Roadtrip Weeks 24 – 28: Hueco Tanks, Texas
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”.
Tags: bouldering, climbing, hueco tanks, texas