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Horse Flats 2nd Trip of the Summer: A Warm Visit

Driving at sunset

Brain did a nice edit of the trip using his two cameras. Next time more footage and more topouts! Enjoy!

Video of Horse Flats Bouldering

It's pretty hot in the valley so me and Brian decide to go up to Horse Flats, after my last trip turned out to be a success. We drive up at sunset and spend the night there at the campground to be able to start climbing in the morning. Arriving under the moonlight, we setup camp and made a fire which helped keep the bugs away.

Having dinner by the fire. Night time wood hunt!

The night was warm and buggy but I slept comfortably that night under the stars. It felt great to get away from the noise of the city and just be at peace; one with the earth. I could already tell that the temperature was definitely higher this time around as well. Things were going to be different this trip…

Peaceful day in the woods.

After breakfast of oatmeal and cranberries, we started on the trail when we heard a car. It was Jofrann who came out to meet us and timed it perfectly. We were sweating on the trail by 8am, temps were rising fast. Not a good sign for a spot that’s got elevation, mountains all around, and known for better climbing when its hot in the valley. We were here to get away from the city heat, but unfortunately today we couldn’t escape it and in the end it beat us down and drained our energy forcing us to retreat by the afternoon.

At the first boulder with the traverse

Arriving at Bow Spirits. Fish Y-Crack in the back

After a few tries, it just gets hotter and unbearable. We try to explore but only get overheated and decide to leave.

A miniature frog we found on the trail. Its definitely hard to see

Final Thoughts: If it’s hot down in the valley, chances are it’s going to be hot up in the mountains as well. The temps will be lower but not by much, unless there’s wind, which will help a lot. Trying to avoid a heat wave in So Cal is like trying to avoid death, it’s just not possible. Stay inside on hot days and choose your trips wisely.

A little stretch before we head out.

Horse Flats: Yeah, its in L.A.

7:15am - CHRIS (on the phone): Yo Moe! You comin' to Horse Flats with us?
ME (still half-asleep in my bed): What? I thought you had work today, so we were going to go later on.
CHRIS (still on the phone): Nah man, nah man. We're going now. No work today.
ME (shocked, stoked and still half-asleep): Koo. Let me get up...

8:15am - We meet up, buy some lunch and head out. Having been there once before, I knew that the road was long and with many curves, but this time it felt extra winding. 9:00am - What a change! Being out of the city and into the cool mountain air, surrounded by pine trees; it felt good. There's no denying it. 9:30am - After arriving at the campground, we followed the trail up a moderately steep hill, encountering boulders along the way. The approach took maybe 15 minutes max and the boulders we found were still that solid quality granite that I remember.

Hiking into the boulders

Theres that moderate uphill hike

Anxious to try out some the awesome lines

Jack and Chris

OoOoOooo...   Ahhhhh....

10:00am - We get our day started on a thin leaning finger crack, which feels sooo cool, before moving onto the main boulder just beside it. With a sweet, high face climb and a pumpy, powerful, and finger ripping traverse on it, we had one hell of a warm-up, especially ME!

the chill spot

sweet leaning finger crack!

Jah on the steep face. Cool crack just above steves head

Trying to stay on..

Chris topping out. That's high...

Jah traversing

fingertip explosion!

aftermath

Low angle Jah on the traverse

Chris works thru the crux on the traverse

chillin in the shade

11:15am - Eventually, we moved to the Swiss Cheese boulder for some overhung fun and after riding it out for a while, we went out exploring, my favorite part of any journey. =)

Me on the Swiss Cheese Boulder

Steve

Video of Steve on Swiss Cheese Boulder

We found many boulders, while our imagination ran wild with ideas for the many chalkless lines we were seeing. Finding the Dragon Boulder was eye-popping, as its immensity and monstrosity towered above us reducing the thought that there might be a line on the beast. A scary V?!? (idontknow) for the future of our beloved sport.

The Dragon Boulder

1:00pm - Once we left the Dragon Boulder, it was off to Bow Spirits, a hard-to-start problem with the crux at the very bottom.

Bow Spirits, stout V2

Jofrann finishing Bow Spirits

Next, we messed around on the Peanut Boulder just below Bow Spirits and found it to have a few difficult lines with a couple shorter moderates as well. There were so many lines all around, but with our time fading away we had to be on the move more often than not, especially if we wanted to see the true potential of this small, but sweet playground of granite.

backside of Peanut Boulder

3:30pm - After seeing the it, Chris had to get on the Fish Arete's splitter-crack, so he did. And after he sent the direct, he tried the 5.11 Fish Arete which gave him a little scare by an iffy-move and an iffy-landing.

The Fish Arete and Y-Crack

Chris on the Direct crack

Video of Chris on Y-Crack direct

Moving on, we encountered The Fang, quite by accident really and found it to be a quality roof with a good bite.

Chris and The Fang

The Fang

 4:45pm - After attempts on The Fang, we moved on to the Refrigerator, which we found a bit less intense, but still fun even though there was a bad landing just over the crux.

Jofrann at the base of the Refrigerator

Steve handling the Refrigerator

6:00pm - Still, more rock was left to be found and we were on the move once again, this time towards the Titanium Man Traverse which we fail to find, instead we go in circles trying to find it.

trying to find the Titanium Man

On the move

Yucca plant

Unknown

Trailside boulder

Sugar Pine cones

Is this it..?? nah..

6:45pm - Unable to locate the Titanium Man, we decide to head back towards the car, but try to find another area on the way. By this hour, we were all pretty tired and beat up from a day on some sharp, no-mercy granite; it'll really put you in your place. We try to milk the spot for all it had and even try to find a different area by the car but find it to be rather small compared to the main area, however a bolted arête about 30 ft tall looked really interesting.

Twilight at Horse Flats

8:20pm – In the car, headed back home.

crappy-in-the-car-sunset pic

10:00pm – Late night rendezvous at The Habit for a good meal.

10:30pm – At home in bed knocked out. 

Final Thoughts: Good spot away from the city with decent elevation and might I add rather close to home. Thumbs up!