Return to Red Rock for some trad-focused fun.

Left Friday evening and camped at Lovell Canyon. Early saturday morning back to Calico Basin - Red Riding Hood wall for another run on Physical Graffiti. Andre feeling stronger on trad so we made short work of it. Day was heating up so headed further down Calico Basin to another short trad 5.6 (Guys and Ghouls). After that scrambled up to a set of trad routes in shade and found a quite fun 5.7 (Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun) on a long crack with fun bulge crux. After that made the long approach to the Fringe Wall where we did a quick sport 5.10a (Behavior Issues) before weather started looking rainy. Made it back to car just as some light rain started. Shoe toe had torn on last route so we stopped at the local gear shop for a new pair of kicks (5.10 Anasazi), then to the Indian spot for that yummy spicy grub. A long day made for easy sleep at the campsite by 10ish.

Sunday, up at 4:30 so that we had time to drive back into the park and wait for the gate to open at 6 - we were 1st in the line! By the time the gate opened, there were probably 20 cars full of climbers eager to get to their spots first. Started on the hike to Juniper Canyon from the Pine Creek trailhead parking lot. 45 minutes in we reached the base of the route. This was a popular route for intro trad climbers: 4 pitches, 560 feet, 5.6 grade with fixed anchors. It was a steep route but had plenty of big holds to keep it fun and safe. We used 2 half-ropes (rappel required double-length rope) with me tied in to both and belaying Andre with both ropes through my ATC. It took us about 5-6 hours to make it to the top and rappel (with another guided group of 3 sharing rope.) Quite a fun experience getting that high! The view from the top shelf was spectacular and we narrowly avoided rain. Scariest moment for me was when I was alone at the top shelf and had to rappel down after cleaning the anchor all by myself. 3 rappels down to get to the base.