I thought it was time to go rock climbing again. I also thought it was time to ride my bike 60 miles again. So this week I decided to combine the two. I had already ridden to Newport Beach once, so I didn’t want to boulder at Corona Del Mar. This left me with only one other place to climb, Ortega Falls.

To make a long story short. The ride was tough and I ended up going to the San Juan Falls, which are just down the road from Ortega Falls. I did’t realize this until I got home and I read different directions and looked at some more maps. I had a lot of fun anyways.

It took about two and half hours to ride the 30 miles (with 2000 ft of elevation gain) to the San Juan Loop trail. I hiked the short loop trail and then went into the San Juan Falls. There was no water because of the summer heat, so I was able to get right into the little canyon and boulder around. There were no routes, because I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. At about 5 o’clock I decided to come home. I needed daylight because I left my bicycle lights in Seattle. It only took two hours to get home, thank god, because my legs were killing me.

I am still debating on whether or not to go back to the real Ortega Falls. I am sure it will be a fun place to climb, but at the San Juan Falls I was at least able to use my imagination to try some new things and make up routes. I also want to wait for my legs to recover before doing that again.