Rock Climbing

“Now we were all coming from the San Diego area, so you would be taking 15 south, but that would be the only difference in the directions. I'm not certain what you mean by warm. It was in the 50's during the day, and 26 to 33 degrees during the nights that I camped there. Cold for me, but I was ok because I do know how to prepare, I have the clothing/gear for it. You should have seen these meetup people trying to start a fire when we came up. Stacey and I pulled up and asked if we were in the right place, then I said, "hey I have firewood!", they were trying to burn closet doors and pallets with newspaper. Then I got out of the van and hauled out this big ole rough tote full of firewood and said, "I have Fatwood firestarters too". Rightaway we are everyone's friend, LOL! When I set up a table with my campstove, shoved a nice 'ol metal coleman cooler underneath and opened my Doskocil CampMate Chuckbox on the otherside of the table, well right then and there, I made a name for myself!

New Jack City, also known as Sawtooth Canyon, is home to a wide variety of sport climbing routes on fractured granite. It's located about 15 miles south of Barstow and is a ~3 hour drive from San Diego. For more info on routes and rock, see Troy Mayr's Southern California Sport Climbing, pages 200-240.

NJC is located on uncontrolled land and does not have any facilities. Therefore, camping reservations are not required, but you'll need to bring water and a shovel for your toilet. (p.s. There is a pit toilet 1/4 mile from this site)

Directions: Take I-15 north and exit Barstow Road (Hwy 247). Go south for about 15 miles and turn right (west) onto an unnamed dirt road at mile marker 63.0. Follow this road for 1 mile and go left (south) on the first road. The crag is locate about 1/2 a mile down and there is a concrete slab in the parking lot.

Did you see my myspace pic album? You can clearly see a pic of the campsite slab and picnic table, and the rocks we were climbing.”

“thanks for the info!

warm = daytime temps above 40 degrees! I've been living in a deep freeze in Denver for a few weeks now - was warm this weekend, but real windy.”

“go to red river gorge for climbing in the winter. pick the crags that are in sun all day long. there are many. 68 there today... some of the best climbing in the us.”

“we like to pick sun facing rock in the winter also.

just googled your red river gorge Jimmy san, doesn't anyone there believe in helmets for goodness sake?”

“I do but often don't wear it on sport routes. I always wear it on trad routes.”

“i wear it on all routes. better safe than sorry.”

“Hey Jimmy san, let me know when you are going, if it is February maybe I can work something out to meet you there.”

“i had a great rockclimbing trip this past weekend, put some pics up in my myspace ifn ya wanna take a looksee. actually managed a 5.10 in street shoes, but i won't try that again, i wish i had a pic of that face, but the photographer was at another rock. i have GOT to get a harness & shoes when my tax refund gets here! going to hit up a local spot with my Boy Scouts tomorrow.”

“You can probably climb like Spider Girl......you ain't haulin' much arse.”

“alas, it's true, LOL! Sonia says i also have "mad scrambling skills"! go see pics go see pics!

Steve actually went with me, i dragged him kicking and screaming with me and he's so glad i did cause he had the greatest time and made a friend, he made lots of friends! of course he couldn't climb because of his heart, but he rock and bottle hunted.”

“I'm glad you had fun, Pamela. You've been through tough times. so it's good to see you get some deserved joy from life.”