The CragBaby

• Melissa (who I often reference as Lil’ Chicka) is a fellow climber who is very passionate about animal protection.  She volunteers often with Best Friends and No More Homeless Pets.  I love to stop by her blog as it inspires me to get involved.
• I stumbled upon this site.  Fun uses for books, other than reading.
• I like this artist, especially his drawings.

I felt fortunate that world class destination Hueco Tanks was on my list of road trip stops.  I had heard about this destination for years and happily rolled in mid-January, exploring the boulder problems for a month.  

(I apologize prior to any of you readers scrolling through the pics.  Usually my posts include pics of friends, but I was real lax on taking pictures in Hueco as there were always friends around with better cameras than mine.  The result was good pics, but most of the ones I received were of just me.  I apologize.)

The El Paso landscape. Photo by Craig Copelin.

One of my Red River Gorge friends hiking down North Mountain at sunset.

Me working through the crux of “Baby Martini”. This climb was a perfect way to wreck oneselves at the end of the day. Long and core intensive, it was an excellent way to ensure a great workout. Photo by Frank Wu.

Me on “DragonFly”. Photo by Craig Copelin.

Kenyon on “Fern Roof”, which he sent a couple days after this picture.  Congrats, my friend.

Me on “The King Cobra”. I loved this line and had to put in quite a few days of work prior to sending. It was one of my proudest sends simply because it was a climb that wasn’t my style.

Daron on “Julio and Me”. Photo by Frank Wu.

Me on “Moonshine Roof”. The best part about this climb was the huge surfboard feature pictured here. Photo by Frank Wu.

A fun aspect of road tripping is continually running into the same people. I had climbed with Courtney, pictured here, in Rumbling Bald and then again in Hueco Tanks. She was in Hueco with her friend Shulpa, who I have now ran into in Joshua Tree and in Bishop. =)  Here Courtney is climbing the fun line “La Delicate” in the New Meadow area.

Me on “Big Iron On His Hip”. This was by far my favorite line in all of Hueco, that I luckily sent right before the end of my trip. Though the line wasn’t really aesthetic, it included the coolest movement with techniques such as a heel-toe cam, a bicycle and a campus drive by move.. all of which were necessary (at least for me) in order to send. So much fun!  Photo by Frank Wu.

I had lived out of my car for my entire road trip until I reached Hueco. In Hueco I had a place to stay in with fellow climbers, which worked out well for the sole reason that I didn’t know what I would have done with CB otherwise (as dogs are not allowed in the park). The Rock Ranch allows dogs to roam, but CB is so small that I would have worried about her. The people in the house were great. Pictured here is Tammy and Daron shaving the dog and James drinking jack and coke… all at 9:45am. =)  CB absolutely loved James, and he was real great with her, petting her while he would play video games on his rest days.

El Paso is quite the unique place. Old buses, random open air living arrangements and buildings that look like space craft can be sighted on the way to the Park.

I love this picture. This is me, hanging out with The CragBaby and Johnny Utah.

Lastly, a picture of my Hueco “office”.

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch is a dude ranch that also houses a good number of sport climbs (around 250+ lines) and boulders of sandstone rock.

Best Time to Visit  

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch is a cool weather bouldering destination making the best time to visit when the temps are in 40 – 60’s.  I visited in January and definitely experienced days that were in the 30′s, with temps below freezing at night.  The best seasons to visit would be spring and fall.

Length of Stay

There is a good amount of climbing in Horseshoe Canyon Ranch and the surrounding areas.  On my visit I was there to boulder only, and felt that I had pretty much bouldered it out within a week to week and a half.

How to Get There 

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch is located outside of Jasper, Arkansas.  From Jasper, travel 7.4 miles on State Highway 74.  You will see a brown sign that says something along the lines of “Turn Now for Horseshoe Canyon Ranch” and you should immediately make a left turn on a dirt road.  Follow this road for just over a 1/2 mile, seeing two different signs stating that Horseshoe Canyon Ranch is a 1/2 mile away.  You will then come to the gate (remember to close behind you) and the road will take you right to the store where, if open, you can get all the information you need from Barry.

Guidebook

There is a Dr. Topo guide available, plus a book that is specifically about Horseshoe Canyon Ranch.  The Dr. Topo guide is almost as good as the bouldering sections of the guide, so is a good alternative for a short stay.

Camping

Climbers are allowed to camp in Horseshoe Canyon Ranch for a cost of $5 per day.  As a solo traveler,  camping at the Ranch is probably the best idea if looking for fellow climbers.  There is free camping somewhere nearby (within a 30 minute drive) but unfortunately I don’t know exactly where it is located.  Another option is to stay in the cabins.  A crew of us did this one night when the temps hit real low levels and the cost (in January 2009) was $80.  The cabins are nice and can comfortably sleep 5+ people in beds and a handful more on the floor.  Note that all animals on the ranch wander around so there is a good chance that your cabin could be surrounded by horses in the morn (reference picture above).

