Joshua Tree—Trashcan Rock
Climb Review
As this is Joshua Tree, the rock was a sticky granite, which felt amazing. However, this granite was a bit slipperier than at Bear Island or Intersection Boulder.
These bouldering routes are located at the Trashcan Rock parking lot and super easy to get to.
There was no trash that I could see.
Gripper Traverse (V0; Trashcan Boulders)—The traverse is a low one where I don’t think any pads are required. The hand holds are reachy jugs or solid crimps with the feet being fun slabs. I was able to get to the last move but was unable to get my feet fully set, and fell trying to reach the final hold. Louie fell from the final move two times before they sent it. Cassie was able to get to the crux (middle, balancy section) and play around with the next move. Louie thought the traverse would be rated a V2 in the Bay Area and they’re probably right, given how sandbagged the bouldering ratings are in Joshua Tree.
Friends
Cassie and Louie came along and our hands were not ready for a whole day of climbing as they were pretty used up from the previous day. So, we taped up our fingers to try the Gripper Traverse, though we abandoned the tape as they kept slipping off our fingers. Instead, we embraced the pain in our fingers and gave it our best.
What Happened?
We had a seven-hour drive back to San Jose ahead of us, so we decided to use up the last bits of our skin on our fingers on Trashcan Rock before heading back. We got to Trashcan Rock around 7 AM and we took a look at a few of the trad routes before settling on the Gripper Traverse. We initially looked at the traverse as a warm-up, but it was hard enough (and our fingers were spicy enough) that we dedicated ourselves to the boulder problem. When Louie sent the route, we realized that we needed to start heading back, so we washed our hands, packed up all our stuff, and headed back to the bay.
