RRG and NRG moderates

Hello MP, I have been a lurker on these forums for a while and now I have a legitimate reason to post a new topic. I am making a cross country trip (Philadelphia to Frisco) starting on the 16th, and want to stop at both the new and the red for a few days each. On the way out west, a friend and I will be pulling a trailer from Philadelphia to Charlottesville VA to drop off his belongings at his home (he just graduated), so we thought it'd be a good idea to go straight from there to the new. 

We are both relatively new to leading sport outdoors.  I have been climbing outside for about a year, and he is very fresh, having only started a few months ago. I have decent outdoor sport experience and some following trad. I have my own rack, know how to use it, and build anchors, etc, but am not super comfortable leading on gear as of yet. That is something I hope to improve on this summer. 

With that being said, we are looking for suggestions of very easy trad routes with good (and obvious) pro, both in the new and red, as well as some sport routes in the 10-11 range. What are some of your favorite well protected, single pitch, easy trad routes with bolted anchors? How about favorite sport routes/crags in the above difficulty range? 

Also, if any locals would like to meet up and show us around, that would be greatly appreciated. 

Roadside Attraction (5.7) at the Red is a classic trad route with super easy gear and bolted belays.  Cheaper than a Movie (5.8) is also a great route with pretty intuitive gear.

Even though it is 5.9, New Yosemite at the Junkyard Wall, NRG is also a great lead (if you have good jamming technique) with as much gear as you could possibly want.  There are a few other easier trad leads nearby as well and many of them have bolted anchors that are easy to access from above for TRs.  For NRG sport I would check out the Upper Meadow and Kaymoor.  Both of those areas have a ton of great climbing in the 5.10-5.11 range.

I'm not a local, but I'm fairly experienced and I'll be in NRG around that time, and looking for partners. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

I am fairly local to RRG and climb there most weekends. I highly recommend you go to Bruise Brothers at Muir Valley. It has two very easy trad routes to get some practice on that protect well. Plus it has a lot of moderate routes and some super fun 5.10's. "Put the best foot forward" is a 5.8 mix route with the trad portion being maybe 5.5 or 5.6. Super fun and cool features. Plenty of small and large placements with no hands rests to practice placing gear. Its on the far side of Bruise which as 4 awesome 10's. On the middle section of Bruise "tomthievery" is another easy trad route with maybe one tough move, but some easy placements. Sadlly its really short. Plus the middle section of the wall has tons of moderate sport routes and a few fun 10's as well. You can't go wrong there. As mentioned already Roadside attraction is awesome, but I wouldn't start there if you are new to leading trad. Try "five finger discount" first and if that feels easy go for Roadside attraction. Just my two cents!

Feel free to PM me if you want to climb together. 

If I was going to take someone to a mellow spot to get into leading on gear, I would take them to the Fortress wall in RRG:

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/fortress-wall/105869125

RRG stuff...

For sport in the 5.10-5.11 range, it's hard to beat Gallery and Drive By, except on weekends.  They get busy on weekends.  Miller Fork is much quieter.  Check out Fruit Wall, Chaos, Serenity and the Nursery.  

If you're climbing mid-week, Bruise Brothers @ Muir Valley is a hoot.  If you can climb 5.11, you're good enough to rip through all the 5.10s there without much fuss.  At the easier end of the 5.11 spectrum, Air Ride Equipped and Bathtub Mary are both 5.11a and fun onsight candidates because they offer great rests.

As far as easier trad goes, there's lots of stuff that's can be absolutely sewn up if you've got enough gear.  Fortress is loaded with good stuff.  Bonzo is killer fun for the grade.  Calypso I and III (II seemed harder to me) and Snake are good and protect well.  

Diamond in the Crack at Jewel Pinnacle is freekin' amazing climbing and kind of a classic fun RRG bushwack. 

Caver's Route is nice for a competent climber w/o a lot of trad experience because there's essentially no protection anyway.  Some potential to get hurt if you really screw up, but it's a GREAT adventure.  

Double Caves Crack at Lower Small Wall is very easy and kinda a cool experience.  No bolted anchors, but there's a tree with webbing that was in good shape at least last fall.

If you don't have a #4, get one because I almost always place it on easier routes.  Doubles of .75-#2, and preferably doubles of #3.  

Don't miss Orange Oswald Wall at Summersville at the NRG, along with a smattering of high quality 10s and 11s elsewhere at Summersville, most notably Satisfaction. Tattoo Wall at Bubba City is also very good for 10s, but it and Summersville are often quite crowded given that they are the only concentrations of sub-10 sport.

Endless has some great routes too, although many are a little higher graded than I think you want. That said, the next-door Legacy and Discombobulated are can't miss easy 11, and Strike a Scowl is a really good 10.

I will be in the NGR area 5/19 if you need a belay partner. Message me if interested.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I will definitely be visiting Summersville in the NRG, and Bruise Brother along with Drive By in the RRG. As far as camping goes, we will be staying at Miguel's in the red, but what about the new? I have the NRG guidebook that contains Summersville and the surrounding areas north of Fayetteville, but it says roadside camping is illegal and not advised. Does anyone have experience sleeping in their car at the parking area for Summersville? From what I can tell, the parking lot is just off highway 19, so maybe finding something a little more off the beaten path would be better? 

 My partner and I will be arriving sometime after dark (probably around 9 or 10) on Tuesday night, and were planning on just setting up in the back of my outback. However, I'd rather not start the trip woken up by a bright police flashlight and possibly an illegal camping fine. 

Great! Looks like the camping at the dam is only about 15 minutes from the Summersville crags as well! Thanks