Laws Caramba Trail Climbing

This trail heads east from Saddle Junction to Laws Camp and the Caramba Overlook. It was badly damaged by fires in 2013 and 2015 and becomes overgrown and impassable about 1 1/2 miles from Saddle Junction.  Most of the boulders described here are still accessible as of summer 2024.  They are listed in order, heading east.  Highlights in this section include the Sweet Slice of Paradise, Remote Contact, Peak Fitness thru Heartbreak, Natural Habitat and the Elephant's Ear.

Leaving Saddle Junction, Laws-Caramba is the second trail from the right.  It is well-marked.  After a few minutes you’ll see Skunk Cabbage Meadow on your left, with the Meadow Rail Boulder and some fun kid boulders at its southern end.  These aren't especially memorable, but this is a pretty spot and a nice place to take a break.

Half a mile from Saddle Junction is a signed trail fork.  Continue straight through this four-way junction, along a gorgeous section of trail passing Tahquitz Meadow.  At the east end of the meadow, you’ll find the Sweet Slice of Paradise 50 yards off to your right.  This excellent steep jam crack problem was first climbed without pads or a rope.  Detouring off-trail a short ways (use GPS) you’ll find the Contour Lines boulder on a small ridge above Tahquitz Creek.  There are a number of fun face problems here with flat sandy landings, as well as Drawn & Quartered and Geomorphology, both excellent climbs over somewhat iffy landings.

Continuing on the main trail another quarter mile, you’ll pass Reed's Meadow and cross Tahquitz Creek.  It flows pretty late in the season, depending on winter snows.  Downed trees right at the creek have damaged the trail, but you’ll pick it up easily, just on the other side of the creek, and continue heading east.  After 100 yards you’ll see the Rosarita boulder on your left and the Peak Fitness cluster in the clearing just ahead.

The buckthorn begins to make its presence felt here, and the trail essentially disappears past this point, but it’s easy to make your way to these boulders.  Remote Contact and Peak Fitness thru Heartbreak are the gems here.  The Iguana & The Ogre, the Scott Miller Memorial and a few unnamed problems are fun too and within a stone’s throw of each other.

To the east, the actual trail is unnavigable beneath the buckthorn.  After double checking that your GPS is working and your phone’s battery life is adequate, continue eastward by keeping the trail on your left and heading gently downhill through a shady gully.   After a quarter mile or so you’ll reach Tahquitz Creek again.  Follow it northeast for a minute and the Natural Habitat boulders will appear on the right.  Natural Habitat is the obvious splitter crack facing you.  The excellent, puzzling Elephant's Ear is just behind it.   There are lots more boulders to explore here.  The Cadaver Crack is couple hundred yards downstream, left/north of the creek, with more potential as well.

There used to be another trail junction just north of the Cadaver Crack.  The actual Laws Camp itself is here too, but good luck finding either with the trail in its current state of disrepair.  That trail junction would either send you east to the Caramba Overlook (see the Satellite Boulders), north to the Tram, or back west on the Willow Creek Trail.  That was fun loop hike ten years ago, but for now you’ll have to return the way you came.