The Moon (aka Knob Hill) Climbing

At the northern tip of the Ireteba Peaks, The Moon is a beautiful little place filled with rocks, scrub oak, and some juniper just south of Keyhole. Knob Hill Spring is in the main camping area and has water most of the year. On wet years, many of the washes will run with small steams during the spring. The rock is quartz monzonite, just like J-Tree except in micro amounts. This is Keyhole's sister area, developed by many of the same climbers and is also historically a traditional climbing area with all of the routes having been established ground up. Because of the nature of the rock, there are a lot more bolts here than Keyhole. Many climbs have bolted anchors on top and maybe a dozen routes can be led entirely on bolts that tend to be widely spaced. There are also quite a few cracks but most climbs are mixed. The tallest formations are about 100' tall but most are much shorter, too short for bolts but just right for highballs or top ropes. Four formations make up the bulk of climbing here: Knob Hill, the tallest hill when you first arrive and, from north to south Bone Daddy, North Breezeway, and South Breezeway Domes in the main camping area. The rest consists of acres of boulders here ranging from small to house-sized. Joe Herbst is the first known technical climber to have pioneered routes here, starting in the mid-60s, and also gave the area it's name.

This is a great place to camp. There aren't any officially developed sites but half a dozen or more have formed among the boulders that come right down to the road. A couple have formations large enough to have anchors, and TRing by firelight is traditional.

Hunters and off-road enthusiasts love this place and are out here on a regular basis. The latter have thrashed this place considerably with trails crisscrossing everywhere. Between them and people who didn't bring firewood, many of the largest trees are gone.

Native Americans have spent considerable time here but not much evidence is left. The best of what's left is in the Mushroom Boulder, a hollowed out room-sized rock on the west side of Bone Daddy Dome and has some nice pictographs inside.