The Outback Rock Climbing

In 1994 Tony Lusk and I decided to check out a large formation of rocks that later became known as the Outback. This is the large collection of rock formations that come into view uphill on your right as you pass through Bear Canyon. On our first trip we climbed straight up the hill from Hitchcock Campground crawling through manzanita for over three hours. After that we found a better trail starting much higher up the highway. In 1994-95 Tony and I spent almost every weekend putting up routes at the Outback. On most weekends we camped above a small outcropping near the crag. After surviving several bear trashings our campsite was destroyed by fire. By then we had established approximately 50 climbs. Even though a few of the routes contained short crack sections, we decided to make all the lines sport routes. We reasoned that due to the length of the approach and the scarcity of legitimate gear routes that it didn’t make sense to expect people to carry a rack. A few years later two local climbers decided to chop some of the bolts on 4 of the climbs. Tony replaced the bolts on two of these climbs. I plan to replace the bolts on the other two, but have not yet done so. Over the years fire had obscured the old trail and the Outback saw very few visitors.
In 2015 I decided that I was going to re-establish a new trail to the Outback. This wasn’t easy as the trail has to traverse several steep valleys through densely overgrown steep hillside. I made a few early looks at potential paths and in early 2016 I made a serious attempt to find the old trail with Jon Herlocker. We blazed a faint trail to the old campground before calling it a day. I subsequently made numerous trips working in the trail eventually dropping it below the campsite outcropping thereby shortening both the length and the amount of up and down in the trail. After over 50 hours of work I had still not finished crossing the final steep hillside and gully that gets you to the final ridge that takes you to the crag. At that point Ray Ringle joined me bringing a polaski that worked wonders to create a flat trail on the final steep hillside. After more than 20 hours of additional work we had a trail to the crag. More recently John Baker has joined in, doing yeoman work navigating the entire formation and creating trails connecting the individual formations to one another. This difficult task is still underway, but should be completed soon. The Outback is a large area with several different locations. It has a secluded feel in a very beautiful location.