and the dwindling water supply…well, dwindling. Wooo! Challenges were accepted.
So what did we climb in the end? The climbing crag actually ended up only have 1 climbable route. Was it worth ALL of that for just 1 climb? Heck yes it was! The climb we did do was so satisfying. It was difficult, a bit run out and a little strange in nature. We were so grateful to have found at least 1 climb and get up on something’ and be clipping and climbing like we do.
Overall, that day was about making things happen and navigating the unexpected challenges and seemingly dead ends that we encountered. We woke up that morning with the intention of doing what we had planned for months and really looked forward to. Instead, we woke up to a shitty situation.. BUT! we had an amazing day that we didn’t plan for or expect at all. Though we only did 1 climb that day, we got to see an incredible desert environment in an amazing place. Jen laughed her ass off riding an ATV for the first time in her life. We hiked in brutal terrain, climbed a climb and made it out alive (with way more muscle). We got lost in the desert night, we saw crazy huge rabbits whizzing through our headlights and we got damn scared! Overall, it was a legendary day. I’m so happy that together, we were able to lift each others spirits and make a rainy cold day into an epic sun shining crazy one. I’m glad we didn’t cry in our rainy tents, play crazy eights and eat peanut butter out of a jar all day..
Get way, way out there. Turn sucks into epic. Be your own hero and save yourself.
Shadow Story Board!
Get way, way out there. Turn sucks into epic. Be your own hero and save yourself.
Shadow Story Board!
