Universal Wall Rock Climbing

How do you get to the Universal Wall?

Find your way to Mary Jane Falls trailhead parking.

Follow the 157 past the Charleston Fire Station and go straight on Echo Road where the 157 turns left to go up the hill to the old Charleston Hotel.

Follow Echo Road and the signs to the Mary Jane parking lot trail head. Look south and you will see the 1200 ft.grey and golden Universal Wall.

Cross the wood fence and go south across the meadow. There is a chopped off at 4' small pine tree for a good initial marker. Cross in the dry wash. Behind it, still south, is a steep gully. See photo of trail start on the Sesame Street page.
Ascend the gully about 60 meters and break right towards a old large stump. Before the stump the climber's trail begins switch-backing up the hill. There aren't many cairns now but the trail is pretty clear. It generally follows linked game trails and stays out of any drainage’s. About ¾ of a mile up there will be a short limestone cliff on your left.

Follow the trail to the top of a wooded buttress and go right to a very short descent into the hanging "meadow". For Sesame Street....Go through the copse of bent over Aspen trees and climb the slope to the wall. I'm gonna guess it's less than 0.5 mile. Average time up with a load is 45 minutes, an hour at a casual pace. Total distance to the hanging meadow is around 1.5 miles. Sesame Street shades in the afternoon; as of April 29th, 2015 around 1:30 PM. Routes left of the Hummingbird Arete (the fairly prominent and chossy lower angle feature) are shady by 10:30 and stay that way till 4:30 PM in the summer. The "Hydra" corner is in shade around noon. Climb slightly harder or much harder stuff in the shade while you wait for the sun to pass over.

Alternately you can ascend the main drainage gully of the Universal Wall. Simply cross the meadow going slightly west to find the start of the trail. It is also a good trail and shorter than the first one but with more rocks and downed logs to cross over. Takes you into the bottom of the hanging meadow.

A simple caveat: If you go into that area when snow is on the rim of the Universal Wall or the summit of Charleston is freezing overnight, you will be exposing yourself to a higher chance of rockfall from the rim. I wouldn't go after a couple days of heavy rain for the same reason. Believe me a helmet won't help much in that situation.