Indian Joe Caves Climbing

Located south-east of Pleasanton, Sunol Regional Wilderness presently only has developed climbing at Indian Joe Caves, but other opportunities appear to exist as well. There's a pretty wide variety of rock types in the park, but Indian Joe caves is meta basalt. While approaching the area, you can see some rocks on the top of a hill west of the main entrance, this is called flag mountain and appears to have climbing on it, though development has been discouraged because of concerns it would disrupt raptor nesting. There's a $5 entrance fee and the gate gets locked a little after dusk (9 p.m. in August), though camping is permitted in the park.A pile of meta basalt rocks, Indian Joe caves offers top roping, bouldering and the occasional trad lead on formations reaching up to 40 feet. The holds tend to be either angular or crimpy and the climbing can be anything from slab, cracks, chimney, impressive aretes, or overhung faces. There's also a wide range of existing climbs, 5.3 to 5.12c. There is also the potential for several climbs with difficulties considerably higher.In the summer, Indian Joe Caves get pretty warm and it would be wisest to avoid climbing the routes that get sun, as the black rock absorbes the sun's heat and makes climbing almost unbearable. Fortunately, there's always a handful of climbs that never get sun and therefore are a lot cooler than their brighter counterparts.Visit the Sunol Regional Wilderness park website for the latest official information on visiting it.