Last week the stars aligned… I had Easter break, my mother-in-law was in town, and my wife urged me to get out and climb. Let’s just say the door didn’t hit me on the way out. I did a warm up at a private crag near home the day before,

Then headed out at 5am the next morning for Tollhouse Rock.


Tollhouse is the closest big granite to home, and I was anxious to use my rack. I met a couple locals and ended up climbing with Paola all day. She picked off her first few trad routes after we did a few on Hippo Wall and finished big on the Tollhouse Traverse.


We also met Mark, who was maintaining some of the trails. I also saw one guy on I think Elephant Walk or Wandering Taoist who was rope soloing the entire dome. I suspect he was a supertopoian because when I got back to my truck “Yer Gonna Die!” was etched in the well-earned dust. It brought a smile to my face. We followed Mark back down the road, and admired his sweet 1950 Plymouth. Sweet ride! Then I grubbed at Panda Express and started driving back home to bivy for the night. Thank you Tollhouse and Paola!


Then next day I headed south to meet the Cosmic Cragsman and Spider Savage at Texas Canyon. There were some other guest appearances made by Mr. E and Skip and Scott Loomis. This was my first trip there, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The conglomerate rock is mainly granite, and has cool dishes and holes.


Some good steep routes, lots of easy ones, and some long routes as well. Cosmic and I tied in and he fired off a new 5.10a that had about 10 bolts on it or so. Nice lead! We nabbed a few others as the small crowd slowly dwindled. We finished on the long south face in the golden light, then did some fine dining at In N Out burger! We talked shop, about life, its twists and turns, and the big picture and the man upstairs. It was cool meeting such an experienced warrior, the highlight of my trip in fact.

That night I made my way to downtown Los Angeles to bunk with my father-in-law. We watched the highlights of the Dodger game, ate donuts, and then I passed out. The next morning we hiked through the Ghetto and bought tamales from a corner vendor and some fresh squeezed orange juice (I passed on the quail eggs).


Then we got some coffee and then off I went to Malibu Creek to meet my nephew.


I’ve long desired to try out the steep pocketed face routes and the climbing didn’t let me down. After the hike we found the water traverse. At first we were stymied, this had to be a joke! Wasn’t there another way around?! All I could think about was me sinking with my backpack on, ruining my camera, and ending my day diving for my gear. Turns out the traverse isn’t that bad, it just looks bad. We hit some 5.8-5.10s at the Stumbling Blocks (Leventhal’s Chopping Block was a standout for sure) and then climbed some routes up by Mt. Gorgeous. Very fun stuff!.


I’m back home and a storm is moving in. I’m typing this from my computer at school thinking about my lessons for the week and I’m just glad I got out to meet new people and see new places. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? Hope you enjoyed this trip report! Thank you to all of you that shared ropes and beta!

Music on road trip performed by: Echo & Bunnymen, INXS, Joy Divsion, Replacements, YAZ, Tears for Fears, Peter Murphy, and the Cult (sort of in an 80's mood!)

Sorry, these aren't my best pics... saving those for "California Road Trip Southern California vol 2"
(shameful plug- Still selling the "Cali Road Trip Nor Cal" for $39.95 for anyone who contacts me :)

 Tom
(note: "epic" in title is meant to bring back 80's connotations! as in "rad")