Return to Red Rock for probably last time before season end.
Left Friday evening and camped at Lovell Canyon. Early next morning to get in line at the park entrance for a head start on Geronimo.
Parking lot was unusually empty and saw no other climbers on the trails leading to the crag. Apart from a couple on the Crimson Chrysalis wall, we didn't run into another soul! Must be the late season but enjoyed the solitude regardless.
A relatively smooth climb since this was our 2nd run. Better rope management and route finding kept the total time to about 7 hours. Nothing terribly noteworthy just a nice enjoyable 4 pitches and 3 raps down. Took a different route on the way back to check out a possible climb for Sunday (Olive Oil).
Checked out the campground on the way into town but all walk-ins reserved though probably only 50% actually used - dumb system. In town we had some mediterranean grub then back to our campground where we had left our tents pitched. Some stronger winds had me fearing for a repeat of the January windstorm but wasn't quite as bad, though it did knock out a few stakes before the rain started up. After that, I had to get up and batton down the tent before the whole thing filled up with water. Got decent sleep after the winds died down though we still decamped early at 5 just to get out of the cold & wet. Enjoyed a nice diner breakfast and decided to head to J-tree since climbing was out of the question after the rainfall.
Took a new route, driving through the Mojave National Preserve and through some small desert highways to get to J-tree. In the parking lot, we stepped out to some very strong gusts. Too strong for climbing, despite the perfect temperature. Undeterred, we decided to try for Taquitz - a trad climbing area near San Jacinto Peak outside of Idyllwild. Unfortunately that road was closed as well, so we were forced to get our climbing in at the Santa Anna Sender One gym. A nice chance to check out the sibling facility to our usual LAX gym. A few hours there and some rest from the road by evening.