Wi-fi  

Wi-fi is available at The Lodge.  The Lodge is supposed to be used by cabin guests only, but Barry, the owner of Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, allowed me to use the wifi.

Wi-fi can also be found in town at The Library, which is located at the very edge of town by the car wash.

Rest-Day Activities

Jasper is a quant little town that can be explored on rest days.  There is a great little restaurant, The Boardwalk Café, that serves excellent organic foods.  There are a couple of national parks within a couple hour drives, but I did not check them out.

Other

• There are many dogs that roam through the ranch.  The guidebook suggests not to feed them and requests that climbers keep their dogs on leash.  The dogs are friendly but are very protective of their food and the livestock.
• When I rolled into Horseshoe Canyon Ranch and Jasper, I was coming in with 8 friends.  Our presence increased the population of the town by 1.6%.  This fact for some reason cracked me up. =)

If you have any additional beta, please feel free to comment or email me.

Interesting yard display in Arkansas.

I just hit month 7 of my road trip and am currently based in Bishop, California and loving every minute of it.  However, this morn was a little funky and so I thought I would post up a gratitude list since it has been a long time since I have done so.

1. This road trip has been fabulous experience resulting in me actually getting excited for “real life (aka work)” again.
2. A friend from Hueco Tanks has joined me here in Bishop.  It has been a nice change to have a full time climbing partner.
3. CB has actually snuggled with Johnny Utah (my friend’s dog) on a couple occasions.  It amazes me each time she does it. =)
4. I just finished reading the book To Kill A Mockingbird.  How did I grow up not reading this book?!  It was fabulous!
5. I have found quite a few climbing projects I am excited about here in Bishop, with a couple actually feeling do-able.
6. My next stop after Bishop is back to Utah and I must admit I can’t wait to rock some guitar hero with my friend Shaft.  I am real grateful to have him in my life.
7. I am grateful for all the great new friends I have made on this road trip.  It is amazing how small the climbing community is and it is great to meet more of the members.
8. The other day I was able to meet one of my blog readers.  It was so fun to chat with him and I hope his ankle heals up quickly.
9.  I cut ties with my family over a year ago.  I am still really grateful for this decision.
10. The girl from the climbing accident back in October is back on a rope.  I am not and probably won’t be for a while still.  But I am real grateful that she is physically and mentally doing well.

I haven’t written on this site for a couple weeks, the longest I have ever gone without posting.  My last post, which I removed, was about The Future of Climbing.  I wrote it with the intent of creating a discussion about how the climbing industry structure could change and how crag access and other climbing issues could be addressed through climbing professionals.  I was amazed at the response of this post.  I received numerous positive emails and twitter posts, but also received a good handful of negative blog comments.  Negative blog comments always surprise me because in my 5+ years of blog reading I have never had a need or desire to personally attack someone on their own site.  

The negative comments made me realize that perhaps I had written the post incorrectly or in a format where my true tone didn’t come across.  I was honestly trying to create a discussion, but had posed my thoughts in questions which could have been taking as finger pointing.  I realize this now.

I considered re-posting my entry, but have decided against it because I realized that perhaps I don’t need to create these discussions.  I also realized through this post that perhaps I don’t want to spend so much time talking about climbing.  

I have been writing this blog for 2 years (no, I did NOT start it when I went on my road trip.) I started this site because I work as an analyst for a venture capital firm, with my industry of focus being online technologies.  In order to understand these technologies, I must use them.  I started the Wasatch Girl blog, but was struggling at first to find my online voice.  So I started the Cragbaby blog with the hopes that talking about my hobby, climbing, would be a catalyst for my business posts.  This technique truly worked and I continued to write on this site for the sole reason that people seemed to enjoy stopping by. =)

With the response to my last post though, I finally realized that my time would be better spent focusing on the Wasatch Girl and my career, rather than the Crag Baby and my hobby.  I think climbing for me is meant to be simply enjoyed.  Climbing will never be my life nor do I want to work in the outdoor industry, so I am going to focus on just loving the act of climbing rather than talking about it.

Working the moves on Devoted. Buttermilks, Bishop. (Photo by Dan Brayack).

I plan on continuing to post on this site, but with less frequency.  I want the few posts I do upload to be content focused with information that might be useful to you readers.  I will still post the occasional photos of my recent destination stops, but want to focus more on trip beta write-ups (like this Rock Town post which many of you readers have emailed and mentioned was useful), problem suggestions for each area and how-to posts on road tripping (for instance this post on Living the Nomadic Life).  I might continue to post my gratitude lists on this site, but think I will move my thoughts on volunteering to the Wasatch Girl.

Hope you readers are well.  

Best.

Rachel