We got the opportunity to jump on board a climbing trip with Lee (@freedomthevanbulance) and Steve (@freetired) there was no way we were going to turn this adventure down. New Jack City (aka Sawtooth Canyon) is a sport climbing playground just a few miles outside of Barstow, California. New Jack City has over 450 sport climbs varying from 5.6 to 5.13 on a volcanic like metamorphic rock. All the climbs are found in clusters of awesome formations poking out along the high desert of California. Since we are beginner climbers this was a great area to get our feet wet.
Prior to this trip we solely top roped, thanks to our talented climbing friends leading all the routes. But this trip was different thanks to the expertise of Steve and Lee we were going to learn to top rope, clean, and repel. I don't think the atmosphere could have been more perfect we were able to park our van right at the base of a 5.6 and get lessons out our front door. Most of the routes here are short and exposure usually isn't an issue so it was a great place to learn without being absolutely petrified.
One of the highlights of the trip was climbing “The Crooked Dick Spire” which was our first ever spire to climb and at 5.9 it wasn't too difficult to the whole crew got to top the spire. One of our favorite things about New Jack City is that every zone had plenty of climbs for the whole crew to do. Another good wall for learning was the “Boy Scout Wall” which had climbs of varying difficulties from 5.7 to 5.11c all the climbs on this wall were fun solid climbs and we couldn't recommend New Jack City more for camping and climbing.
The camping here is also as awesome as the rock climbing. There are shade structures at most the campsites along with pit toilets. This is on BLM land so there is a 14 night limit. We really enjoyed climbing right outside of the vans every morning after it warmed up. We came in early march and it was still a bit chilly mid 50s but that didn't stop the kooks from crushing some routes.
