In Carlsbad, after asking if he had any suggestions for good top rope solo spots, Max’s friend Steven suggested that I go to Mount Lemmon. It was in the general direction I was trying to head (east) and had free camping nearby. The weather seemed decent so I decided to check it out!
It was a long way up a windy road to both the climbing spot and the camping spot, the latter being significantly higher up the mountain. I was glad to be fully stocked, because I wanted to delay my next drive back down to Tucson as long as possible. Getting there at sunset, I went straight to the camp spot (thank you https://freecampsites.net), made food and went to sleep.
The next day I drove down to check out the climbing. It was a series of towers and cliff faces right on the side of the road near a view point. I parked on the side of the road and got my gear together — it could not have been a more perfect day. I hopped over the barrier and went to find the routes I was looking for.
6,500 feet up, the views from here were spectacular. After following a loose trail and descending down a ways from the road, I found the wall I was looking for. Several moderate routes with easy to reach anchors, this spot was exactly what I had been wanting. Finding the anchors, I hiked back up to fix my rope, then spent the day climbing.
The rock was suuuper grippy, in partly because of the rock itself, partly (I think) because of how dry it was. I had a blast here, climbing a few different routes and staying until the sun set. It gets cold fast up here after the sun goes down, which motivated me to finally give it a rest and go back to camp.
I couldn’t get over the views here. At the base of the wall you were mostly tucked into some vegetation, but climbing up or scrambling around the side, you realized how high you were.
The next morning, I checked the weather and saw it was calling for snow. The campsite was at 8,200 feet and it had been a cold, windy night. A ranger came by as I was packing up and told me he was closing the road and I was going to have to leave. Thankfully this wasn’t news, but I still was disappointed that he was right!
Welp, way she goes. I drove back down the mountain, found a gas station, and stopped to figure out where to next…
A video from the top of the wall:
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